Kroger takes on double duty - The Business Review (Albany):

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stores will open within weeks of each othedr latethis year. The 125,000-square-foot Kroge Marketplace stores, which will both feature the same will be located in Brazows Town Center in Rosenberg and at Waterside Marketplacerin Richmond. The Richmond Kroged is slated to open inearly November, whilre the Rosenberg store will open in “We view these as two separatwe growth areas,” says Gary Huddleston, consumer affairw director of Kroger Southwest. “We believe that these store s will serve two different marketsand we’l l do well in both of thesde areas.” Huddleston says the Brazox Town Center store, located at U.S.
Highway 59 and FM 762 in will primarily servethe Richmond/Rosenberg market, while the Waterside Marketplace at Grand Parkway and Masonm Road in Richmond, will serve the Katy market. Both Krogee Marketplace stores will feature a FredMeyer Jewelers’ store as well as a larged home furnishing section with Ashley Furniture. The stores will also offerd grocery anddeli products, a large florakl section, gourmet and chef-prepared foods, a wine shop with a wine a drive-thru pharmacy and a Kitchenplace area with upscales kitchenware and place settings. Huddleston says the forma t will be even largerthan Kroger’s upscale Signaturee Store concept.
The placement of the super stores so close togethere in outlying suburbsis unusual, especially since the Richmond/Rosenberg area isn’ t particularly known as a hotspot for In fact, the Starbucks Corp. location in Rosenberg at 24406 U.S. Highway 59, was one of the first to close early last year when the coffeed chain began shutteringunprofitable units. Barkley vice president of development and operations for the Greateer Fort Bend EconomicDevelopment Council, says even though Richmond and Rosenberg are considered “sister cities,” the two Krogerf Marketplace locations will serve “vastly customers.
He believes the Rosenberg store will fill a void left in the locak grocery market whenKmart Corp. pulled out of Texasz and closed its storwe at State Highway 36and U.S. 59 in 2003. “Peopld in Rosenberg really don’t have a major grocer in a convenient place to so Ithink they’ll do well,” he says. Despitw the close proximity of the two giant Peschel says, Kroger was very pick y in its site selection processx and only chose areas that couldr support a store now and also show strong potential for growth in the future. “I think they’ve found that,” he says. “Therer is a need for this type of shoppinb experience inthe area.
” LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Steve Fritzer, vice presidenrt of investments for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency which owns Waterside Marketplace, says the centetr is 65 percent leased, with Krogedr Marketplace serving as the anchor. He points out that the 147,857-square-foog center is located in the sixth-fastest growinb residential ZIP code in the Withina three-mile radius, theree is a population of 33,212 people with an annuakl average household income of $96,754. The centef is also located at an intersectio n that will be one of the two controlled access points on Grand Parkway connectinv driversfrom U.S. Highway 90 to the Westparkk Tollroad.
The other Kroger Marketplace location inthe 546-acre Brazos Town Center in Rosenberg will be in a similare situation. According to research by Houston-based NewQuestr Properties, which owns Brazos Town the median household income in the trade area is in excesesof $50,000 annually. Peschel says that despitre the struggling national andregional economies, Fort Bend Count y is continuing to grow, having added approximately 30,000o new residents last year.
He says the countyy is expected to reach more than 1 million residents in the next15