Nearly 1,000 shoppers lined up before dawn for the grand opening of Kroger’s new Marketplace store in Little Elm, Texas, which opened its doors at 6 a.m. on July 31.
The 123,000-square-foot store, at 26587 E. University Drive in Aubrey, serves Little Elm, Aubrey, Providence Village and surrounding communities with more than 35,000 fresh products, including more than 1,500 local items. It is the first Kroger location to feature the grocer’s Indian Experience concept, which brings authentic Indian products and flavors to a broader audience.
The grocer said it is an extension of the Asian and Hispanic Experience concepts it has rolled out in North Texas stores where demographics align.
“Kroger is proud to open this new, state-of-the-art store that provides access to fresh, affordable groceries, while creating 200 new jobs for the local community,” said Rudy DiPietro, president of Kroger’s Texas Division. “We’ve tailored this store to meet the unique needs of this community with access to thousands of new, local, healthy, organic and multicultural products.”
As doors opened, shoppers were welcomed by the Little Elm High School marching band and drill and cheer teams, and early guests received prizes including gift cards, small appliances and breakfast items.
Opening festivities
The celebration began with a private event July 30 featuring a performance by the Ray E. Braswell High School Jazz Ensemble, a ribbon cutting and remarks from Little Elm Mayor Pro Tem Michel Hambrick, Little Elm Economic Development Corporation Board President Neil Blais, store leader Sean Sampson and DiPietro.
As part of its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan, Kroger donated to the store’s food rescue partner, Lovepacs, and to Ray E. Braswell High School’s music program.
Around the store
The store includes a cut fruit station, a Murray’s Cheese counter, a fuel center with 14 fueling positions and a grab-and-go kiosk, along with full-service grocery, produce, floral, meat and seafood, pharmacy and expanded general merchandise including home goods, apparel and toys.
The opening kicked off a weekly ad with exclusive savings from July 31-Aug. 4, including 30 cents off per gallon at the fuel center with a Kroger Rewards Card on the weekends of July 31-Aug. 2 and Aug. 7-9.
Kroger’s digital price tags are the worst price tags I’ve ever seen. The regular price, sale price, and lowest (Buy X to Save X) price are all crammed into a tiny space that’s a smaller than a regular price paper tag, so everything is far too small and too hard to read even with perfect vision. They lack sale end dates and make different types of sales look alike, which means shoppers will get them mixed up and buy the wrong number, thus being overcharged. Plus, those sales are hiding in plain sight now since all the tags are the same size, and that will certainly not help the company generate revenue. If Kroger really cares about customers, they would go back to large print paper tags so that everyone of all ages can read and spot sales with ease. Prices (and price tags) shouldn’t be fine print.
My mission when I was the owner of Murray’s Cheese was to bring great cheese to America. As the man who brought Murray’s to Kroger, I am pleased to see another new shop here in Texas. I salute President DiPietro on his beautiful new store. And wish the folks in Little Elm the great enjoyment of real cheese and other delicious food in their new superstore!