Kroger Co. has received approval to build its latest huge Marketplace store in Greater Cincinnati.
Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket operator, has received approval from Hamilton County’s Rural Zoning Commission to build a Marketplace store. The new store will cover 125,000 to 130,000 square feet, Adam Goetzman, Green Township’s assistant administrator/development director, told me.
Kroger’s Marketplace stores, the biggest of its store concepts, include home decor, bed and bath items, a kitchen and small appliance department, home office products and toys, in addition to traditional grocery items. It aims to serve as a one-stop shop for consumers.
Kroger plans to replace its existing store at 5830 Harrison Ave. with the larger Marketplace store that it will build across the parking lot in the same development. That’s also home to Rave Cinemas.
A Kroger spokeswoman wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Kroger is likely to open that Marketplace store in six to nine months, Goetzman said.
The zoning commission approved the project in the summer and the Green Township Trustees reviewed it, Goetzman said. Now that a 60-day appeal period elapsed, Kroger has official approval to go ahead with the project.
Kroger just opened its largest Marketplace store in the country in Oakley last month. That behemoth covers 145,000 square feet. It has been replacing smaller stores around Greater Cincinnati and across the chain with larger Marketplace stores. It now has Marketplace stores locally in areas including Harrison, Colerain Township, Amelia, Independence and Mount Orab. Kroger has 15 Marketplace stores in its Cincinnati/Dayton region that includes 110 stores.
Kroger hasn’t determined yet what it’ll do with the existing store once the new one is built, Goetzman said. The development also has space for an outlot that is within Green Township’s entertainment district. He said that would make it easier for a fast-casual restaurant to go in that space.