King Soopers debuts in fast-growing Falcon, just outside Colorado Springs
Grocery giant King Soopers will open one of its large-format marketplace stores at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Falcon Marketplace shopping center, northwest of Woodmen and Meridian roads in unincorporated Falcon, just outside Colorado Springs.
A grand-opening ceremony — with a ribbon-cutting, donation to the USO and gift card giveaways — will take place a half-hour later at 9 a.m.
The 124,000-square-foot King Soopers will be roughly twice the size of the chain’s traditional stores that average about 65,000 square feet, though smaller than some of the area’s Walmart Supercenters that are in the neighborhood of 200,000 square feet.
King Soopers will open a larger-format marketplace store Wednesday in the Falcon Marketplace shopping center, northwest of Woodmen and Meridian roads in unincorporated Falcon, just outside Colorado Springs. In addition to full lines of grocery, the marketplace store will sell clothing, small appliances, dinnerware and other items.
King Soopers will feature clothing, home goods, dinnerware, small appliances and other items to go with full lines of groceries. A Starbucks, Murray’s Cheese shop, bakery, a sushi station, pharmacy and an 18-pump fuel station also are part of the new store.
“Our customers are looking for the convenience of a one-stop shopping experience and this larger-format store allows us to provide a traditional grocery experience plus a little more to help meet the needs of today’s busy shopper,” King Soopers spokeswoman Jessica Trowbridge said via email.
King Soopers will employ 315 people at its Falcon store, which will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, she said.
The Falcon location will be King Soopers’ 153rd store. The chain opened its first Springs-area marketplace store in 2017 at Marksheffel Road and Constitution Avenue in the Claremont Ranch Marketplace shopping center; in addition to Falcon, King Soopers plans marketplace stores in the Flying Horse development on Colorado Springs’ north side and in Fountain, south of the city.
King Soopers will anchor Falcon Marketplace, where Slim Chickens, Panda Express, Dutch Bros Coffee, Chipotle, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Discount Tire, Mattress Firm and Super Star Car Wash have opened. A 23,000-square-foot Goodwill of Colorado retail thrift store is planned on King Soopers’ west side and is expected to open by year’s end.
Denver-based King Soopers, which is part of the Kroger grocery chain that’s headquartered in Ohio, becomes one of the latest retailers to expand to Falcon, where the area’s rural lifestyle and large acreages have given way over the last few decades to thousands of homes built in suburban-like subdivisions such as Meridian Ranch, Woodmen Hills and Falcon Highlands.
As those homes went up, retailers followed. King Soopers now joins Walmart, Safeway, Walgreens, Dollar Tree, Auto Zone, McDonald’s, Domino’s, Arby’s, Pizza Hut and dozens of other stores, restaurants and service-oriented businesses that have added locations in Falcon.
“As a Colorado company we are excited about extending our roots and expanding the community’s access to fresh, affordable and delicious food,” Trowbridge said. “Additionally, the growing Falcon community has been asking for a local King Soopers to call their hometown grocer.”
King Soopers’ new larger-format marketplace store opens Wednesday at the Falcon Marketplace shopping center, northwest of Woodmen and Meridian roads in unincorporated Falcon. In addition to full lines of groceries, the store will have a Starbucks coffee, Murray’s Cheese shop, bakery, sushi station, pharmacy and an 18-pump fuel station.
