Andersons Market opens
Written by Autumn Lee | | news@toledofreepress.com
The Andersons, Inc. has made a departure from the norm of its general food stores by officially opening its 31,000 square feet specialty food market in Sylvania on April 26.
The Andersons Market, located at 7638 W. Sylvania Ave., employs about 85 people and equals about twice the food areas available in the 140,000 square feet Andersons general stores that offer additional items for home improvement, lawn and garden care, pet care and sporting goods.
The market has a “broad selection of fresh quality foods ranging from every day to gourmet items,” John Hoover, director of marketing and new business development, said.
Within the market, customers will find an atmosphere of warm tones of yellow, orange and red with natural-looking décor elements that extend throughout the store.
Various departments of the market include the House of Meats butcher shop, a bakery, a deli with an array of meats, cheeses and other items, a coffee bar, a well-stocked wine section and a wellness center that featurs vitamins and health supplements.
President of Retail Dan Anderson said during the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony, “We hope to be a part of the community for a long, long time.”
“We’re proud of this effort to get this far. …We’ve had a wonderful team working on this [project],” he said.
Prior to cutting the ribbon to symbolize the official opening of the market, Anderson asked employees from different departments to come up and cut into various items including a pineapple, a two-foot sub sandwich and a linked sausage, before having another employee finally uncork a bottle of champagne.
Hoover said the continued success of the Andersons food sales in its general stores led them to study a food-only store concept for about the last two years where they visited various types of food stores across the country.
The Andersons, Inc. identified about 30 potential sites within the area before narrowing it down to six and then finally choosing to develop at the Sylvania Avenue location, according to Hoover.
The Design Forum, based out of Dayton, provided the market’s design concept and facility development, and the Novi, Mich.-based PPC Retail Design completed work on interior development.
The Tomahawk Development Company constructed the Andersons Market that serves as the anchor of a complex called Harvest Place that contains an adjacent seven available spots for lease totaling nearly 14,000 square feet.
Six of those spaces range from 1,540 to 1,575 square feet in area and the other contains about an area of about 4,000 square feet.
Mark Rasmus, Tomahawk president, said they have received much interest particularly since Andersons soft opening occurred on April 20.
Rasmus said Harvest Place would most likely attract businesses “very typical to any shopping center” that has a food store anchor as he speculated the complex could draw some restaurants, a beauty salon and possibly a financial institution.
While Rasmus could not identify interested parties, he did say two letters of intent have been executed and suspects they will probably have two lease agreements signed within the next 10 to 14 days.
Since the soft opening, Hoover said they have received an “outstanding response” and the customer response has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
During the grand opening, first-time Andersons Market customer, Michelle Fall, a Toledo resident, described the store as “beautiful.”
Fall commented she liked the spaciousness of the market, and it reminded her of an expanded version of the produce/food section found at The Andersons Talmadge Road location.
As part of its grand opening celebration, The Andersons, Inc. will be supporting Sylvania service organizations with a gift-matching program of 5 percent of daily receipts (up to $2,500 per organization) on designated days during the month of May.
