Updated Friday 11:24 a.m.
The Fresh Market grocery company has signed a letter of intent to locate in the Peachtree Crossings shopping center in Peachtree City.
The Fresh Market grocery company has signed a letter of intent to locate in the Peachtree Crossings shopping center in Peachtree City.
Fresh Market, which bills itself as a gourmet supermarket, will be taking over the grocery store vacated June 2009 by Kroger. The company will occupy 20,000 square feet of the 32,000 sq. ft. store and hopes are for the store to be open “early next year” said Peachtree Crossings leasing agent Bill Hooper.
Fresh Market will have input on the tenants that will be located in the leftover space, Hooper said.
Hooper cautioned that a lease not yet been signed and there is still much work to be done, as the Kroger facade will be completely redone.
Fresh Market had been the subject of a strong pitch from the local community, but the company initially rebuffed the idea and said it would revisit the matter down the road.
“For a while we were told flat out: ‘Don’t even think about coming back to us for two years until we have all this sorted out,” Hooper recalled. “Of course I came back to them anyway and the rest is history.”
In addition to the new facade for Fresh Market, Hooper said plans are being developed to update the entire shopping center’s facade “and get it moved a little closer to the 21st century.”
That project will not disturb existing tenants, he said.
Mayor Don Haddix credited Hooper for pulling off a significant victory for the city. It’s especially a win for neighbors in the Glenloch area who hoped to have a grocery store to replace the “baby Kroger.” Tenants of Peachtree Crossings were also hopeful a grocer would fill the empty space to promote a higher volume of customers coming to the center.
The Development Authority of Peachtree City also worked on the project in an effort to lure Fresh Market, and other grocers were pursued including Trader Joe’s. Local resident Caren Russell also helped in the effort to initially get the attention of Fresh Market executives.
To get a taste of what The Fresh Market brings to the table, visit www.freshmarket.com.
