Food City Breaks Ground on 2 Tenn. Stores

K-VA-T Food Stores company officials have broken ground on two new Food City stores planned for the Knoxville, Tenn., area, one in Powell and one in Vonore.

The Powell market, a replacement store measuring more than 52,000 square feet, is expected to open spring 2013, while the Vonore location, Food City’s first in that area and measuring 47,000 square feet, is slated to bow during the late summer.

“[Powell] is a growth area, and once stores get a little age on them, there is an opportunity to look at upgrading to a higher-quality store,” Food City spokesman Ron Bonacci told the Knoxville News Sentinel last week, adding that Vonore was also growing.

Both stores will offer a bakery/deli with a hot-food bar and large café seating area; the Food City Floral Boutique staffed by a floral designer seven days a week; full-service meat and seafood departments serviced by in-house meat cutters; expanded grocery, frozen food, produce, and health and beauty care departments; a drive-through pharmacy; and a Food City Gas N’ Go fuel station.

The stores will also contain such sustainable features as energy-efficient glass cooler doors, parking lot lights and refrigeration systems; motion sensors, LED lighting; and a new skylight system that automatically dims the lights based on the level of natural lighting.

Abingdon, Va.-based K-VA-T operates 104 retail food outlets in the tri-state regions of southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee.