Kroger takes on double duty - Washington Business Journal:

ejyceh.wordpress.com
stores will open within weeks of each otherf latethis year. The 125,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace which will both feature thesame layout, will be located in Brazos Town Center in Rosenberg and at Watersidw Marketplace in Richmond. The Richmond Kroger is slatedf to open inearly November, whilw the Rosenberg store will open in “We view these as two separate growth says Gary Huddleston, consumer affairse director of Kroger “We believe that these stores will serve two differenyt markets and we’ll do well in both of thes e areas.” Huddleston says the Brazos Town Centerf store, located at U.S.
Highway 59 and FM 762 in will primarily servethe Richmond/Rosenberg market, while the Waterside Marketplaces location, at Grand Parkway and Mason Road in will serve the Katy market. Both Kroger Marketplace stores will featurew a FredMeyer Jewelers’ store as well as a larged home furnishing section with Ashlety Furniture. The stores will also offer grocer y anddeli products, a largew floral section, gourmet and chef-preparedd foods, a wine shop with a wine a drive-thru pharmacy and a Kitchenplace area with upscale kitchenware and placre settings. Huddleston says the format will be even largerthan Kroger’s upscale Signature Store concept.
The placement of the superr stores so close together in outlying suburbs is especially sincethe Richmond/Rosenberg area isn’t particularlgy known as a hotspot for In fact, the Starbucks location in Rosenberg at 24406 U.S. Highway 59, was one of the firsrt to close early last year when the coffee chai began shutteringunprofitable units. Barkley vice president of development and operations for the Greatetr Fort Bend EconomicDevelopmengt Council, says even though Richmond and Rosenberg are considered “sistef cities,” the two Kroger Marketplacd locations will serve “vastlyg different” customers.
He believes the Rosenberg storse will fill a void left in the local grocer y market whenKmart Corp. pulled out of Texas and closede its store at State Highway 36and U.S. 59 in 2003. “Peoplr in Rosenberg really don’gt have a major grocer in a conveniengt placeto shop, so I thinkm they’ll do well,” he says. Despitse the close proximity of the twogiangt stores, Peschel says, Kroger was very picky in its site selectioh process and only chose areaz that could support a storde now and also show strong potentiak for growth in the future. “I think they’vwe found that,” he says. “There is a need for this type of shoppingv experience inthe area.
” LOCATION, LOCATION Steve Fritzer, vice president of investmentse for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers, which owns Watersidr Marketplace, says the center is 65 percent leased, with Krogetr Marketplace serving as the anchor. He points out that the 147,857-square-foogt center is located in the sixth-fastest growing residential ZIP code in the Withina three-mile radius, there is a population of 33,2112 people with an annualk average household income of $96,754. The cente is also located at an intersectiohn that will be one of the two controlledf access points on Grand Parkwa connecting driversfrom U.S. Highway 90 to the Westpark Tollroad.
The other Kroger Marketplace location inthe 546-acre Brazos Town Center in Rosenberg will be in a simila situation. According to research by Houston-base NewQuest Properties, which owns Brazo s Town Center, the median househol d income in the trade area is in excessof $50,0000 annually. Peschel says that despite the struggling national andregiona economies, Fort Bend County is continuing to grow, havintg added approximately 30,000 new residents last year. He says the county is expected to reacu more than 1 million residenta in the next15 years.