Kroger to build new store in Forest

By Bryan Gentry

Published: May 23, 2008

Kroger is planning to expand one of its Lynchburg locations and to build a new store in a growing part of Forest.

The Ohio-based grocery chain will remodel its store at the corner of Timberlake and Old Graves Mill roads to enlarge its pharmacy and other departments, said Kroger spokesman Carl York.

The expansion will add a new front entrance, new bathrooms, a drive-through pharmacy, and larger dairy and cosmetics sections, York said.

Two subtenants in the building, a Japanese restaurant and an eye care center, will have to move out.

William Shaw, medical director at Shaw LaserEye and Optical Eyecare, said he learned last year that his lease would not be up for renewal due to the expansion.

At the end of July, he will move his business to the Wyndhurst development, where he has bought an office on Duncraig Street.

He said it’s close to his current location and he’s glad to be buying instead of leasing.

“I like the idea of not having to spend a whole lot of money on a building that I’m not building up any equity in,” Shaw said.

Employees from the Tokyo Japanese restaurant beside Kroger would not comment on their plans.

It’s not clear when the actual construction work will begin at the Timberlake Kroger. York said the store will not have to close when it does begin.

“There’ll be some work while people are shopping, but we try to keep the inconvenience as little as we can,” York said.

The new Kroger store slated for U.S. 221 in Forest will open sometime in 2009, York said.

It will include a 75,000-square-foot store, a drive-through pharmacy and a fuel center.

In February, Kroger bought the land for the new complex between Thomas Jefferson Road and Perrowville Road, not far from a lot of residential development.

“It’s going to be a good store for us,” York said.