Peoria Illinoisan

In the wake of the news that Save-A-Lot is closing, I decided to go through the Journal Star archives to see what people were saying about Campustown in the past.  Archives are only accessible back to 1991, the year it opened, so I’ll pick it up there.

Campustown opens; students are excited about a nearby grocery store. Sept 5, 1991:

Cathy Wallace, a 24-year-old junior from Chicago, said, “Everything is so convenient now. We don’t have to catch the bus to the mall to go shopping. There’s a grocery store right here, and we have options of places to eat on Sunday evenings when the university doesn’t serve dinner.”

Safety concerns surface. April 19, 1993:

Cole, the manager of We Care Hair, is more fearful than most Campustown workers, but she is not the only person there worried about safety. Other employees at the shopping center in the 1200 block of West Main Street speak of drug pushers, the flasher and the woman mugged at the cash station only a few feet from a travel agency where workers didn’t know anything was happening.

[...] “If I were an undercover police officer, I could have made five drug arrests last year just by waiting in the car while my wife went into the store,” said lawyer Andrew Cassidy, a candidate for City Council.

And a security consultant who asked not to be named said the shopping center is a magnet for crime. “Crime, it just runs rampant up there,” he said. “You’ll see every one of the criminal elements up there. “

Safety concerns continue to grow. June 14, 1994:

Loitering, trash and traffic are keeping neighborhood residents away from the Campustown Shopping Center, members of the Moss- Bradley Residential Association said Monday. [...] Area residents want to shop at Campustown, but are simply afraid to go there because of real or perceived harassment by groups of young people loitering in front of the stores, {Mary} Matthews said.

Business Editor Paul Gordon suggests safety concerns are unfounded. July 12, 1994:

Much of the concern about Campustown has been because teens, some resembling gang members, have been known to loiter there. Shoppers have said they sometimes feel threatened. But steps have been taken recently to curb that, including the removal of soda machines and all but one pay telephone from the center. [...] Whether the media perpetuated it or not, the bad reputation exists. To change it people must realize it is as safe as any other center. It could mean getting shoppers who left to return. Campustown deserves another chance. It was needed when it was built and it’s still needed today.

Was David Joseph’s failed Midtown Plaza what killed a decent grocery store at his Campustown development, ushering in the Save-A-Lot era?

Nov 15, 2002:

”I think the new Cubs definitely did have a big impact,” said Paul Masick, president of the Moss-Bradley Residential Association. ”(The closure) definitely will affect Bradley students, who run over there frequently to get snacks.”

Feb 6, 2003:

”One year before we closed,” Sullivan said, ”I had meetings with David Joseph about my concerns because the city was subsidizing Cub Foods (in MidTown Plaza), and I knew I would be in difficulties. I asked him for a rent reduction so that we could continue to stay, but he would not budge.”

Campustown, built right next door to the Bradley Campus, is not pedestrian friendly and is hardly even automobile friendly. Obviously this is and always has been the biggest flaw with the entire development.

Letter to the Editor, Feb 12, 2000:

As a student at Bradley University, I cannot believe the city of Peoria would even consider tearing down the existing row of buildings along Main Street to make way for yet another sterile strip mall. The shortsighted plan will only add to the already nondescript landscape of the area around Bradley.

Instead, the city should use these historic buildings to its advantage. Bradley and the city of Peoria need to wake up and realize that these buildings are the last hope for the neighborhood. I agree that the area is in need of regentrification, but building a strip mall in place of the commercial district will further discourage pedestrian traffic, as Campustown has already irreversibly done.

Feb 6, 2003:

Ted Berger, president of the Bradley student body, said many of the 6,000 students on campus patronize the stores in Campustown. ”About 4,500 of the people live within a six- or 10-block radius of (Bradley) campus,” Berger said. ”There is a desperate need to cater to the needs of Bradley students.” He pointed out that while a grocery store is needed, another concern is that Campustown itself is not pedestrian-friendly, especially for those who live in the St. James student housing complex.

Neighborhoods cheer the coming of Save-A-Lot. July 9, 2003:

”A grocery store was sorely needed there ever since we lost Sullivan’s,” said Bill Gilbert, president of The Uplands Residential Association. ”There is a high percentage of Bradley students who don’t have vehicles and they need groceries. In fact, a lot of folks in the area need the convenience. The closest store is on Sterling or the new Cub on Knoxville. There isn’t anything very close at all,” he said. Said Floyd Nolan, president of the Columbia Terrace North Neighborhood Association: ”It’s a long way to Cub, especially for pedestrians. I see this as a very good thing.”

Neighborhoods cheer the exodus of Save-A-Lot. Dec 29, 2009:

Neighborhood associations around Campustown were pleased when Save-A-Lot came to the shopping center, but they may be just as pleased the store is closing, said Kara Harris, president of the Uplands Residential Association. “Unfortunately, the clientele that often came to that store was unwelcome. I imagine the association will be thrilled,” she said.

What will the next chapter of Campustown be, specifically regarding the mostly vacant eastern wing, and will it be something that students and neighbors will embrace or eschew? Hopefully the former.

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