Eisenhower Crossing Kroger Marketplace opened, Wednesday morning, to plenty of fanfare.
Local dignitaries, including State Sen. Harold Jones, District 5 Commissioner-elect Don Clark and District 3 Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight joined Kroger’s administrative staff — including Atlanta Division President Victor Smith, in ushering in the new supermarket off Jimmie Dyess Parkway.
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“This is the first net new store in the Atlanta Division in five years, so we’re pleased to be here,” said Smith. “We’re truly thankful for all the folks that helped us make this thing to life.”
The new store, along an intersection of Jimmie Dyess Parkway and Harper Franklin Avenue, was completed right on time, having been scheduled for spring of this year before Kroger broke ground at the site last January.
Its 124,000 square feet of space houses several unique features, including a clothing section, a Murray’s Cheese Shop, a sushi bar and grocery pickup options. A gas station, which opened a day prior, sits adjacent to the store.
The grocery chain also presented more than $5,000 in donations: $2,500 to Golden Harvest Food Bank, with which it will partner as part of its Zero Hunger Zero Waste initiative to combat hunger in local communities, another $2,500 to American Legion, and $500 to neighboring Bel Air Elementary School.
The new supermarket was a $32 million investment, garnered in part via the efforts of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, which is to reimburse Kroger for the costs of improving ingress and egress to the site.
“I’ll say that it has taken a village, a community, like yourselves to get this store,” said McKnight, lauding her fellow commissioners, as well as former Commissioner John Clark, for supporting the development. “This is the fastest growing area in Augusta-Richmond County, and it is well deserved.”
Eisenhower Crossing Kroger Marketplace is located at 3942 Harper Franklin Ave.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
