As of Nov. 17, Norfolk no longer has a Kroger store. But there’s hope that the situation could change.
In July 2017, city officials announced Kroger would open a massive “Marketplace” grocery store in a former Kmart space on Military Highway. Since then, it’s been crickets.
A reader recently asked about the company’s plans for the location through The Virginian-Pilot’s Glad You Asked initiative.
Kroger owns the property at 6101 N. Military Hwy., but it hasn’t opened a store there and so far has been unwilling to say whether it will.
Allison McGee, corporate affairs manager of Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic Division, told The Virginian-Pilot in October that no fate had been decided for the 23-acre parcel yet.
“Kroger does own property for a potential store site. However, that doesn’t mean a new store will be built,” she said in an October email. “We will be watching the market to determine demand and whether that would be a viable store location for Kroger.”
When asked this week for an update on the location, Kroger officials said they had none. Its Marketplace stores are quite a bit larger than typical grocery stores and also sell housewares, clothing and furniture.
Kroger closed its Wards Corner store on Little Creek Road on Nov. 17 because of declining sales and profitability. The store was originally scheduled to close in mid-December but shuttered earlier because products sold faster than expected, McGee said in an email on Wednesday.
McGee said most of the store’s 102 employees have found jobs at other Kroger stores and charitable contributions were not impacted by the closing.
The fate of the Wards Corner store was in question after Kroger bought a former Farm Fresh store located right across the street at 230 E. Little Creek Road. The company said in October that it doesn’t intend to open the former Farm Fresh store.
Having a difficult time keeping up with all the grocery store openings in Hampton Roads? Here’s a list of major grocery stores that opened this year and the date they opened. In addition to other grocery store openings next year on this list, Wegmans will enter the region’s grocery store scene on April 28 in Virginia Beach.
Aldi:
332 Thalia Rd., Virginia Beach – Aug. 23
1920 N. Main St., Suffolk – May 10
Earth Fare:
208 Monticello Ave., Williamsburg – June 27
Food Lion:
(all former Farm Fresh stores)
608 Mercury Blvd., Hampton – May 9
1615 General Booth Blvd., Virginia Beach – May 9
683 South Hughes Blvd., Elizabeth City, N.C. – May 9
Harris Teeter:
(former Farm Fresh store)
2129 General Booth Blvd., Virginia Beach – Dec. 12
Kroger:
(all former Farm Fresh stores)
1282 Smithfield Plaza, Smithfield – Dec. 5
1464 Mt. Pleasant Rd., Chesapeake – Nov. 28
7254 George Washington Hwy., Hayes – Nov. 14
1401 North Main St., Suffolk – Nov. 7
309 South Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake – Oct. 31
6500-C George Washington Hwy., Grafton – Oct. 24
2190 Coliseum Dr., Hampton – July 18
Piggly Wiggly:
3101 Jefferson Ave., Newport News – June 19
Publix:
4660 Monticello Ave., Williamsburg – Oct. 17
If you’re a diehard Farm Fresh shopper, you can still shop there. Three independent buyers reopened stores at:
4000 Victory Blvd., Portsmouth
928 Diamond Springs Rd., Virginia Beach
115 Norge Ln., Williamsburg
Briana Adhikusuma, 757-222-5349, b.adhikusuma@pilotonline.com