Business owners on Dixie Highway in Springfield Township are eagerly anticipating the new Kroger store on Dixie.
The development, to be located on a parcel of land next to the Randy Hosler car dealership, is slated to get underway about March or April, according to developer John Mansour of JM Development.
Those business people surveyed feel the store is a long time in coming and can only boost the economy along the Dixie Highway corridor.
The Springfield Township Planning Commission gave final site plan approval to the project about 1-1/2 months ago. The development calls for two phases: the first will be 60,000 square feet to be used for the Kroger store itself, with 13,000 feet of auxiliary space; the second phase will be similar in size, according to Mansour.
The complex will include four auxiliary stores as well as a gas station.
Michael Welsh, owner of Magic Mike’s Mini Mart on Dixie, doesn’t believe the Kroger development will adversely affect his business. In fact, he believes the opposite to be true.
“I think it’s going to be great, because it will escalate the property values in the area,” he said. “There’s a science in this business that wherever a Meijer’s or a Kroger’s go, all the secondary businesses benefit because of the traffic. I’m tickled pink.”
He added he has received offers from Family Video and a 7-Eleven franchise in Livonia to buy the property since news of Kroger’s coming to Springfield first surfaced.
According to Welsh, he doesn’t expect Kroger will take away any of his business. “We’re a convenience store – we’re competing for a completely different customer,” he said.
Mike Jarbo, owner of Bridgelake Market on Dixie, is another businessman who is not overly concerned about Kroger taking away from his business. “We have no problem with it (Kroger’s coming to Springfield),” he said. “It will bring more business to the area.”
As far as Kroger’s future neighbors are concerned, Randy Hosler, owner of the car dealership that bears his name, also believes the Kroger complex will jump-start local business.
“I think it’s a good thing for the business and the township,” he said. “I think it will help open up the whole thing out there.”
When asked how the development will directly impact his business, Hosler replied the facility “gives someone something to do while their car’s being serviced.”