Kroger Continues New Urban Invasion

The Kroger Co. has taken on another downtown retail project this week as a new Fry’s Food Stores debuts in Phoenix.

The 67,000-square-foot unit, which opened Oct. 23, anchors Block 23, a new mixed-use high-rise at the corner of First and Jefferson streets in downtown Phoenix. Fry’s, the Tolleson, Ariz.-based division of Cincinnati-based Kroger, said the store is the first full-service supermarket serving Phoenix’s downtown area and also marks something of a push by Kroger to expand into more urban cores. The company last month opened a destination store near its headquarters in downtown Cincinnati, ending a similar drought of urban units there. And earlier this month, Kroger’s Atlanta division debuted a rebuilt store in a new city office property.

Though not in the central business district, the Atlanta replacement store—dubbed the Beltline Kroger—is located in a mixed-use building, with local foodservice options catering to walk-in and bicycle traffic, and a shopper base that includes local office workers, evidence of Kroger’s ambitions to amplify the customer experience in stores and align itself to local foodie culture emerging in urban settings, as part of its Restock strategic plan.

The Phoenix Fry’s is “a defining moment for the downtown community,” said Fry’s President Monica Garnes. “Our new store will alleviate a decades-long food desert and provide delicious, high-quality and nutritious grocery options to those who work, live and visit downtown. It will also introduce a new, full-service grocery store to the area, which enhances the thriving downtown environment.”

The new store unveils what Fry’s described as “an innovative urban design,” including new technologies. “Customers can expect a unique shopping experience encompassing all the amenities of a typical Fry’s, including online ordering and pickup, made-to-order sushi, convenient deli and bakery selections, a pharmacy which will provide a full range of healthcare services, and extraordinary customer service.”

Photograph courtesy of City of Phoenix

Foodservice offerings at the new store include an outlet of the Arizona-based deli chain Chompie’s, offering a select menu of sliders, Reubens, sandwiches, soups, breakfast items and prepackaged meals to go. The store will also have a sushi station and a Starbucks. Chompie’s earlier this year debuted a branded deli department at a Fry’s store on Shea Boulevard in Phoenix, expanding its presence at the retailer, which has long stocked its bagels, cookies and muffins.

Phoenix’s Office of Arts and Culture partnered with Fry’s on a $10,000 commission for a massive mural for inside the store near its first-floor elevators.  

Margaret Dewar was chosen from among 32 Phoenix-area artists who applied. The 10-by-10-foot mural draws upon local area history and the Sonoran Desert landscape and wildlife. “Beyond its beauty, this mural also reflects Fry’s commitment to create an environment where our customers feel at home and connected to food and culture,” Garnes said.

New Identity in Atlanta

In Atlanta, Kroger rebuilt a store with a colorful local history if its own—even if it’s a history Kroger would probably prefer forgotten.  Its new Beltline unit replaces a store at the same address that was referred to locally as the “Murder Kroger”–a macabre but lasting reference to a fatal shooting that reportedly took place in the store’s parking lot in 1991.

Kroger demolished the old store in 2016 and built a new unit accompanying an adjoining office and residential building and alongside a 22-mile city bike trail from which it takes its new identity.

“We prefer our store be called Beltline Kroger,” Glynn Jenkins, spokesperson for Kroger’s Atlanta division, told a local news program.

The 60,000-square-foot store has a bicycle- and walker-friendly design, with an outdoor patio overlooking the trail. Inside foodservice offerings include an outlet of B’s Cracklin’ BBQ, a well-reviewed Atlanta BBQ destination.