Kroger is going gourmet and all out with its new and largest store, located in Texas. Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers, a national owner, operator and developer of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers, has announced the completion of construction at Waterside Marketplace shopping center with the formal opening of the center, and the first and largest Kroger Marketplace store in Texas, in October.

The expanded Kroger Marketplace grocery and home goods store will launch its newest location at Grand Parkway and Mason Road in Richmond. The 123,000-square-foot store is the most up-to-date for Kroger and will feature an expanded variety of grocery and deli products, a large floral section, gourmet and chef-prepared foods, a wine shop and wine steward, a Nature's Market section with all-natural and organic products, a drive-through pharmacy with $4 generic drugs, and a kitchen place area with upscale kitchenware and place settings. The Kroger Marketplace will also feature a Fred Meyer Jeweler store as well as a large home-furnishing section with Ashley Brand furniture.

According to Steve Fritzer, Regency Centers’ VP of investments, the Kroger Marketplace at Waterside Marketplace will be the grocer’s sixth store location in Regency Centers’ Houston portfolio and the 11th store statewide with the shopping center developer. Kroger has 48 store locations nationwide with Regency. Waterside Marketplace is a 147,917-square-foot community shopping center and is 65 percent leased to date with a wide variety of retailers, service businesses, restaurants and medical services.

“Waterside Marketplace has neared completion with a number of merchants that are open for business and three banks on outparcels. Kroger Marketplace is currently installing its fixtures and furnishings, and will be hiring and training new staff soon,” said Fritzer. “Leasing momentum at the center has increased, and we’re working on lease negotiations with retailers in computers and electronics, mobile communications, medical services, and personal beauty care, to name a few.”

Added Gary Huddleston, Cincinnati-based Kroger’s director of consumer affairs: “The Kroger Marketplace store offers the best of a signature store in a much larger format with expanded variety for one-stop shopping.”

Fritzer noted that Regency Centers closed on the land acquisition for Waterside Marketplace in April 2007. “The store will offer a unique shopping environment and enhance the shopping experience for those in the area who have previously been underserved, with brand-name retailers close by,” he added

Source: The Gourmet Retailer