LANCASTER, Pa. -- Giant To Go, a convenience store by Giant Food Stores, will be built at Richmond Square, a retail development in Lancaster, Pa., reported The Lancaster New Era. The 4,422-square-foot store will sell produce, meat, deli and bakery items inside and have eight gasoline dispensers on the fuel island.
For Giant, operating a c-store is a new concept, and the store in Manheim Township will be a prototype, said the newspaper. The c-store, which has not yet begun construction, is expected to open during the first three months of 2009. A Giant spokesperson declined to provide further [image-nocss] details about the store.
The Richmond Square development has 30,000 square feet of retail space and features apartments above stores. It is one part of a "village-style" development at the intersection that includes housing units, office and retail, said the report.
Separately, Jewel-Osco has opened its second small-format "c-store," reported The Chicago Sun-Times. Jewel-Osco, which is testing a small specialty foods convenience store in Lincoln Park. The company's Urban Fresh by Jewel store opened yesterday in Chicago.At 16,000 square feet, it is about a quarter of the size of an average Jewel-Osco location andcarries upscale and organic foods, including fully cooked meals, gourmet sandwiches and desserts and ready-to-cook items.
The setup—foods are grouped into pods to make for quick pickings of salads and deli items and of 10 checkout stations, six are self-service—is meant to appeal to the youthful, monied and rushed neighborhood, Jewel-Osco spokesperson Miguel Alba told the paper.
"It's a response to our customers' on-the-go lifestyle, the urban lifestyle of people who want to shop locally," Alba said. "We're making it convenient for our customers."
Shoppers there will find high-end coffees for self-grinding, lobster with Shrimp Rockefeller, hazelnut and currant-baked apples. Of the 400 wines, about 200 are unique to the Lincoln Park location, and they include Francis Ford Coppola's Encyclopedia wines.
More traditional grocery store items are available—Lucky Charms is in the cereal aisle along with Nature's Park Organic Flax Plus Raisin Bran—but the emphasis is on the high-end. Hershey's and Wrigley's products are not foundat the checkout area. That real estate belongs to the likes of New Tree's Sexy Belgium chocolate bars and Newman's Own Organics mints.
The store, which has a blog to promote its specials, stands on the site of the failed Sunflower Market store that was operated by Jewel parent SuperValu Inc. Five Sunflower Markets, a value organic food chain intended to rival Whole Foods, were closed earlier this year.
The company said it has no plans to open stores similar to Urban Fresh. But Jewel's competition has similar hybrid grocery and convenience-oriented stores up and running or in the works.Melrose Park, Ill.-based Jewel-Osco, a SUPERVALU company, operates 183 stores in Illinois, Iowa and Indiana. (Click here to view previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
Also, Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc. opened a new c-store in High Point, N.C., just outside Greensboro. The new store brings the total store count for Sheetz in North Carolina to 18.
While doors officially opened to customersyesterday morning, employees hosted a grand-opening celebration with a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday afternoon. As part of the festivities, the company made a donation to the Miracle League of High Point. The contribution will be used to help develop a new baseball field that is primarily used by children with special needs.The new store features cold and toasted subs, a variety of salads, along with French fries, onion rings, chicken fingers, burgers and much more, all made fresh to order, just the way the customer wants at reasonable prices.
The store will also feature Sheetz Bros. Coffeez, a full-service espresso and smoothie bar staffed by a trained barista. Customers can order hand-made specialty coffee drinks including lattes, cappuccinos and mochas—hot, frozen or iced.
Frozen fruit smoothies round out the specialty drink menu. For those who prefer to pour their own, Sheetz offers premium brewed self-serve coffees made from 100% Arabica beans in a variety of flavors such as Breakfast Blend, Serious Dark Roast, 100% Colombian and Hazelnut.
As always at Sheetz, customers place their food and specialty coffee orders at touchscreen order kiosks. A surcharge-free ATM and a variety of retailer gift and phone cards are available for the convenience of busy customers.
Sheetz operates more than 340 convenience locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.
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