Update (1:30 p.m. Monday): Shoptimist columnist Rebecca Holland wants to know whether Kroger’s new pricing policies will change shoppers’ habits. See what folks are saying on her blog.

Kroger on Sunday reduced prices on thousands of items throughout its stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Virginia.

“This venture is a multi-million dollar investment for the company and loyal Kroger customers will reap the benefits,” a news release from the company said.

The price reductions apply to grocery, produce, organics and general merchandise items, said Carl York, a spokesman for the company’s Mid-Atlantic region, which also includes North Carolina, West Virginia, eastern Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Kroger is able to lower prices because it expects to sell a high volume of the items it has marked down, York said.

“It’s one of those things that you believe if you lower prices you can drive the volume,”, he said. “It really takes quite a bit of volume to make it work.”

Kroger has been systematically lowering prices since 2008, going through department-by-department to see which items it could sell at a lesser cost.

This across-the-board price decrease was deliberate because Kroger wanted it to be impactful, York said.

Kroger is also making changes to its coupon policy.

The grocer announced on its Facebook page Sunday that effective May 12, Kroger will no longer double manufacturer coupons at stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, the Facebook post said.

“We understand that this is a significant change,” the Facebook post said. “We hope that you come and see our new low prices – as well as the many other ways to save – for yourself.”

Kroger is working on beefing up its digital coupon offerings on Kroger.com, York said. The coupons are loaded onto customers’ loyatly cards so the discounts apply automatically at the register.

(I will be out the office until Wednesday, but my editor is checking blog comments. I’ll respond to questions when I return.)

Work on the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op’s second store on the Roanoke farmer’s market is getting started and should be complete in time for an early April opening, a spokesman for the co-op said.

The 1,225-square-foot store will open in the former Thomas Market space. (Thomas Market closed for Center in the Square’s $27 million renovation and the owners decided not to renew the store’s lease.) Plans for the store were announced in December, and the co-op had initially planned a March opening.

Co-op spokesman John Bryant said that workers will be moving electrical outlets and installing a trap door to provide access to storage in the basement. They are also moving the main entrance closer to where the Little Dipper was located.

Furnishings, such as shelving and coolers, has already been ordered and should arrive mid-March, Bryant said. The checkout counter is being custom built to accommodate the small store.

The store will offer grab-and-go foods prepared daily at the co-op’s Grandin Road store. The downtown store will carry items similar to those offered at the Grandin store but with a smaller selection.

Roanoke’s Fresh Market at Towers Shopping Center is now accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, according to a spokeswoman for the company.

The specialty grocery store joins Kroger, Food Lion, the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op, the Roanoke City Farmer’s Market and the West End Community Market, all of which accept SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) benefits.

According to data from the U.S Department of Agriculture, 46.7 million people used SNAP in 2012, up from 19 million in 2002. In Virginia, 933,462 people received the benefit as of October 2012. That’s up from 896,420 a year earlier. (Click here to see a list of participation by state.)

The average monthly benefit per Virginian was $128 in 2012, up from $93.26 in 2008.(Click here to see a list of state averages.)

SNAP benefits can be used to purchase most foods, but not alcohol, cigarettes, toiletries, vitamins, medicine, pet food, household items, hot food or food eaten in a store. Click here to see a list of eligible items.

Kroger is celebrating the reopening of a Blacksburg store that saw a $5 million renovation, while Food Lion has announced it is closing two stores in Bedford County.

The University City Kroger recently underwent a renovation to update the 54,000 square-foot store’s decor, exterior, improve the entrance and expand several departments.

The renovation also included the creation of the Deli Bistro, where a chef prepares meals from scratch. The deli charges $7.99 for an entree and two sides, according to a news release from Kroger.

In addition, the deli and bakery, gourmet cheese shop and pharmacy were expanded.

The renovations added 20 jobs, bringing total employment to about 200, the news release said.

Food Lion, meanwhile, has announced it will close stores at 679 Lake Center in Moneta and 1208 Perrowville Road in Forest.

The stores will close in mid-February, Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said. The company is also closing six other stores in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

“While these decisions are difficult, especially given the impact on our associates, customers and communities, our actions will continue to enhance the performance of our overall store portfolio and further enable us to deliver profitable growth and accelerate shareholder value,” Phillips-Brown said in a statement.

A bicycle shop that has made downtown Roanoke its home for several years is moving to Grandin Village.

Starlight Bikes, a shop that sells and repairs bicycles and accessories, will move from its store at Second Street and Kirk Avenue to a space next to Too Many Books on Grandin Road.

“I think it is going to be huge for our business,” owner Stratton Delaney said.

Delaney said he’s always wanted his shop to be in the Grandin area, but he hadn’t found the right space until now. The new location is where Designs on Grandin, a hair salon, closed in November.

He said he believes locating the business in the neighborhood will boost sales.

“People in Grandin Village are in the mood to spend money,” he said. “They aren’t downtown for work or because they are going to court.”

