NEW KROGER MARKETPLACE IN MORAINE SEEKS WORKERS
Marketplace, expected to double footprint in Moraine, is hiring.
— The new Kroger Marketplace in Moraine is hiring to fill jobs as it nears its opening, targeted for the end of the month, according to the city.
The new store – an investment of about $4 million by the company — is expected to more than double Kroger’s retail space at the Alex Bell Plaza off Ohio 741 in Moraine and add jobs, officials have said.
Signs indicate an ongoing hiring effort at the new site being built just north of the 57,000-squarefoot existing store.
“Kroger is proposing to be open by February 27,” according to Moraine city records. “Grand opening will come later after demo of existing building and parking improvements.”
Plans call for the Kroger Marketplace to be about 122,000 square feet, including both floor and “back-of-house” space, company Spokeswoman Erin Rolfes has said.
Attempts to reach Rolfes on Tuesday regarding the opening date, jobs and other store details were unsuccessful.
Moraine City Manager Michael Davis confirmed the target date for the opening. Davis said he expects the new store to add jobs and invigorate nearby business activity.
“It’s going to be a really nice store,” he said. “And it’s already energizing a whole quadrant” in the Springboro Pike corridor of Moraine “and we’re really excited about it.”
Kroger Marketplace stores offer the company’s variety of food products but also expand into clothing, kitchen and small appliances, home office, toys and decor. Many of the Marketplaces also add food courts, wine bars, salad bars and Kroger pickup options.
Rolfes previously said decisions on what the Moraine site will include were not yet final, but said it would include Kroger PickUp - where online orders are delivered to customers’ vehicles - and likely some home goods.
Once the new site opens, the current location will close and be torn down, officials said. The new store will eventually have about 530 parking spaces and a fueling center, Rolfes said.
Kroger bought the plaza in 2014 for $2.3 million and demolished much of it. The land straddled the boundaries of the city and Miami Twp. until Moraine annexed the site a few years ago.