Kroger opens Richmond area’s second Marketplace store

The Staples Mill Kroger Marketplace store in Henrico County opened today amid plenty of space, a cheese shop, a Starbucks kiosk and a jewelry store.

The 123,000-square-foot store, at the intersection of Staples Mill and Hungary Spring Roads, is similar to the Kroger Marketplace at Stonebridge in Chesterfield County, which opened in December 2011.

Besides groceries, the new location offers 30,000 square feet of non-grocery selections.  These departments include an apparel section, home accents, cookware, toys, and more. Also in the store is a cheese shop from Greenwich-based Murray’s cheese, offering more than 175 varieties of cheese, a Starbucks kiosk with a seating area and free Wi-Fi and Fred Meyer Jewelers, the third-largest fine jewelry retailer in the nation.

Outside, is a fuel center with 18 bays.

“Our Richmond customers have shown us that they like the Marketplace format,” Mike Witt, store manager at the Kroger Marketplace at Staples Mill, said in a statement. Witt is the former manager of the Stonebridge Kroger Marketplace.

The Kroger Marketplace at Staples Mill employs 425 full- and part-time staff.

The Kroger Co. plans to open two more superstores in the Richmond market. The company is expanding a store in Rutland Commons in Hanover County from 74,000 to 115,000 square feet, a project that should be done later this year.  It also plans a 2015 opening for a 114,000-square-foot store on Iron Bridge Road in Chesterfield County.

The Kroger Mid-Atlantic division, located in Roanoke, operates 122 stores which includes stores in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. The Kroger Co. is based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.