Company starting work on new campus grocery
CHAMPAIGN – It’s taken the owners of County Market groceries some time to design a smaller-than-average store that will cater to students and families alike, plus have something hard to come by in the heart of the University of Illinois campus area – a parking lot of its own.
And they’re sure looking forward to seeing it open.
“We’re so excited about this store,” says Rich Niemann Jr., president of Niemann Foods, the Quincy-based chain of 65 stores that owns County Markets in the area.
Construction is about to begin on the newest County Market in Champaign, to be built on the site of the old Burnham Hospital at the corner of Fourth Street and Springfield Avenue.
The store should take about six months to complete, he said, and weather permitting, the work will start soon after a groundbreaking ceremony set for this morning.
“If the frost is out of the ground, we’ll be going at it,” Niemann added.
At 29,000 square feet, this store is going to be a little larger than half the size of average County Market groceries, Niemann said.
But it’s still going to be a complete grocery, following the same merchandising concept that the chain has been adding with the remodeling of its other stores in the local area.
“There is going to be a lot packed into that store,” Niemann promised. “It will be kind of an intense retail experience for people.”
The new store will focus on fresh and prepared foods, and will also have an organics and natural foods department, a Caribou coffee shop and a mezzanine level with offices and seating area for drinking coffee and eating foods from the store deli, Niemann said.
The dining area will have a lot of windows, so people sitting at the tables will have view of the streets below, said city Planning Director Bruce Knight.
The store, which will be right on the corner of Fourth and Springfield, will actually have three fronts with its main entrance facing Stoughton Street, Knight said.
The store will also have a parking lot across Stoughton with 80 to 100 spaces. Niemann said that’s an important part of the plan because the store is being designed to serve both university students and families in the community.
The new County Market store is part of larger redevelopment project at the old Burnham Hospital site that also includes an 18-story, 259-unit apartment building.
Niemann Foods is also in the midst of remodeling its County Market store on Glenn Park Drive, and that project is within a few weeks of being completed, Niemann said.
That store, along with the County Market at the corner of Duncan Road and Kirby Avenue, will also have Caribou coffee shops opening this spring, the company said.