Save-A-Lot Store To Open At Metro Center

September 30, 2005
By JEFFREY B. COHEN, Courant Staff Writer

A new Save-A-Lot supermarket will fill one of the two anchor store spaces at the new Metro Center shopping plaza at Main and Pavilion streets in Hartford, developers and city officials said Thursday.

The announcement comes three months after word surfaced that the intended supermarket, Midland Farms, had pulled out of the project because of internal company problems.

"This is great news for the people who live, work and drive to work in the Clay Arsenal neighborhood," Mayor Eddie A. Perez said at a morning ceremony.

"Right now, residents have to leave this neighborhood to shop, or support the small mom and pop stores," Perez said. "And by doing that, they end up paying a little more and get a little less."

If all goes well, the 14,700-square-foot store could open by the end of the year, Perez said. There is currently one other Save-a-Lot in Hartford, on Park Street.

Six other stores in the Metro Center complex are either open or soon will be, including BSW Hair Supply, Main Wah Chinese Restaurant, a Cingular Wireless store, Family Dollar, Expressions Shoes and Clothing, and Supreme Clientele Hair Deziners.

Yvon Alexandre, a board member of the Hartford Enterprise Zone Business Association, said he was happy to see another opening on Main Street.

"One of the things that the merchants' association encourages is bringing new business to the neighborhood," he said, adding that new businesses draw new customers who will spend money in an area that needs it.

The Metro Center complex, developed by Northeast Retail Leasing and Management LLC, was shepherded by three nonprofit entities: Public Housing Residents Going Places Inc.; the Community Development Corp.; and Community Housing Development.

Funding came from People's Bank Hartford, the Connecticut Development Authority and various federal grants administered by the city of Hartford.