The new downtown Grundy is beginning to come to life

To learn more about Grundy’s transformation: http://raisinggrundy.com/.

With a new Super Dollar grocery store already open and a new Walmart getting ready to open Sept. 14, the new downtown Grundy is beginning to come to life.

“It’s time for a new beginning,” said Tim Potter, property manager for the Grundy Industrial Development Authority, which is overseeing the town’s 13-acre redevelopment site, where the Walmart shopping center is being built.

“It’s time for the change, and it’s a good change for the area, particularly the way the economy throughout the country is right now,” he said. “We’re on the upturn.”

Perched atop a new parking deck, Walmart is the centerpiece of the town’s long-awaited downtown redevelopment project after Grundy, with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ flood-proofing efforts, literally blasted a building site out of the side of a mountain.

The project also includes pedestrian mall-style shops on the front of the parking deck building and in separate buildings, all connected to the remaining part of historic downtown by a pedestrian bridge.

The project arose out of tragedy. The town, situated at the confluence of the Levisa River and Slate Creek, never fully recovered from the devastating flood of 1977. More than 30 years later, it’s been given a chance to start over.

It was made possible by a deal between the Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Transportation, which combined their flood-proofing and four-lane highway projects to get both done at once.

The innovative partnership places the highway, U.S. 460, atop a floodwall built to protect the courthouse and surrounding buildings. And land for development was literally blasted from the steep sides of the mountains surrounding the town, the rock removed to make way for roads and retail.

The Super Dollar discount grocery store opened June 29 where Food City used to be, also walking distance from the courthouse, on the other side of Slate Creek.

“It was wild to begin with,” said Store Manager John Sullivan of the business at the new store. “We started out pretty good.”

Steve Smith, president and CEO of Abingdon-based parent company K-VA-T Food Stores, said the company put perhaps $1 million into revamping the old building and has created about 40 new jobs.

“It’s a great location,” said Smith, whose family opened its first grocery store in Grundy in 1955, paving the way for the regional grocery chain that includes both Food City and Super Dollar stores. “It’s a store that we operated for a number of years, and we closed it down during the part of construction when it would’ve been almost impossible to operate.”

The Food City store at the downtown site closed in 2005, when the company opened its new store in nearby Vansant. Smith said the Super Dollar store was opened in response to customers who wanted a store on that end of town.

“We’re just excited to get it open,” said Smith.

Potter said he anticipates a busy downtown when the new shopping center opens, and said Super Dollar is another addition to the revitalized Grundy.

While Smith wouldn’t speak specifically about the Walmart that will sell groceries just across the river, he acknowledged, “We always compete with Walmart; that’s what we do.”

Potter said the new Walmart will bring competition that leads to lower prices and better variety – ultimately leaving consumers in Grundy better off. As the new shopping center has come closer to opening, he said not only has Super Dollar opened, but Food City and Magic Mart have made improvements to their stores as well.

“Everything is on schedule,” said Potter, who said the IDA is still working on leases for some of the other spaces around Walmart as construction nears completion. “I’m glad to see it finally come to fruition.”

dmccown@bristolnews.com
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