Last updated on September 4th, 2012 at 11:41 am
The new Ruler Foods discount supermarket opened in Audubon Village shopping center on U.S. 41-North in Henderson, Ky., late last week, filling the remainder of the former Walmart space and nearly completing the rebirth of the 25-year-old shopping center.
The Gleaner reports that the new grocery sits in an approximately 25,000-s.f. space between Office Depot and the Traderbaker Vendor Mall.
The three stores now occupy the 80,000-s.f. space that Walmart left empty when it moved into its 202,739-s.f. Supercenter off U.S. 60-East in early 2007.
The Ruler Foods store is the first opened in Kentucky by parent company JayC Food Stores, a Seymour, Ind.-based subsidiary of supermarket giant Kroger Co. This store opened 20 years to the day of the opening of the discount chain’s first location.
It’s also the third Ruler to locate in this market; there is one in Evansville and Newburgh.
“We will have five in the next month,” with two more Ruler Foods set to open soon on Green River Road and First Avenue in Evansville, according to Paul Bowen, division president of JayC, a 149-year-old grocery company that was acquired by Kroger in 1999. Bowen said Ruler Foods strives to have the “best prices” in a market; “a good selection so customers can do most of their shopping here;” Kroger-brand food items; and a clean facility.
“We’re a limited or edited assortment store,” he said. “We usually have one or two choices of an item instead of a dozen. They’re usually Kroger-brand products.”
Indeed, the store’s shelves are dominated by Kroger- and Kroger Value-branded foods, although some national brand-name items appear on shelves. The grocery has meat, produce and frozen food departments.
“We’re an extreme value store that offers a complete shopping experience,” Bowen said.
“Our customers are people who have to save money or want to save money,” he said.
In the featured photo at top: Eager shoppers crowd through the door after the ribbon cutting last week for the new Ruler Foods supermarket located in Henderson’s Audubon Village shopping center. The 25,000-s.f. store is the first opened in Kentucky by parent company JayC Food Stores, a Seymour, Ind.-based subsidiary of supermarket giant Kroger Co. (Photo by Mike Lawrence/The Gleaner)
