Fred Meyer solicits feedback for new Palmer store

PALMER — More details have solidified regarding big box changes for the Palmer retail district, and Fred Meyer officials will go to local residents for feedback.

While the new Fred Meyer grocery and retail outlet won’t be quite as large as the Wasilla outlet store, which covers 168,599 square feet, it will add about 60 percent more square feet to the store’s present outlet location east of the Glenn Highway, according to figures provided by company spokeswoman Melinda Merrill.

Company officials will now seek public comment on the proposed construction at a meeting from 5 to 7 p.m., Jan. 14 at the Mat-Su Senior Services, 1132 South Chugach St. The current store covers 74,700 square feet, while the planned outlet at the site of the former Pioneer Plaza shopping mall will cover 123,000 square feet, Merrill said.

“It’ll be nice, much bigger than our current store,” she said.

In addition to more elbowroom, the planned Palmer store also will feature a different mix of items for sale, Merrill said.

“It will be more like the full line,” she said. “It will carry more of the stuff that Wasilla carries, but it is a smaller store.”

From a customer’s-eye view, that means more organic and natural offerings, as well as more apparel and house-ware merchandise, which are typically good sellers, Merrill said.

Fred Meyer has operated out of its cozy current space since 2004, when the store opened with a 350-pound cake and donations to local community organizations. The new Fred Meyer outlet will build on the 2010 relocation of the Palmer Carrs grocery store from Pioneer Plaza to its current location south of the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Palmer Mayor Delena Johnson said city officials have reviewed preliminary plans for the site. The point of the meeting, required by the terms of Fred Meyer’s large retail outlet license, is to present those plans to the people, Johnson said.

“There may be some concerns we need to follow up on,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it. “This (meeting) is so people know what’s going on, so they’re not surprised.”

Fred Meyer is a Pacific Northwest regional grocer and retail outlet store owned by Cincinnati-based grocery giant Kroger Inc., the largest grocer in the U.S., according to the National Retail Federation website. Carrs, owned and operated by Safeway, is the second-largest grocer in the United States, according to the federation.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.