By Sarah O’Carroll
For Hometown Headlines
Site work for a 124,000-square-foot Kroger on East Main Street in Cartersville is underway, with a completion date set for October 2016, according to Glynn Jenkins, public relations director of Kroger’s Atlanta division. He said the “marketplace” superstore would create 300 jobs.
The Kroger will anchor the new shopping center on the south side of East Main Street, a retail development that will stretch from Starbucks at 605 E. Main St. to Avonlea Highlands Apartments on the 900 block of E. Main Street.
The new Kroger will replace Cartersville’s existing Kroger at 51 N. Morningside Dr., the building which will be sold to a developer after the new Kroger is ready for operation, Jenkins said in an email.
The new Kroger site plan was approved the City of Cartersville in fall of 2014, he said, with the total development covering approximately 40 acres and Kroger’s new store occupying 17 acres.
Fourth Marketplace store in Georgia
Kroger’s “marketplace” concept made its debut in Carrollton, Ga., in 2013. Since then, marketplace stores have opened in Athens, Gainesville and Savannah, Jenkins said.
Marketplace stores are differentiated from regular Kroger supermarkets by offering full-service grocery, pharmacy and health and beauty care departments, as well as expanded perishable offerings and general merchandise areas that include apparel, home goods and toys, according to Kroger’s most recent annual report.
Cartersville’s Kroger marketplace will offer upscale service departments, a drive-through pharmacy, an apparel department and a fuel center, as well as Starbucks, The Little Clinic, Murray’s Cheese, and Chef on the Run, among other co-branded outlets, according to Jenkins.
Kroger operates 2,625 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 34 states under two dozen local banner names, according to Kroger’s 2015 annual report. In addition, the chain operates 782 convenience stores, 326 fine jewelry stores, 1,330 supermarket fuel centers and 37 food-processing plants.
Nearly half of its stores are company-owned, rather than leased, which is the strategic direction the company is taking, according to its annual report.
“Our current strategy emphasizes self-development and ownership of store real estate,” the annual report states.
The Cartersville location, however, will be leased by Kroger from Rome-based Ledbetter Properties, Jenkins said.
Ledbetter Properties also owns the Main Street Shopping Center, a 225,000-square-foot retail complex anchored by Target, Publix, Staples, Belk’s, TJ Maxx and Pier 1, and the Main Street Commons shopping center, an 87,200-square-foot complex that includes Kohl’s.
