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Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD Sixteen Acres residents will have two new businesses in their neighborhood by October. Big Y Foods is opening a new market, "Fresh Acres," in the location of the company's former store on Wilbraham Road and PeoplesBank is opening a new branch bank where Bernie's once was. Peter Thomas, the vice president of real estate and design for Big Y Foods, told members of the Sixteen Acres Civic Association that construction on the Fresh Acres store is expected to be completed in September with an opening by mid-October. He emphasized that the new store will not be a "small Big Y." Instead it will be a pilot store for a new concept in food retailing for the company. Thomas said the inventory and services at Fresh Acres will include a farmers' market produce section featuring locally grown products showcased in an outdoor section of the store, along with a butcher shop, a bakery and a section called "the meal solution area," where meals ready to cook are featured. The store will also have gourmet pizza, which is different than the pizza currently offered at Big Y stores, a bulk food section, and an area with everyday staples. Thomas said that unlike conventional grocery stores, there would be only one size and perhaps one brand of those staple items. The store will have different specials than the Big Y markets. Many of the products will be natural or organic and Thomas said, "A lot of [the inventory] is geared toward foodies." Thomas said the store is being designed to be a "total experience that one can't find elsewhere." He noted that the product line is still being developed and the concepts behind the market are challenging the ways the company does business in its conventional stores. One of those challenges is having the main entrance to the store being an open area most of the year. There will be a 60 foot "air door" literally a wall of moving air that will keep the interior of the store warm and insects out and Thomas said store officials have been told a door system such as this one is effective in temperatures as low as 28 degrees. The hours will be different than other grocery stores. Thomas said Fresh Acres will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. There will be no overnight crews to stock shelves and trucks will make deliveries during the day. Thomas described the new store "as an investment in the city," and revealed that the store's name is an homage to the neighborhood. Frank Cataldo, of C&W Reality, that owns the plaza is making significant changes to the strip mall as well. There will be facade improvements, a re-paved and landscaped parking lot and lighting that is designed to illuminate the lot without contributing to light pollution. "When you drive by it's really going to look impressive," Cataldo said. Holyoke-based PeoplesBank has 14 branches throughout the Pioneer Valley and will open its latest office in Sixteen Acres during the first week of July, Jeannine Pelchat, executive vice president of retail banking, told the audience at the meeting. Many of the staff are from the neighborhood and Pelchat said the bank has offered to help organize a merchants association for the neighborhood. | ||||||
