Kroger Announces $20 Million New Store in Fast-Growing Brownsburg, Ind.

Kroger is tearing down a vacant Kmart in Brownsburg, Ind., about 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis, to make way for a $20 million new Kroger location. 

The new build will replace an existing Kroger store in the same retail plaza, the Brownsburg Square Shopping Center. At 101,744 square feet, it will be nearly 30,000 square feet larger than the current Brownsburg store, according to a news release.

When it opens—in about a year, the company projects—the store will feature a Starbucks coffee shop, a Murray's Cheese Shop and a pharmacy that's double the size of the existing Brownsburg location's. Expanded parking will include eight spots for pickup of online grocery orders. 

Cincinnati-based Kroger's central division, which encompasses Kroger stores in Illinois, Indiana and Eastern Missouri, formally announced the plans for the new Brownsburg store on Dec. 21, the same day that a "wall-breaking" demolition kickoff took place at the vacant Kmart. At least 90% of debris from the demolition will be recycled or reused, according to the news release. Concrete from the demolished building, for example, will be crushed for use in the new building's floor.

"The project will demonstrate the commitments to sustainability embodied in Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan," Kroger Central Division President Colleen Juergensen said in the news release. "The work that’s about to begin will have minimal impact on the environment."

Brownsburg's population has surged by an estimated 29% between 2010 and 2020 (to north of 27,000), and Juergensen called the project Kroger's "contribution to the expansion and vibrance of Brownsburg."