Bonsack story continued..
The Orange Avenue store will close on Wednesday evening, in time for the new Kroger opening the next day. All 65 employees from the Orange Avenue Kroger will transfer to the Bonsack location, which will employ 225 total, including part-time workers, the grocer said.
Kroger last constructed a store in the Roanoke Valley in 2005, at Cave Spring Corners in Southwest Roanoke County. The new Bonsack location is 40 percent larger than the Cave Spring Corners store, which measures 60,000 square feet.
Kroger also has some store remodels in the works in Vinton and Blacksburg. When complete, both stores will measure about 83,000 square feet, slightly smaller than the Bonsack location, Goddin said.
Right now, the grocery chain doesn't have immediate plans to construct additional stores in the Roanoke Valley, because "the valley hasn't grown much," Goddin said. "We always look at updating or replacing our existing stores."
As far as the new Bonsack location, don't expect it to look too different from other Krogers in the area, except for a few new features.
They include a seating area, designed like a cafe, and situated near the deli and prepared foods area. Also, a new kitchen section will sell cooking gadgets, small appliances, diningware and coffee makers.
Other notable additions are in-store chefs, a wine area with its own wine consultant and organic produce. There will be eight self-checkout lanes, alongside nine full-service cash registers.
A fuel center, situated in front of the store, opened earlier this month. It's Kroger's fifth gasoline center in the Roanoke Valley.
Similar to recent trends in retail design, this store has some energy efficient qualities, such as 122 skylights, automatic lights, automatic restroom sinks and toilets and a master computer that regulates heating, air conditioning and refrigeration.
Cutting back on energy usage helps the grocer to keep its prices low, Goddin said.
And though its prices aren't as low as Wal-Mart's, some retail experts say it's clear that Kroger is making a push to compete on value at some level with the discount retail chain.
About five years ago, Kroger, which is based in Cincinnati, refocused its pricing strategy, because Wal-Mart was slashing its grocery costs rapidly, said Jon Springer, associate editor of Supermarket News, a trade publication.
"What Kroger was able to do was to kind of lower prices to where they feel they were in a range of Wal-Mart," Springer said.
"That was close enough to Wal-Mart so that their shoppers wouldn't be abandoning them for lower prices."
The appeal has worked for Jean Kleba of Blue Ridge and perhaps other local consumers.
Though Kleba shops at Wal-Mart for general products, such as canned goods, because of the retailer's low prices, she buys specialty items and produce at Kroger.
While loading groceries into her vehicle recently at a Kroger near Towne Square Shopping Center in Roanoke, she said she hunts out deals with the grocer's plus-card savings.