Contributor Post: Kroger #776, Warren, Michigan

The following is a SMR:MCRH Contributor Post.

 

This post will look at retail in Warren, Macomb County, MI.

 

 Kroger Michigan Division #776

31200 Schoenherr Road, Warren, MI

Driving distance and time from downtown Detroit: 16.6 miles, approx. 30 minutes

 

Updated January 16, 2021 with corrections (this is actually not a Kroger Marketplace like I had initially thought).

 

For this post, Former Retail Employee/Y4123 brings us to the second-newest Kroger Michigan Division store (at the time of writing, anyway). Kroger #776 welcomed its first customers on the morning of October 23, 2019 on the former site of Kmart #4204 and replacing former Kroger #674 one mile up Schoenherr Road (that particular Kroger store first opened in 1978, closed and became Steiner's Foodland during a 1984 union strike, and reverted back to Kroger circa 1999!).

This store bears the recent Kroger wooden exterior design that was in use as early as 2017 and was last used in early 2020. It should be noted that Kroger had to demolish the former Kmart #4204 building and a defunct coney island restaurant building to build this store. Measurements for the store ring in at 103,000 square feet and 51 aisles, placing it on the bigger end of the scale for non-Marketplace Kroger stores.

Following Y4123 inside, we notice something new...

The produce department near the front entrance, and this is also where we notice that new thing: you are looking at a brand new Kroger decor package, named Artisan. People are saying that this resembles decor packages from the 1980s, but we'll let you be the judge.

 

Bakery is one of several service departments that share an island in the center of the store, which is a new concept for the Michigan Division.

 

Here's one of the beverage aisles.

 

The back wall of the store houses the dairy department, and it's also one of several places where the wood theming of Artisan really displays.

 

Frozen foods are located at one end of the dairy department.

 

 

As we follow Y4123 back towards the front right corner of the store, we come across the health & beauty department.

 

The pharmacy is located in the front left corner of the building. In order to fit in a Citizens Bank branch, the pharmacy feels a bit cramped.

 

Here's the front end, but we're not done with Y4123's interior tour yet. Checkout lane lights are carried over directly from the Banner decor.

As we reach the front left corner of the store, here's the Starbucks counter, with the cafe further ahead.

 

Turning right at the cafe counter, we make our way back to the center island, with the deli counter on the right.

 Meat and seafood make up the remainder of the center island.

 

Here's one last photo, showing the store's bulk candy selection.

 

This and a Sterling Heights Kroger Marketplace store on 18 Mile Road marked the only new stores Kroger's Michigan Division opened within the past year (as of writing, of course), with the 18 Mile store opening earlier this year. It's still nice to see Kroger continue to grow in these challenging times which continue to make the news.

And that's all I and Y4123 have for now. Until next time....