Houchens Industries
* Started in 1917 when Ervin G. Houchens opened his first grocery store in a rural area of Kentucky* Employs more than 18,000 people companywide and is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the United States* Key holdings include Food Giant supermarkets, which operate more than 100 grocery stores in eight states* Crossroads IGA neighborhood markets has more than 50 stores in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio* Houchens also has interests in construction, health care, insurance, manufacturing and distributionSource: Houchens Industries
A Kentucky grocer has plans to open new neighborhood markets in Chattanooga, with each offering a full line of groceries and fuel at stores at the bottom of Signal Mountain and in East Brainerd.
"I think it will fill a niche," said Terri Holder, real estate coordinator for Bowling Green, Ky.-based Houchens Industries, which is aiming to eventually open three Crossroads IGA stores in the Chattanooga market.
She said Houchens plans to spend about $1.4 million on each building, which will be about 11,000 square feet in size.
"It will have everything from meat to produce, just about anything you'll find in a grocery store at grocery store prices, not convenience store prices," Holder said.
In addition to groceries, the markets will carry some convenience store items as well as a quick-service restaurant, she said.
Holder said the company has identified two locations for its markets and is looking for the third. One store is slated to go up on a mostly vacant 2.7-acre parcel at Signal Mountain Road and Glendale Drive. Another is planned for Shallowford and Jenkins roads, she said.
The company is seeking a change at the Signal Mountain Road site from a residential R-1 zone to a commercial C-2 zoning to accommodate the project, even though part of the tract held a grocery store decades ago in a vacant existing building, according to a nearby resident.
"It was there for years and years and years," said Louann Lawson, who lives on Glendale Drive.
The site also will have about 50 parking spaces, according to documents submitted to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency. The Planning Commission is to consider the zoning request May 9 at 1 p.m. at the County Courthouse.
Holder said Houchens operates under one of the nation's biggest employee stock-owned plans, or ESOPs, which provide a company's workforce with an ownership interest in the business. The company has about 18,000 employees, according to its website.
Houchens has more than 50 Crossroads IGA stores in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, according to the website. It also runs Food Giant, which has more than 100 grocery stores in eight states, as well as Save-a-Lot markets, including some in Chattanooga. Holder said Houchens also operates some Sonic restaurants in the city.
She said the Crossroads IGA neighborhood markets in Chattanooga are to go in areas aimed at servicing higher-income levels than its Save-a-Lot stores.
Theresa Presley, who also lives on Glendale Drive, said she didn't think traffic would be an issue at the site off Signal Mountain Road, though it turns sharply to go up the mountain.
"We've already got a lot of traffic," she said, noting many people use Glendale as a shortcut to Mountain Creek Road.
Lawson said she looked forward to the opening of the neighborhood market.
"They'll probably see me more than they want to," she quipped.
The size of the Crossroads IGA stores will be about a fourth of the footprint of the new Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets, which the retail giant recently opened in the Chattanooga area.
Last summer, Food City shook up the Chattanooga area grocery market when it bought out 29 local Bi-Lo supermarket stores.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.