By Sadie Hunter
After nearly a year of expansion, hiring and adding updated features inside the store, Kroger at 161st Street and Spring Mill Road is ready to premiere their hard work.
And they will during a grand opening at the store at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 17.
Announced by the company in the fall of 2014, the store has worked through the winter and spring to add new departments and update existing ones, including features like online ordering and a fresh meals department that will serve as a place for people to gather or grab a quick meal.
However, perhaps the most impressive expansion is that of the workforce.
The Cincinnati-based company has said with the store’s expansion to nearly 82,000 square feet—more than double the original size—they will add approximately 180 full time, part time and seasonal jobs, at least 30 of which will be specifically designated to keep up with demand from online ordering.
The new staff will mostly consist of Westfield residents. The store’s manager, Jill Ingrum, is a Westfield resident who has worked for Kroger for eight years, six years as a store manager.
“Many people think of us as a big company,” said Kroger spokesperson John Elliott. “But, we have a local store in every local community.”
The total economic development investment into the store was $12 million, and is part of a $465 million investment in central Indiana in the coming years.
Other Hamilton County stores will see similar expansions and upgrades in the future, but for now, Carmel’s Kroger at 1217 Range Line Rd., is the only one that’s been completed, and is the flagship store for central Indiana renovations.
Other changes in the store include complete integration of all-natural and organic foods into the main aisles, rather than having a separate section.
Jeff Burt, president of Kroger Central Division said each time organic and all-natural foods are integrated into the stores, it adds approximately 20 percent more to its supply.
In order to focus on the new fresh meals section, located at the front of the store, deli, bakery, floral, produce, meat and seafood departments were relocated to accommodate the grab and go experience.
Also at the front of the store, customers will find a full-service Starbucks that shares café seating with the fresh meals department.
Elliott said that just a few locations would have Starbucks stores inside. However, even less will have Murray’s Cheese shops, a world-famous cheese maker based in Greenwich, N.Y.
“Even fewer stores will have Murray’s,” Elliott said. “They have the best cheeses from around the world. Based in Greenwich, N.Y., they have cheese caves there where there age cheese only at their two New York locations. For cheese aficionados, they all know Murray’s.”
Elliott said that store employees wearing red in the cheese shop have all been sent by the Kroger Company to train at the original New York locations.
Elliott said sometimes cheese and wine specialists for the store are sent to travel abroad to study in countries like Italy or France.
The expansion also brought The Little Clinic, a retail health clinic and subsidiary of Kroger, to the store in early June, but the pharmacy has been expanded and relocated to accommodate the change, which removed the drive-thru feature.
The most anticipated upgrade to the store, by both customers and the company, is online ordering and pickup.
The online ordering feature will let customers grocery shop online from more than 40,000 items available inside the store, including fresh and frozen foods.
Elliott said then, a Kroger employee will walk around the store with a card and the order list, to grab the exact items requested. The order will then be placed in the online ordering room, in four designated temperature zones, where customers will reserve a time to pick up their orders, without ever leaving their vehicles.
“A lot of training goes into not just getting what’s on the list, but how to get exactly the right produce, what’s the best green pepper in the bin to pick out and so on,” Elliott said.
Ingrum said online ordering will still let customers take advantage of sales and paper and online coupons available.
Ingrum said outdoor construction on the store began in February, knocking out the north end and south end, adding approximately 20,000 square feet to the sales floor alone and another entrance on the west side of the building, Although the store never closed for business throughout the remodel, Sept. 17’s event will serve as the grand re-opening and ribbon cutting.
Visit the store
Address: 150 W 161st St., Westfield.
Phone: Store: 867-6314, Pharmacy: 867-4187
Website: http://bit.ly/1LfbW5w
Store hours: 24 hours
Pharmacy hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, 8 am. To 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