To read more about the bike shop’s move, read the rest of the column here.

Also in the column, a locally-owned fabric and upholstery store, French Thistle, has moved to Charleston, S.C., and the Lakeside Kroger in Salem will see a $2 million remodel.

What started more than 40 years ago as a small natural food store in the basement of a southwest Roanoke County couple’s home has grown into a member-owned grocery store that soon will have two locations and supply its stores with products from its own farm.

Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op announced last week that it is opening a second store on the Roanoke farmers market, in the space where Thomas Market closed earlier this year to accommodate Center in the Square’s $27 million renovation. Plans for the co-op’s 25-acre urban farm, Heritage Point, were finalized earlier this year.

“We’re excited to be in the position to grow our cooperative,” general manager Bruce Phlegar said in a news release announcing the store.

The co-op’s board of directors had been looking for several years for a suitable space to open a second store. In August,Center in the Square president Jim Sears approached the board about opening in the renovated Thomas Market space. The owner of the market did not renew the store’s lease, Sears said.

“I think it strengthens the economy of the market area,” Sears said. “It strengthens Center in the Square. It provides a service I don’t think we could have found anywhere else.”

Click here to read more about the co-op’s growth and an update on Ivy Market, the Roanoke shopping center where Ukrops closed several years ago.

The Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op will open a second location on the Roanoke’s farmers market in the spring.

The downtown store, which will be about a fifth the size of the co-op’s current site on Grandin Road, will occupy the space where Thomas Market was located.

“We’re excited to be in the position to grow our cooperative,” Bruce Phlegar, the co-op’s general manager, said in a news release. “The growth of Downtown Roanoke shows us that it’s the right place for us to be.”

Click here to read more.

Target sent out these mailers with coupons to promote its expanded grocery section.

From small details, such as the new, plastic shopping carts to the expanded grocery section, the Valley View Target in Roanoke definitely has a different feel.

The store just completed a nearly $1 million remodel that moved some departments,  put a layer of fresh paint on the outside and inside, updated the fitting rooms and snack bar, and perhaps most notably, added more coolers and freezers to accommodate fresh meats, dairy and produce.

Target has rolled out the expanded grocery section at 442 stores in the past year, according to the company’s financial statement for the quarter that ended April 28. The move seems to be paying off. Target reported that food was one of three best-selling items in the month of May, when it saw a 4.4 percent increase in same-store sales.

Have you been to Target since the remodel was complete? Do you like the new look? Will you do your grocery shopping at Target?

The Kroger on Rutgers Street in Roanoke is getting a remodel. Photo by Amanda Codispoti

The Kroger on Rutgers Street in Roanoke near Town Square Shopping Center is getting ready for a remodel.

Kroger is getting ready to spend about $400,000 to upgrade the store’s decor and raise the ceiling height, according to a building permit filed in Roanoke.

The remodel was described by Kroger spokesman Carl York as  “a new in-store décor update,” which he said should include “a new design and color scheme on the interior walls.”

In addition, the ceiling will be raised to 14-feet, York said. The building permit says that the perimeter ceiling will be raised to match the height of the ceiling in the center of the store.

The building permit also said the existing vinyl composition tile will be removed and the concrete slabs underneath will be dyed and polished.

York said the company is still in the planning process and he doesn’t know when the work might start or finish. The store will remain open during the remodel, he said.

The Rutgers location most recently added a 7,150 square foot building next to the grocery store that houses a Virginia ABC liquor store, Firehouse Subs and Supercuts. It also recently installed a drive through kiosk for its pharmacy.

The former Ukrops at Ivy Market. Roanoke Times file photo

Late last year, there was hope at Valley Bank that Whole Foods, an organic grocery store, would move into the old Ukrop’s building at Roanoke’s Ivy Market development.

The company sent a team to assess the Franklin Road site late last year and had been talking with the bank, which bought the property after it went into foreclosure.

But hope has faded.

“I would not be as optimistic about Whole Foods making a decision to move forward at this time,” said Valley Bank President and CEO Ellis Gutshall.

“It was a very good effort. As the bank and a property owner, we need to move forward.”

Roanoke-based Valley Bank is talking with several other interested potential tenants, which Gutshall would not name.

He said the bank would focus on grocer tenants until it had exhausted those options because the building was built for a grocery store.

Had Whole Foods decided to open at Ivy Market, the building would have had to be divided into two spaces, because it was too big for a Whole Foods in a market this size, Gutshall said.

The bank earlier this year demolished three vacant buildings on 5 acres near Ivy Market to prepare the land for phase two of the development. The activity has prompted calls from interested parties about those pad sites, Gutshall said.

Here’s a link to the Retail Roundup column, which also has updates on the cafe set to open soon at Sixteen West in downtown Roanoke, and vacancies at Valley View Mall.

What’s your reaction to the news that Whole Foods had been considering opening a store in Roanoke? Are you disappointed that the company appears to be looking elsewhere?