KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers Kansas City, Missouri. She's been following the closure and re-vamp of the grocery store in the Linwood Shopping Center. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
KSHB 41 News Kansas City reporter Alyssa Jackson got a first look inside the remodeled grocery store at Linwood Boulevard and Prospect Avenue.
Jackson found United Market KC in full construction mode. All traces of the troubled Sun Fresh Market are being removed to welcome the new store.
The store, with its new look, should be ready for the public by May 13th.
"We’re doing this for this community," said Dennis Ortiz, project manager for United Market KC. "This store is for them."
Ortiz is an integral part of bringing the re-brand to life.
"People can feel they belong somewhere, and not necessarily because this is a certain area they deserve any less," Ortiz said. "It's having a store that’s worthy of their presence."
That sense of ownership is what neighborhood advocates emphasized to Jackson. United Market KC's operator, Anthony Estrada, also is reopening Merc Co+Op, a grocery store in Downtown Kansas City, Kansas.
People wanted to know how Estrada will run both stores.
"When you have two stores, you have double the resources," Estrada said. "People don’t realize it is difficult to operate a store, to staff a store, but if you work with a sister store you’re more likely to be successful."
The Kansas City, Kansas, store is smaller, according to Estrada.
The store openings will be staggered, with United Market KC welcoming customers first.
Estrada still plans to slowly phase in a free membership concept for 30 days.
"Sometimes you go to a grocery store, purchase produce or whatever else you buy, and don’t realize what goes behind getting that to a customer," Ortiz said.
In the next 40 days, they’ll have made room for a fresh start — changes that aren’t just cosmetic.
Ortiz said: "Going from Sun Fresh to United Market…the meaning behind it of really being united. It’s been said from Day 1: 'Anthony’s vision of being a part of the community.'"
The KCMO store will start hiring two to three weeks before opening day.
Estrada told Jackson it takes about 30 days to ship products in, get food stocked and be ready to open.
