Friday, March 13, 2015

The Fresh Market Attaches Itself to Former Staples

The Fresh Market is coming to Roswell.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based The Fresh Market plans to open a new location in Roswell.  The new approximately 24,000 square foot natural foods market will open in place of the recently shuttered Staples at Roswell Corners shopping center.  The center is located at the corner of Hardscrabble and Woodstock Roads (Highway 92) and is anchored by a Super Target.  The Fresh Market will open on the Hardscrabble side of the center, adjacent to a T.J. Maxx.   

An approximately 12,000 square foot Trader Joe's is already in the area, about a mile away, in nearby Roswell Crossing. (Interestingly, both Roswell Corners and Roswell Crossing are owned and managed by Weingarten Realty.)  About four miles away, at the the corner of Mansell Road and Alpharetta Highway, a new 27,000 square foot Sprouts Farmers Market is under construction in Roswell Market Place.  No opening date has been announced, but current projections call for the store to open late this spring or early summer.   

The Fresh Market is also opening a new store near Emory University.  A 24,400 square foot The Fresh Market will anchor Brighten Park (fka Loehmann's Plaza) and should open early this summer.  

Where is your favorite organic market?  Are you excited for the new The Fresh Market locations?  What neighborhood is in need of a new natural foods grocery store?

Please share your thoughts below.

14 comments:

J Leeds said...

I was surprised when I first heard the rumors of this Fresh Market. I would have expected Target's lease to have terms that prohibited another grocery store from locating in the center.

BW said...

That's a very exciting addition for Roswell. However, since that's a Super Target store with a full grocery department, I find that to be a very big oversight on the part of Target's real estate department that they didn't have an exclusivity clause with Weingarten to be the only full-service grocery retailer in the center. Yes, The Fresh Market isn't a Publix or Kroger, but there seems to be quite a bit of overlap in the product offerings there and the grocery department at Super Target. I can think of few to no other power centers in the metro area with a Super Target or Walmart Supercenter AND a full-line grocery store. I believe there's a center in Tucker with a Kroger and Walmart Supercenter, but I'm not certain of that and I can't think of any other places like that.

Anonymous said...

I think TJs and Fresh Market are different enough for this to work. I've not been to Sprouts though.

BTW - Have you heard anything about Perimeter Mall remodeling plans for the next couple of years? I saw a sparse article on it from 11Alive but I bet you could find some more detailed info.

Anonymous said...

Actually there's relatively little sold at Fresh Market that would cross over with a Super Target, even with TJ's or Sprouts. It's also a radically different shopping experience. Most of Fresh Market's stock is very high end "gourmet" type groceries. I live near one, and enjoy browsing since it's so nice, but rarely buy. Most of it is not particularly healthy, natural or organic...just pretty, fancy and expensive. So they may find a niche for those looking for that.

Anonymous said...

Fresh market is great for meat and chicken. Target not so much.

Anonymous said...

rumor is that Target hasn't been happy with that location and may be closing anyway.

Partially has to do with difficulty getting in/out of parking lot from 92.

let me stress this is just a rumor.

OTOH, I can't see Target closing that location as there aren't any other Targets (super or otherwise) near that area. If I recall correctly, wasn't this location one of the first SuperTargets in the region?

Anonymous said...

Fresh Market is pretty good—but not necessarily fresh. I picked up a 4-pack of muffins in the "bakery" area and was surprised that they were ice cold. An employee confirmed that they had been frozen, but didn't say for how long.

jeff a. taylor said...

Actually I could Target WANTING something like a Fresh Market as a complementary good supplier of niche and high-end fare, which incents folks to do their "regular" nuts-and-bolts household shopping on the same outing, a couple minutes away. The Target at Johnson Ferry and Roswell Rd. shoe-horned in a grocery section after both a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods were up and running nearby. And as others have noticed, Fresh Market is particularly narrow and premium priced -- basically a butcher shop with a Dean & Deluca wanna be grafted on.

Anonymous said...

There are two other Target's near this one. One about 5 miles off Johnson Ferry/Roswell Road and the other (regular Target) is at Sandy Plains/Shallowford.

This Target though is about 3 mins from my house, so I hope that is just a rumor.

Anonymous said...

"There are two other Target's near this one".

Bah. Not nearly near enough for the radius of potential customers. Remember, the Target at Hwy 9/Hwy 92 closed when this SuperTarget opened (now a Tile store).

Both Johnson Ferry and Sandy Plains are WAY out of the way geographically for the audience that's in the Roswell/Crabapple area.

Johns Creek can support 4 Targets in their general area (Peachtree Corners, State Bridge, Holcomb Bridge, North Point)... I can't see Target closing this location in lieu of the ones you mentioned.

North Point's Target has done reasonably well with the BB&B (with expanded cosmetic area) right next door.

Question is how much revenue does Target get from groceries that they could potentially lose to Fresh Market? Different target audience, very little overlap in merchandise.

Penzey's Spices being in the same shopping center as Trader Joe's in Sandy Springs could be a similar discussion - and those two stores seem to thrive next to each other.

Anonymous said...

These 2 stores can both survive simply because Fresh Market is different from Super Target with regards to grocery items. Fresh Market is not a place that a normal family would do their primary grocery shopping as the selection of items is limited and the prices are slightly higher on staple items.

jeff a. taylor said...

Slightly higher prices is more than fair -- try $1.69 for Chobani vs. $1.29 (at most) at Target. Wal-Mart, natch sometimes as little as $1.

Anonymous said...

Weingarten also recently leased a Chicken Salad Chick right next door to Zoe's Kitchen, plus there's a Panera in the center. Makes no sense to these tenants competing like that. Poor business decisions.

Anonymous said...

Competition is good. I love Fresh Market & have shopped the location in Alpharetta. With Harry's gone, this is a great spot for fresh produce,, seafood & meat plus great customer service. Also, Chicken Salad Chick, Panera & Zoe's are all different concepts. Roswell can finally compete with East Cobb & Alpharetta in these areas!

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