News Article | 11/10/2009

Kroger Readies 1st Marketplace Concept Store for Texas’ Tarrant County

The Kroger Co.’s Southwest Division and real estate developer Hillwood Properties have inked a deal that will bring the first Kroger Marketplace to Tarrant County, Texas. Scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2010, the concept store will be located at the southwest corner of Heritage Trace Parkway and Riverside Drive at Alliance Town Center in Fort Worth and will be the Cincinnati-based retailer’s fourth Marketplace in the state.

“The residential growth at Heritage and the other nearby communities, as well as the employment growth at Alliance, make Alliance Town Center the ideal location for the first of our new Kroger Marketplace concept stores in Tarrant County,” said Gary Huddleston, director of consumer affairs for Kroger. “This new concept has worked well in other markets, particularly in suburban locations as a one-stop-shopping solution.”

The 123,000-square-foot store will offer features unique to a Kroger Signature store, along with an expanded variety of grocery and deli products, a large floral section, a fuel center, gourmet and chef-prepared foods, and a wine shop. The location will also have linens for the bathroom and other areas of the home, a kitchen place area with upscale kitchenware and place settings, and the latest toys. The Nature’s Market section will offer all-natural and organic products, while the drive-through pharmacy will provide consumers with $4 generic drugs. The Kroger Marketplace will additionally feature a Fred Meyer Jeweler store, as well as a large home-furnishing section with Ashley Brand furniture.

A joint development of Trademark and Hillwood, Alliance Town Center is in north Fort Worth along the east side of Interstate 35W, between North Tarrant Parkway and Heritage Trace Parkway. The 300-acre development is in the middle of one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation over the past decade.

At full buildout, Alliance Town Center will house more than 2 million square feet of retail, office, residential and entertainment space, along with the HCA medical campus. The lifestyle center is part of the 17,000-acre AllianceTexas development, which also includes the Alliance Global Logistics Hub, the corporate campuses and golf courses of Circle T Ranch, the Monterra Village apartment home community and the single-family communities of Heritage, Saratoga and Vaquero. AllianceTexas houses more than 7,200 single-family homes and 220 companies that have developed more than 31 million square feet and created 28,000 jobs.

Kroger’s Southwest Division operates 209 stores and 86 fuel centers in Texas and Louisiana.