Nearly a year after first announcing it would return a full-service grocery facility to Greensburg, Dillons made good on its promise Thursday morning with a groundbreaking ceremony that made official the start of construction of a 5,300 square foot supermarket that will be linked to the existing Kwik Shop a block west of Main Street on US 54.
Word was released by the office of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius the morning of July 20, 2007 that Dillons would first enlarge the food offerings of the 2,700 square foot Kwik Shop—a move that was completed last September. The plan at the time was for the addition of the supermarket portion to get underway by the end of 2007.
Though that second step has been taken seven months later than first anticipated, over a 100 residents turned out Thursday to applaud Dillons’ executives as they made comments related to the project that’s expected to be completed by January.
Described by Vice President of C-Store Buildings Mike Hoffmann as a “prototype” the hybrid convenience/grocery store will, in Hoffmann’s words, “offer Greensburg and local shoppers the best of both worlds. They’ll have both immediate consumption items (convenience store fare such as snacks and fountain drinks) and the take-home items of a supermarket in one building.”
The 8,000 square feet the store will entail is about the same space as the Dillons Supermarket that operated four blocks to the east before the tornado of May 4, 2007. As Hoffmann, pointed out, however, modern design allows 8,000 square feet to be put “to much better use” than at the former supermarket.
Pratt, Kan. —
