Projo Biz Blog

Residents of Providence's Valley section will have an easier trip for groceries come Sunday as the PriceRite grocery chain opens a store in the Eagle Square shopping center.

The Valley section's gain is Olneyville's loss as the PriceRite operation is moving from a smaller building on Manton Avenue, about a mile away from Eagle Square. PriceRite had occupied its Olneyville spot since 1998.

The new PriceRite is filling up a 65,000-square-foot space left vacant when Shaw's Supermarkets closed a store last summer. It's about one-third larger than the building PriceRite is vacating.

"[Customers] said they would like us to carry more products," said Kurt Schultz, a PriceRite spokesman. "We were limited in the other store."

The new PriceRite includes deli and fish counters, two features atypical of PriceRite stores. There also are aisles devoted solely to Italian and Hispanic foods.

Shaw's closed its stores in Providence and Pawtucket Sept. 1 because of poor sales - a decision that left two inner-city shopping centers without anchor tenants. The second store was at 50 Ann Mary St., Pawtucket

Opened in 2003, the Eagle Square shopping center is seen as a symbol of the city's neighborhood revitalization efforts.

The developers saved all or most of four mill buildings even as they sacrificed others to make room for a 65,000-square-foot Shaw's store, about 20 other retailers, plus condominiums and offices.Six new buildings blend with the mills, using brick on the outside and mill-like architectural details.

Other redevelopment work, such as Monohasset Mill on Eagle Street and Rising Sun Mills on Valley Street, sprung up after the Eagle Square project got underway. Still in its infancy is the massive $333-million American Locomotive Works.

For a full report on PriceRite's move, see tomorrow's Journal.

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