stp: Grand Avenue Development?

What is -- and is not -- a "formula business?" There's been a lot of debate about this, and many invokations of the "slippery slope" argument.

But, even theough a Lunds is apparently not a formula business, it's not going to happen.

A prominent Grand Avenue developer and part owner of the site said the deal, which involved four private parties, is off the table because of a number of concerns, including a fear that the store would be too small for Lunds' needs.

"We and Lunds have concluded at this time that we just can't make it work," said Rob Stopelstad of Exeter Realty.

Exeter owns a parcel at Avon Street and Grand Avenue, currently occupied by home supply retailers Restoration Hardware and Smith & Hawken. Edina-based Lund Food Holdings bought an adjacent parcel — formerly the Italian Pie Shoppe — for $1 million in April 2004.

The Italian Pie Shoppe has relocated to 1670 Grand Ave. Under the proposal, those parcels would combine for an approximately 18,000-square-foot grocery store. But the size — or lack of it — proved to be a concern for Lunds, Stopelstad said. "It would have been by far their smallest store," he said.

[PiPress]

Or, is replacing one chain store with another chain store O. K.?