So Marc's will essentially take over half the shopping center? Is Marc's closing any other stores when this opens? Will their customer service be better in this "upscale" store than in the others I have visited? Will it be cleaner than the others?

Rachel, thanks for getting these questions answered.

it's a shame Marc's is allowed to come into Brecksville. Their Macedonia store is filthy and the help is about par regarding customer service as the current Giant Eagle here now is. They have no clue of what it means to smile at the customers This isn't a 50 mile radius city where the impact on surrounding business's would be on a smaller scale. Any new grocery store would impact the other business's. The Snider Company did a decent job with the face lift and a real excellent job at botching up the parking lot.
Lipstick on a pig still means it's a pig.

Marc's approach to merchandising reinforces its deep-discount proposition and it's definitely not for everyone. But at expected sales per square foot well above $500, Marc's will drive traffic, benefiting other retail at the center and mitigating further tenant loss. Congrats to Snider on a successful redevelopment!

Im more concerned about parking than the actual " Marcs" moving in. Im not liking the parking lot changes at all! Most people will shop at Marcs once they get used to it...even if they are complaining now.

You all didn't complain when the Freight place was in the shopping center, That was a real mess. Some people do have to watch their money and Heinens is very expensive. A bag of Lay's chips is a bag of chips, but when you can find something at a lesser price you hopefully will there. Give it a chance, don't be a snob!!

I've always found Marc's to be dingy. Not quite dirty, but messy. I'm not a fan. I also don't understand why there would be a need for 3 Marc's stores within 5 miles of one another. There aren't that many people around Brecksville that walk to the shopping center.

Has anyone been to the Westlake or Avon Marc's? Just curious what the difference is between a regular and upscale Marc's. Anyone up for a road trip?

Lila, if the Westlake Marc's is at Great Northern (near our favorite lunch spot) then, other than it being a bit larger than the Marc's that used to be at Pleasant Valley, I never noticed any difference. Still dingy, still the same type of cash registers, didn't notice anything "upscale" about it. Yes, I'll do a road trip!

1) It took years for McDonald's to be allowed to come to Brecksville.
2) Heinen's wanted the current Giant Eagle space and adjoining spaces(s) that Marc's will now occupied but was denied expansion opportunities.
Why weren't the voters allowed an opportunity to decide if Marc's is allowed?
The Mayor has been very open about Marc's coming here until now not looking too happy about possibility.
When you think about it, it does not make logical business sense to have 2 grocery stores across from each other in our small city. Eventually, one will cancel the other out. But it comes down to tax revenue (taxes the employees pay and taxes the business pays)
When Heinen's came in, Giant Eagle took a big hit. Of course, Giant Eagle was always wearing a different colored lipstick than what Marc's will be wearing. It all comes down to how personal the business owner feels about their store. Marc's really doesn't care what we say or how we feel. They know people will come in. They have zero concept of how to move shoppers through their store. They only know how to buy in bulk and place it out in bulk. And they know they will hurt other businesses. A pig is still a pig regardless what color lipstick or dress you put on it.

Kudu’s to our City Elected officials too for allowing this. It would be interesting to see on what page this falls under in the master plan. This also opens an excellent opportunity for Odd Lots or Big Lots or Piggly Wiggly to come in. And I might imagine there would be an increase of home sales here too. Why live in Brecksville anymore if the city doesn’t care what retail comes in. If I want to live in a city with Marc’s in it, Parma or Macedonia work just as well and taxes are certainly much lower. Oh great, lower taxes means more money for me to spend at Marc’s. NOT!
Don't forget, those same smiling friendly employees that walk you down the isle to find something from Giant Eagle just might be the same ones at Marc's. Oh wait, I forgot, they don't know how to do that!

almost forgot...community give back. An enormous number of businesses give back to their community in amazingly wonderful ways. The Snider Company along with The City of Brecksville, has now given us Marc’s and a pathetically designed parking lot.

I am moving from Macedonia to Brecksville in June. As I type, my wife is buying a few items at Heinen's and the bulk of our grocery needs at Marc's in Sagamore. If Marc's was not going into the plaza, we would drive into Sagamore for our groceries, but instead, now we will be able to WALK and complete all of our grocery shopping locally.

I've been shopping at Marc's for years because they offer what I need at good prices. I have always found the staff to be helpful and friendly.

