Welcoming Bellevue Kroger back to the neighborhood

Bellevue Kroger store's grand reopening is oh-so-good!

Image by EastRowMama

The Kroger store on Donnermeyer Drive in Bellevue, Kentucky has been a mainstay of our urban neighborhood for decades.

After closing earlier this year for a massive remodeling, the doors reopened this week, revealing a beautiful new store with many expanded features, while preserving just enough of the old familiar floor plan to make long time customers feel right at home.

Dingy and tired for many years, the old Bellevue Kroger nevertheless provided the community with a reliable resource for the things they really needed from a grocery store.

I shopped there not only for convenience, but for secret, sentimental reasons too.

Image by EastRowMama

You see, I’m the kind of shopper that circulates.  I never just shop at one store.  I like Trader Joe’s for certain things, and Remke’s for others and Findlay Market for yet others.  But the Bellevue Kroger was, well, it was always just somehow familiar and reliable.

It felt shabby and worn around the edges.  The produce department sometimes left me growling empty threats under my breath about leaving for Meijer and never coming back. (I adore Meijer's produce department, by the way.  But the checkout experience is perpetual utter misery.)   

But, I knew the baking, dairy, and frozen aisles like the back of my hand.  I could navigate them blindfolded.

I knew exactly where everything was in that store, and I could whiz through when I was in a hurry to round up dinner, even with a screaming toddler in tow.  I knew I could find staples – real, basic food ingredients to make real, nutritious meals.  And I always felt safe in there, even if it was midnight – an important - and rare - feature in an urban grocery store.

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But that’s not the main reason I loved the Bellevue Kroger.  

The main reason I love that store is because it’s the store my grandmother shopped.

Before moving to Melbourne, they lived in Bellevue for many years – almost my entire childhood, in fact.

Every time I’d make my rounds through, I was reminded that my grandmother had walked those very same aisles countless times before me.  I loved the notion of walking in her footsteps, pushing a cart, leaning on it, browsing, reading labels, choosing standard favorites and occasionally tossing in something new, just as I knew she had.

My grandmother fought, and ultimately lost, a battle with cancer.  The treatments made her very ill and I would go and stay with her and my grandfather in Melbourne to help take care of her on those hard days.  

As her condition deteriorated, it made sense for us to be closer so we could be able to help more.  We began looking and found our current home in Newport.  I was so excited the day we told her we were moving closer.  

Sadly, my grandmother passed away just a month before we moved in.  But it was still good we were there.  We were able to look after my grandfather, who, in many ways, was lost without his love of over 50 years.

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What’s interesting is that she was like me – or rather, I was like her – a shopper that circulates.  She loved shopping all over the city, exploring, finding deals, finding new ingredients and trying new things.  But, like me, that Kroger store was where she did most of her day-to-day grocery shopping.

It was with mixed feelings that I ventured into the new Kroger Marketplace at the South end of Newport when it opened.  

The foodie in me was giddy with the prospect of having Murray’s Cheese Shoppe a literal 10 blocks away from my front porch.  The surprisingly good toy and game department has rescued me at the last minute a few times from forgotten invitations to kid birthday parties and baby showers.  

I’ve even found myself strangely tempted by some of the home furnishings offered. (So weird to consider buying home décor at the grocery store isn’t it?).

I acclimated myself to the “new” Kroger.  I finally reached a point where I could find my way around.  Never mind it still took a little longer to shop…because it was so big.  

And then they CHANGED THINGS AROUND.

Just when I had the place figured out, they moved a bunch of aisles around.  It threw me into a veritable rage!  Why?!  I’m a busy working mother!  I don’t have time to relearn the store!  It slowed me down at a time when I needed efficiency!

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With my trust in the new store betrayed and my nerves frayed, when I really wanted to just do my regular shopping and not “get all fancy,” I’d hit the Bellevue Kroger.

When the Bellevue Kroger closed for its alleged “remodeling,” I was skeptical that it would even ever reopen because it is situated so close in proximity to the new Marketplace.  Oh - how I've missed it.  

But open it has.

I’ve strung you along long enough… Let me just go ahead and say it:  Halleluiah!  And thank goodness they have reopened!  The new Bellevue store is gorgeous.

Image by EastRowMama

There's a bike rack so you can leave the car at home and get a bit of exercise if you just want to grab a few things.

It has just enough of the familiar old floor plan that I feel like I know where I’m going and can find things where I expect them to be.  Yes, there are some pretty big changes.  But there are whispers of the familiar everywhere. 

They didn’t completely upset the apple cart and then randomly stack everything back.  Produce is still where I thought it would be, and so is the meat and dairy department.  

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The frozen aisles have been moved from the middle of the store to the far end – where the chips and detergents used to be.  That’s a little unexpected.  

The deli has been moved to the opposite end of the store near produce, where it should have been all along.  

You don’t get Murray’s cheese at Bellevue, but there is a beautiful butcher case now.  And hot soups!  Yes – the deli has a soup kiosk!  Let me tell you, you are going to LOVE this store.

The pharmacy is about triple its original size, taking over the footage that was the old, adjacent, stand alone Kroger liquor store.  Oh – and it has a walk-up window outside too.  You don’t even have to go in when you are feeling like death and all you want is the pills the doc prescribed to make it all better.

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Beer.  Remember the beer section?  It was pretty basic: national brands – that was about it.  So, look at it now – a whole amazing aisle of national, regional and local beers.  And, for kicks, you can build your own six pack by-the-bottle for $8.99, mixing and matching from a good dozen or two of loose single bottles of micro brews.  How do you like it now?

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There’s still no wine at Kroger stores in Kentucky.  What’s with the goofy Kentucky liquor laws anyway?  I’m not complaining too much because it’s still cheaper to buy here than in Ohio, but criminy, it’s awkward to schlep a kid into a liquor store to pick up a bottle of merlot to go with my Bolognese sauce.  That’s not Kroger’s fault though.  I digress.  I do that.  What of it?

Bottom line:  The Bellevue Kroger did not go away when it closed.  It is still very much alive and a part of our neighborhood like it always was – but better than ever!  Go and see for yourself!

Disclosure:  I am a marketing professional who writes articles for a range of clients that are published in various places from time to time. I strive to operate with the highest integrity, ethics and transparency.  The content of this blog is my own and all posts and topics are published by my own volition and choice. I received no incentive, payment or other consideration in exchange for writing this article from any of the parties mentioned herein or otherwise.