The last available commercial space at the Shops at Lafayette Park has been leased, and will open as Downtown Foodland in Spring of 2008.
Proprietor Keith Tansil is currently the manager of Metro Foodland in Grandmont-Rosedale, and spent 15 years with Kroger prior to that. He has been interested in operating his own grocery store for some time, and recently divested of Subway restaurants he owned in order to execute his plan.
Besides the availability of this particular space, he was drawn by the downtown area's demographics. "I researched the area, and I saw there wasn't a viable supermarket," he says. "So, I did a market study and it came back really good."
Tansil says the 14,000-square-foot grocery store will be full-service, with deli and produce departments, and characterizes it as "upscale" with a variety of organic and specialty foodstuffs. He is open to meeting with community groups to learn about particular products that they are interested in the store carrying.
The property owner, First Commercial Realty & Development Co., is currently white-boxing the space. Tansil hopes to begin his work in January and open up shop in March or April.
Source: Keith Tansil, Downtown Foodland
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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