In a few short months, Walker County residents who live between Rossville and Chickamauga will encounter a new shopping experience. Food City’s replacement store on Mission Ridge Road will be nearly twice the size of the previous grocery, originally built by Red Foods 46-years ago.
“We’re excited to make the investment in Walker County,” said Steve Smith, President and CEO of K-VAT Food Stores, the parent company of Food City. “It will create more tax dollars, more job opportunities and a better shopping experience for our people.”
Once complete, the 38,100 square foot Mission Ridge location will include an in-store bakery/deli with a hot food bar, full service meat and seafood departments, rapid checkout service, a pharmacy with drive-thru access and a three pump Gas ‘N Go fueling station.
Food City will also create 50 to 70 new jobs in Walker County when the new location opens in June. Those positions will be in addition to workers who were relocated during the construction phase.
“We were very concerned about what we were going to do with them. It gave us an opportunity to take them to some newer stores, with more amenities in them, like this store will have when it opens, and get them some training,” said Smith.
Walker County Sole Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said she plans to be a regular customer once the Mission Ridge location opens. “I just live a few miles down the road and my wife has already put me on notice, this is where we’re going to start shopping.”
Whitfield said he also hopes to work with Food City on additional growth opportunities in the county and hinted at future options. “They are already adding the Gas ‘N Go feature to the Food City location in LaFayette and I think they are going to have additional announcements about that store later,” he said.
Food City has three stores in Walker County. Along with the Mission Ridge location, there are stores at 311 North Main Street in LaFayette and 319 Chickamauga Avenue in Rossville. Company wide, K-VAT operates over 130 stores in North Georgia, East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky.
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