Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Kroger Grand Opening in Franklin #franklinkrogerlaunch

Disclosure:  Kroger selected several local bloggers, including me, to create posts about the Franklin Grand Opening, and provided  me with a $100 Kroger gift card, a gift bag valued at $100 and a complimentary lunch to thank me for my participation and post.

There are a couple more Disney posts to come, but I wanted to talk about a recent event I attended!

When I was invited to attend a grand opening blogger event at the new Kroger just up the street, my curiosity definitely got the best of me.  I've been shopping at a different grocery store due to location, even though I grew up in a Kroger-shopping household in Indiana.  Now, there's a brand-new store practically around the corner from our apartment!


The first thing that struck me about the new store was the size.  It's nearly twice the size of the previous store at that location, with over 75,000 square feet of retail space.  I was immediately impressed by the availability of local and locally sourced items for sale, including Tennessee produce!  They have 20 square feet of organic produce in their fresh section, with some of it sourced in TN.  I also loved the fresh flower shop upon entry, with over 250 varieties of flowers.


I think my favorite part of the store was the prepared foods area.  They have a bistro area where you can get hot meals (hello, new lunchtime hangout!) for under $7, or cold bistro items to take home.  There's even a sushi shop where trained chefs prepare made-to-order sushi.  For real, in a grocery store!  I have seen plenty of places with sushi served up in store, but never made-to-order in person.


A definite highlight of the new store is the Murray's Cheese Shop, part of a sole partnership with Kroger to install these one-of-a-kind boutiques within stores.  I loved how the cheeses were merchandised by type (not country), making it easy to find a good cheese for something like melting.  You'll look like a diva at your next house party when you have the Murray's experts help you set up a cheese board, complete with pairings you can purchase in-store like jams and pickled green beans.


Another store within a store is their Live Naturally section.  It's like having a mini natural foods store in the middle of your regular grocery.  They feature their affordable Simple Truth natural brands throughout the entire store, but in this section you can grind your own fresh peanut or almond butter and choose from over 2,000 natural food items.  I really like not having to go to another store to get these specialty items; one trip is all you'll need here.


Honestly, there's so much to tell you about this store, I could probably do another post about it.  There's a kitchen place where you can buy kitchenware, a fuel center, a drive-thru pharmacy, even a The Little Clinic for convenient neighborhood health care.  The clinic even does sports and camp physicals.


And the best part for a working couple like me and Dan?  It's OPEN 24/7.  For real.  Everything I tasted was delicious, the store fixtures are beautiful, and I can't imagine not being able to find everything on my list in this store.  I can even get a Kroger-brand lactose-free milk.  Egads!  And all milk is guaranteed fresh for 10 days.  While most of the bloggers seemed to be food or mommy bloggers, I would say that from this girl's perspective this Kroger can meet the needs of pretty much anyone, including working singles like us.

It's clear that the people of Franklin are truly excited about it too.  Even on a weekday afternoon, it was jam-packed with folks.  But you won't be waiting in line; special sensors tell the store personnel how many lanes to open every 30 minutes in order to ensure no more than TWO PEOPLE in each line at a time.  Amazing technology, all for your convenience.  Crazy awesome!

Thanks to Kroger for having us over to your new "home", and for stuffing us full of delicious sushi, stuffed mushrooms, truffled mashed potatoes, fancy grilled cheese, fresh bread, and more!  I can't wait to bring Dan along for an epic grocery shopping trip soon.

post signature

Disclosure:  Kroger selected several local bloggers, including me, to create posts about the Franklin Grand Opening, and provided  me with a $100 Kroger gift card, a gift bag valued at $100 and a complimentary lunch to thank me for my participation and post.

8 comments:

  1. That looks like a nice grocery store! I just went to another Kroger in Franklin for the first time last week, and Trader Joe's for the first time today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am SO jealous! I love Kroger. When I was in college, I would go there to relax at all hours of the day/night. So I would probably be in Heaven if our Kroger was that large. The Kroger in my area is kind of sketchy, but they are about to remodel. Fingers crossed that we get something like the Kroger by you!

    XX, SS || A Little Seersucker Sass

    ReplyDelete
  3. How fun, Aubrey!!! We live within walking distance of the Kroger over here in Hillsboro Rd...I'm looking forward to checking out this new one!! It looks lovely!!! Thanks for sharing the scoop! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. If Trader Joe's would come to Franklin, I would never leave town except for special events in Nashville. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. There are a range of Krogers, right? But I bet you that with the remodel you get a much better store, with some of these awesome boutique concepts!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's going to be a great new place to grab lunch, or a prepared meal to take home. It's right on my commute.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love this post! You did Kroger proud.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...