Hoards of Richmond shoppers turned out Wednesday for the opening of the Kroger Co.’s first mega-store in its mid-Atlantic region.
The 123,600-square foot Kroger Marketplace store in Chesterfield County at the old Cloverleaf Mall site offers a new grocery shopping experience, offering 300,000 items and several nongrocery departments including a Babyland and furniture and home décor.
“Grocery shopping isn’t always a fun experience,” said Valerie Jabbar, a vice president of merchandising for the Kroger Co. “We want to make it fun by appealing to the customer’s five senses.”
There was plenty to see, taste and touch at the store, a prototype Kroger is rolling out aggressively in the next five years. While some retailers such as Walmart started with a variety of hard and soft merchandise and then added groceries, Kroger is moving in the opposite direction. Besides rows of fresh produce and typical grocery offerings, its new store at the Stonebridge mixed-use development on Midlothian Turnpike offers Starbucks coffee, an outdoor garden center, toys and even a section with Virginia Tech Hokie merchandise.
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