i need some info on kroger's WELCOME stores

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kris-alyx
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i need some info on kroger's WELCOME stores

Post by kris-alyx »

does anyone have any infomation on kroger's WELCOME stores that were in business in the early to mid 90's i know that there were three locations in virginia the first one was at the berlington coat factory on midlothian turnpike, location no 2 was at the sam ash guitar store on west broad street, & the last one was in roanoke at valley view mall, so if anyone has info on the chain & did kroger actually own the chain or am i just mistaken about this, thanks.
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Re: i need some info on kroger's WELCOME stores

Post by Groceteria »

There is already some discussion of Welcome stores in another thread, although further discussion should probably go here rather than there:
Dave wrote:
krogerclerk wrote:...There was also Kroger's attempt at a CUB-like superwarehouse format in Greenville, SC during the late 80's which also was sold to BiLo. IIRC is was named Welcome...
Kroger came to Richmond in June, 1988 with one Welcome store (Pocono Crossing on Midlothian Turnpike) and plans for a second location. From what I can tell, the Richmond store came shortly after the Greenville store. Both the Greenville and Richmond stores were large - around 93,000 square feet.

The Welcome store was closed in September, 1988, ending Kroger's presence in Richmond until the acquisition of the Hannaford locations through the Delhaize acquisition. The Welcome store became a Rack 'N Sack (owned by Farm Fresh) and eventually was acquired by Community Pride, who ended up closing the store some time ago. It became a Burlington COat Facotry after being vacant for quite a while. The land for the second store, never constructed, was sold to Ukrop's who built a store there (Westpark on West Broad Street).

I didn't get a chance to visit the Welcome store often during it's short tenure. The connection with Kroger was played down - some Kroger merchandise, but the idea was that you weren't supposed to notice any Kroger connection (though the connection was well publicized in the newspaper).

Were there any other Welcome stores?
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Dave
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Re: i need some info on kroger's WELCOME stores

Post by Dave »

kris-alyx wrote:does anyone have any infomation on kroger's WELCOME stores that were in business in the early to mid 90's i know that there were three locations in virginia the first one was at the berlington coat factory on midlothian turnpike, location no 2 was at the sam ash guitar store on west broad street, & the last one was in roanoke at valley view mall, so if anyone has info on the chain & did kroger actually own the chain or am i just mistaken about this, thanks.
Kroger owned Welcome and operated them as another brand. The Midlothian Turnpike store was the only Welcome that ever opened in Richmond. Kroger had acquired land for a second store at West Park, across the street from where Sam Ash is today, but never built the second store. The land was sold to Ukrop's and is now the location of their West Park store. The current Sam Ash location at 9110 West Broad was a Farm Fresh from 1986 onward, so that predated Kroger's foray into Richmond with the Welcome format.

As I posted before, the Welcome on Midlothian was opened in June, 1988 and was gone by the fall, becoming a Farm Fresh operation (Rack 'N Sack). I was not aware that there was ever a Welcome store in Roanoke; the only other one I ever heard of was in Greenville, SC.

So, they opened earlier than the "early to mid-90's" and were gone before that period, as well.
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Re: i need some info on kroger's WELCOME stores

Post by Groceteria »

Found a little more information: the first one was apparently located in Greenville SC about 1987. Similar experiments at about the same time were the "power alley" (Louisville KY) and the "futurestore" (not to be confused with A&P's prototype of the same name), which debuted in Cincinnati the same year. All stressed "the contemporary decor, the emphasis on perishables, the service departments and the diminished grocery section" per a Supermarket News article.
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