New Euclid Avenue Kroger introduces a plethora of new features, including three locally-commissioned murals
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Detail from Liz Swanson's 36-ft.-wide mural, which hangs over the new Euclid Avenue Kroger's dining section.
After much anticipation, the new Kroger on Euclid Avenue – a 63,000-square-foot multi-level complex replacing the iconic Chevy Chase grocery store that was originally built in 1976 – opened its doors to the public in late January. Customers of the new Kroger will notice a number of changes and features that not only set the grocery apart from its predecessor (affectionately referred to as the “disco Kroger”) but that also set it apart from any other Kroger in the nation. In addition to several expanded specialty sections that include a cafè with seating for 70, a Murray’s cheese shop and walk-in beer cave, the store boasts a rooftop parking lot, an underground food storage and prep facility, and the addition of “food carts” featuring items from local restaurants Athenian Grill and La Petite Crêperie in the deli section.
Another noteworthy and potentially precedent-setting feature of the store is the inclusion of three locally commissioned large-scale murals. The commissions were a collaboration between Kroger and LexArts, which put out a call to local artists and received more than 50 submissions. After review from a selection committee comprised of local arts and community leaders, Lexington residents and artists John Lackey, Liz Swanson and BroCoLoco (an artistic duo consisting of brothers Aaron and Jared Scales) were chosen to create the murals and paid a total of $45,000 for their work.
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According to Maury Sparrow, communications director for LexArts, increasing the livability for artists is a priority of LexArts. The organization’s partnership with Kroger, and others – such as its longstanding partnership with the Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation, which helped facilitate the hospital’s purchase of over $250,000 of local artwork – help the organization meet this end.
For Lackey, who received a $25,000 commission to create Kroger’s five-panel exterior mural, the commission enabled him to “get on top of everything” for the first time in many years.
“Trying to be an independent artist, this has gotten me some breathing room,” Lackey said. “Lexington is finally becoming a place that will support art.”
Sparrow said that the partnership between Kroger and LexArts could potentially be used as a prototype that would enable future Krogers to commission local art in their stores.
“We all know what [Kroger] went through to get the ideas approved for this,” Sparrow said, referring to the Euclid Kroger’s lengthy zoning appeal process. “They wanted to be very sensitive to the neighborhood, to be a good neighbor. The more they can introduce ‘local’ to that location, the better.”
Tim McGurk, Kroger’s public affairs manager, said that the commissions help allow Kroger to “reflect the unique neighborhood that it will serve” and to create a store unlike any other.
“We could think of no better way to accomplish this than by the local arts community.”