Construction has started on a retail center anchored by a Tom Thumb grocery store north of Fort Worth, an area that is rapidly growing with new housing.
Leaders from Tom Thumb, a subsidiary of Albertsons Cos. Inc., were joined by executives from Hillwood and Ridgemont Co. on Jan. 28 to celebrate the groundbreaking of the 63,000-square-foot store at 1046 Market Way in Argyle. The store is estimated to open in spring 2026.
Tom Thumb is planned to be the centerpiece of Harvest Town Center, a retail center that is currently home to McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and Chase Bank.
The center is near two massive residential communities planned by Hillwood: the 4,000-home Harvest in Argyle and the 3,100-home Pecan Square in Northlake. The profusion of new homes is one factor that attracted Tom Thumb to the area, said Christy Lara, direction of communications and public relations for Albertsons.
“There’s definitely a demand,” Lara said. “We’ve heard from so many residents in this area: ‘We really need a grocery store. We want a grocery store.’ So we’re super excited to bring the grocery store here.”
But Tom Thumb is just one piece of a larger retail development. The center will be 138,000 square feet, developed across two phases. Restaurants and an additional bank are on the way.
Adding a grocery store to the area fills in a big gap, said Guy Grivas, vice president of retail for Hillwood. The closest grocery stores are a 20-30 minute drive away.
“As north Fort Worth continues to grow and expand, there’s no grocery around here to service all of that growth,” he said. “So Tom Thumb really wanted to be here, and so fortunately for us, it wasn’t necessarily a hard sell.”
Frost Bank helped finance the project. Irving-based Ridgemont Construction Co. is the construction partner.
Grocers such as Kroger, H-E-B and Tom Thumb are driving much of the retail development in Dallas-Fort Worth, delivering 1.5 million square feet last year, according to a recent Weitzman report. Kroger Co. recently announced two new locations, in far north Fort Worth and Little Elm, after its attempted acquisition of Albertsons was blocked by a judge last year.