Kroger takes on double duty - Boston Business Journal:

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stores will open within weeks of each other latethis year. The 125,000-square-foo Kroger Marketplace stores, which will both feature the same will be located in Brazod Town Center in Rosenberg and at Watersidde Marketplacein Richmond. The Richmond Kroge is slated to open inearl November, while the Rosenberg store will open in “We view these as two separate growth areas,” says Gary consumer affairs director of Kroger “We believe that these stores will servwe two different markets and we’ll do well in both of these areas.” Huddleston says the Brazos Town Centedr store, located at U.S.
Highway 59 and FM 762 in will primarily servethe Richmond/Rosenberg market, while the Waterside Marketplace location, at Grand Parkway and Masoh Road in Richmond, will servee the Katy market. Both Krogetr Marketplace stores will feature a Fred Meyer store as well as a largr home furnishing section with Ashley The stores will also offer grocery and deli a largefloral section, gourmet and chef-prepareed foods, a wine shop with a wine steward, a drive-thriu pharmacy and a Kitchenplace area with upscale kitchenwars and place settings. Huddleston says the formatg will be even largeerthan Kroger’s upscale Signature Store concept.
The placement of the supet stores so close together in outlying suburbs is especially sincethe Richmond/Rosenberf area isn’t particularly known as a hotspoft for retailers. In fact, the Starbucks location in Rosenberg at24406 U.S. Highway 59, was one of the firsr to close early last year when the coffee chainn began shutteringunprofitable units. Barkleyy Peschel, vice president of development and operationws for the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development says even though Richmond and Rosenberg areconsidered “sisterf cities,” the two Kroger Marketplace locations will serve “vastly different” customers.
He believess the Rosenberg store will fill a void left in the localk grocery market whenKmart Corp. pulled out of Texaas and closed its store at State Highway 36and U.S. 59 in 2003. “People in Rosenberv really don’t have a major grocer in a convenieny placeto shop, so I thinkk they’ll do well,” he says. Despite the closee proximity of the twogiant stores, Peschel Kroger was very picky in its site selectiojn process and only chose areas that coulsd support a store now and also show strong potential for growthb in the future. “I think they’ve found that,” he says.
“Theree is a need for this type of shoppingy experience inthe LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Steve Fritzer, vice president of investmente for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers, which owns Waterside says the center is 65 percent with Kroger Marketplace serving as the He points out that the 147,857-square-foot centerd is located in the sixth-fastesty growing residential ZIP code in the country. Within a three-mile there is a populationb of 33,212 people with an annua average household incomeof $96,754. The cente r is also located at an intersectionh that will be one of the two controlle access points on Grand Parkway connecting driversafrom U.S.
Highway 90 to the Westparik Tollroad. The other Kroger Marketplace locatiomn inthe 546-acre Brazos Town Center in Rosenberg will be in a similat situation. According to research by Houston-based NewQuestt Properties, which owns Brazos Town the median household income in the tradde area is in excessof $50,000p annually. Peschel says that despite the struggling national andregionapl economies, Fort Bend County is continuing to having added approximately 30,000 new residents last year. He says the countyu is expected to reach more than 1 million residentsa in the next15 years.