The Kroger Company issued a news release last Friday with both good and bad news for Fishers. First, the bad news.
Kroger will not be building a new store across the street at Allisonville Road and 116th Street as originally planned.
The good news is that the Cincinnati-based grocer plans a multi-million dollar upgrade to the current store in that area.
In the release, the company is clear that the new store at 116th and Allisonville will not be constructed.
“The decision to remodel at 7272 Fishers Crossing Drive ends the discussion of building a new store across the street,” the Kroger release said.
Kroger does cite the fact that the corporation has invested $42 million in building and expansion in its stores around Fishers.
It should be noted that when Amazon announced it was buying the grocery chain Whole Foods in 2017, Kroger stock took a hit in market trading. There is no way of knowing whether that had an impact on this decision, but note the following passage from the Kroger news release:
“In today’s business climate, refreshing the present building is the most logical decision and will still allow Kroger to provide even better service to our customers.”
Kroger announced no timeline or other details on the remodeling of the Fishers store.
With this announcement, that leaves open the question of what will happen to the demolished building site just across Allisonville Road, where the new Kroger was to be built. I asked the City of Fishers for comment on how the Kroger decision may impact their economic development planning for that area, and received the following response:
“The City will continue to identify ways to reinvigorate that intersection and the west side of Fishers to ensure all areas of the city are vibrant and sustainable.”