Will the Sagamore store close once the Brecksville store opens?

Who is going to shop at this store? Sagamore & Macedonia have their own Marcs. Richfield & Bath are closer to the Marcs in Fairlawn. Broadview Heights, North Royalton and Parma have several closer Marcs as well as the new Giant Eagle. This leaves Independence and a very upset Brecksville community. I just don't see this working on any level. Looking forward to the next mayoral election though.

I am a Broadview Heights homeowner with a household income >$300K and I shop at the Broadview Heights Marcs all the time. Love the place- just because the prices are cheap doesn't mean the place has poor quality things. Produce is usually fresh and the in-season fruit is always cheap. No it doesn't have a deli counter, but it has the basic meats that most people use on a daily basis. Our new Giant Eagle in Broadview Heights is really nice and I'll probably stop by to get random stuff and my wife likes to shop at Heinens for special items, but for day to day grocery shopping, you'll save probably 25-30% at Marcs. It's not just for people who are "lower income"- its for people who care what they do with their money. I'm happy for Brecksville that they got a Marcs- it'll be a huge upgrade from the crummy Giant Eagle that there used to be there. Not sure if it'll be any closer than my Broadview Heights one.

Mike, you are 100% correct about the products. We shop at the one in Sagamore for 75% of our groceries but there is absolutely no need for 3 Marcs within 11 miles of each other. And, as most people of Brecksville not reading this will tell you, we do NOT want this store in our town. We also don't want a Dollar General, DSW or Olive Garden (all places I frequent). The ONLY reason Marcs is coming is because, according to the mayor, Whole Foods, Earthfare and Trader Joes detemined that Brecksville did not have enough consumer draw. Quite frankly I don't believe those claims and would love to see the research supporting those claims. Marcs is the bailout plan to fill a tax void. Plain and simple. The majority of Brecksville residents probably do shop at Marcs...but nobody wants the store in our backyard. Some communities have higher standards (yeah I said it) and Brecksville, so I thought, was one of them.

I can see your point, Joe, but evidently the other premium supermarket players didn't think Brecksville was a big enough draw for them, especially with two other players GE and Heinens within 3 miles of it, going for a premium market. It just wouldn't make sense for a TJ's to be there (though I'd love that). Too much cross over in markets. In the end, its better for Brecksville to have a resident in that gaping space than to have a big empty space- that would have been thoroughly depressing. The truth is, if some of those premium markets crunched the numbers and thought that they would make enough profit to make the investment to change the shopping area worth it, they would have done it- its nothing against Brecksville, its just economics. Brecksville is a relatively small market and it is pretty saturated, especially with Big Box areas like Macedonia, Strongsville and Fairlawn surrounding it.

I disagree. Trader Joes would have been successfull. The closest two are each 20 miles away. I too would like to see their research. I've heard that the new Marcs location is zoned grocery. Not sure if thats true but that would make Marcs the only option with the other stores backing out and GE and Heinens already close by. Its just sad to see such a junky store in that location. I'd rather it be vacant or rezoned and partioned into smaller stores. Brecksville is planning on adding shopping and commercial businesses at the VA location so not having a Marcs or other grocery store wouldn't have mattered.

I live in Sagamore Hills and am excited for Brecksville to get a Marcs based on the fact that I'm hoping they close our store. Looking forward to getting this dump out of our town!

So what's the latest on Marc's? I see no activity in the vacant space and recently heard that the city has been pushing back on approving certain permits? This leads to a comment or two. Why would there be so much hype for a company to come into the city and NOT do all of their homework, i.e. know in advance if all of the desired work would be approved? Or, are they so attempting to change things half way through?

I worked at Marc's in Sagamore and I live in Brecksville. Most of the Brecksville customers are snobbish and rude and would be very short with conversation when I tried to be friendly untill I told them I lived in Brecksville for over 40 years, Just to let you know not only some of the customers are Hotsy Totsy but so are a few of the higher employees even if they work in Sagamore, so they should fit in very well .

Where are you located?

I cant Waite for the water park in Blossom Hill, lets disturbe the peacfulnes of Brecksville , up scale of Parma!!
Let's build a Aldi's too. I moved to Brecksville to get out of the cement world and rat race. Sooner or later we will have a R T A bus stop in Barr rd!!!
We can add more stop lights like Strongsville, and increase the police department because of more robberies and shop lifting.