Mission Ridge Food City groundbreaking
Company officials announced Wednesday that construction is well underway on the new Mission Ridge Food City. The 38,100+ square foot supermarket is being constructed on the site of the former location. The project is expected to be completed by early summer.
“The Mission Ridge area residents have certainly been supportive of our company and we’re excited to have the opportunity to build a new, larger, much improved Food City to replace the former outdated facility,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer.
The company temporarily closed the Mission Ridge store earlier this year to make way for construction of the new state-of-the-art supermarket. “As you can imagine, closing the store, even temporarily was an extremely difficult decision for our company,” said Mr. Smith. “Unfortunately, it was the only viable option that would allow us to safely build the new store on the site. However, our customers can rest assured that we are utilizing every resource at our disposal to erect the new structure in the quickest, safest manner possible, to minimize shopping interruption and inconvenience.”
Food City’s Battlefield Parkway location in Fort Oglethorpe, as well as their Chickamauga Avenue store in Rossville are welcoming Mission Ridge customers during the temporary closing.
The new location will include an in-store bakery/deli, complete with a hot food bar, expanded café and seating area. Full service meat and seafood departments will offer pre-marinated and seasoned oven ready products, plus a selection of meats that are all-natural with no solutions added, including Certified Angus Beef. In-house meat cutters will hand cut steaks and fresh meat to order. Expanded grocery, frozen food and produce departments will go well beyond the normal fare with a selection of gourmet, international and specialty items. Rapid checkout service will be provided by five traditional check-out lanes, one express lane and four self-check-outs.
The store will also offer a Food City Pharmacy, equipped with a drive-thru for greater ease in prescription services and a Food City Gas N’ Go, featuring a three pump station, including diesel fuel.
The new location will also feature several award winning energy saving concepts, ranging from energy efficient glass cooler doors, parking lot lights and refrigeration systems to motion sensors and 100 percent LED lighting, as well as an open rafter ceiling design.
The Mission Ridge store associates were also temporarily transferred to other area Food City locations during the closing.
“I’m very excited about the new store and the additional services it will provide our customers,” said Store Manager Cade Allison. “Our Store Planning and Development team does an excellent job and I’m confident they will get us up and going as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I’m working between the other area Food City locations, checking on my customers and associates.”
“The larger departments will allow for enhanced variety and selection and greater ease maneuvering through the store,” said Daryl Massey, Food City district manager. “I am confident that our customers are going to be pleased with their new, much improved Food City and will agree that it was well worth the wait.”