The Smith's Food & Drug Store in Sugar House will close for good this month, to be replaced by a larger $8 million store scheduled to open in September.
Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. announced this week that the existing 46,000-square-foot Smith's store at 2135 S. 900 East will close at midnight Sunday. Demolition will begin on April 19.
The company will build a new 50,000-square-foot store on the same site.
"We think the new store will be a wonderful addition to the community," said Smith's spokeswoman Marsha Gilford. "We've been wanting to replace that tired store for a few years now."
All of the Sugar House Smith's employees will be relocated to other stores during the rebuilding project. The new store will resemble the Smith's store recently built at 402 Sixth Ave., Gilford said.
"We've had tremendous success with the Avenues store, and the new store will have much the same feel," she said. "Sugar House and the Avenues are similar because in both projects there was a close relationship between the community, the city and Smith's to make it a win-win for everybody."
The Sugar House Smith's store was built in 1976. It was the first Smith's store to combine grocery items with general merchandise and the third Smith's store in Utah to include a pharmacy. The original 34,000-square-foot store was remodeled in 1991 to add an additional 12,000 square feet.
The Sugar House rebuild is one of several projects on tap for Smith's this summer. The company also will spend more than $7 million to complete the transition of five Fred Meyer stores — in Bountiful, downtown Salt Lake City, Holladay, West Jordan and Logan — to the Smith's Marketplace banner.
Much of the cost will be in new signage, Gilford said.
"We'll be spending about $1 million on each of the stores, with the exception of the Holladay store, where we'll spend closer to $3 million," she said. "We'll just be doing a little refreshing and updating, and new signs."
Most of the work will be done overnight, while stores are closed, Gilford said. In total, the five stores employ 392 people, all but about 30 of whom will transfer to Smith's stores, she said. The stores should be complete by August, after which Smith's will have 50 stores in Utah.
Fred Meyer (also a Kroger company) announced in February it planned to leave the Utah market. Of its eight Utah stores, five went to Smith's. Two others — at 4091 W. 3500 South in West Valley City and 202 12th Street in Ogden — are scheduled to close on April 17. Another, located at 825 E. 9400 South in Sandy, will close once a new tenant is found.
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