Downtown shoppers will have to keep waiting for the area’s first full-scale grocery store in over a decade due to a series of unforeseen setbacks and delays.
Oasis Fresh Market announced plans in March to open a store in June on the bottom floor of the ARCO Apartment building at 119 E. 6th St.
Thanks to setbacks with building codes and federal tariffs, the new opening date is sometime in mid-September, store officials told The Eagle.
“We would have been open by Labor Day, but it would not have had our deli. We wouldn’t have had some of the things that we believe serves the downtown guest and the downtown shopper more than just the traditional grocer,” said Jonathan Coussens, an Oasis spokesperson.
The ARCO building is more than 75 years old. In Oasis’ initial assessment, it didn’t account for the amount of rules it had to abide by in order to safely preserve the historic structure. This led to several delays when they tried to replace one of the exterior doors meant for the store.
The building was transformed into residential apartments in 2024. It originally served as the headquarters for a pipeline company and wasn’t meant to house a grocery store.
That history meant the building needed more clearances from the Tulsa Health Department than the Oasis team was initially expecting.
Then came the issue with getting equipment. Coussens said Oasis ships a lot of its equipment from Europe, but due to tariffs implemented under the Trump administration, the store experienced several shipping delays.
“Generally, people look at tariffs as it’s just going to cause the cost to go up, or it’s just an added tax,” Coussens said. “That’s one thing, but the ripple effect of it also has to do with shipping capacity, shipping windows (and) uncertainty of availability.”
What was initially supposed to be a June opening became July, then August, then Labor Day. With a September opening in sight, Coussens said the store is nearly 100% complete, but they don’t want to welcome shoppers until they have all their vendors ready to go. He offered no specific date.
“The thing that we want all of our customers and guests to know is that when we open, it’s better that in our mind that all of our services are available,” he said.
Despite the downtown delays, Oasis has kept busy. In August, they officially took over a former Cox Cash Saver near 61st and Peoria and are bringing in new supplies and adding new signage.
And downtown shoppers can get a taste of Oasis on Sunday, when officials plan to hold a soft opening for a micro-store in the Western Supply apartments.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
