Fareway opens – ‘This is exactly what LeClaire needs’

LECLAIRE – The grocery shopping carts are filling up today in this community. That’s because a long-awaited business – Fareway Meat & Grocery – opened for business at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 1301 Eagle Ridge Road. Fareway is LeClaire’s first full-service grocery store since 2019 when Slagle Foods closed its doors at the […]

LECLAIRE – The grocery shopping carts are filling up today in this community. That’s because a long-awaited business – Fareway Meat & Grocery – opened for business at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 1301 Eagle Ridge Road. Fareway is LeClaire’s first full-service grocery store since 2019 when Slagle Foods closed its doors at the Eagle Ridge Road site, which is owned by the Quad Cities-based GRT QC Properties. In the past four years, many community and business leaders have been working to bring a new full-service grocery store to LeClaire. That journey has been a long and sometimes frustrating trek, but it has finally paid off.

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“People think you just blink and it’s done. … It took time and persistence. This is the right community for this,” Steve Geifman, managing partner of GRT QC Properties, said on Tuesday, Aug. 29, during a VIP opening event and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Fareway store. (Video of that ceremony can be found here.) The preview event brought in hundreds of area residents who filled the parking lot and grocery store aisles. The event also brought together area community leaders and Fareway officials who had praise for the community and the new store. One of those people was Reynolds Cramer, CEO of Fareway stores, a grocer based in Boone, Iowa. He told the QCBJ that one of the main reasons Fareway decided to invest in LeClaire is the community’s family-friendly atmosphere. “It starts with families. That’s what we are all about. That resonates with us,” he said. During the store’s opening ceremonies, he added that Fareway decided to come to LeClaire because: “It’s not about the building. It’s about the community around the building.” But many members of the community also loved the renovated grocery store building. Before Tuesday’s welcoming ceremony, many future customers and guests toured the building, enjoyed snacks and drinks and even did some grocery shopping. They looked over and bought items such as Colorado peaches, cherry tomatoes, Gala apples, red dragon fruit and much more.  One of those people on an early shopping trek was Jay Hughes. “I think this is fantastic. I live in LeClaire and had to go to Bettendorf to shop. So, this is a great day,” he said while pushing his shopping cart through aisle four near the paper towels. Another early shopper – Melita Tunnicliff – agreed. Ms. Tunnicliff, director of the LeClaire Community Library, was shopping for plastic silverware for the library and a few other grocery items during the VIP night. “It’s great. This is exactly what LeClaire needs,” she said. The new store features many food items and includes its own meat department and bakery department. The in-store bakery will provide baked goods for the new LeClaire store and several other area Fareway stores, said Roger Wirtz, regional supervisor for Fareway. The LeClaire store currently has about 78 employees. There might be more people hired if business is strong, Store Manager Jeremy Wight told the QCBJ. The manager added that all the employees are excited to open the new Fareway and start serving the community. Also, while looking out the store’s front door that gives a view of the Mississippi River, he said the grocery store has at least one great advantage over other Fareway stores. “I think we have the best view of any store in the company,” Mr. Wight added.  That store with a great view of the river took years to become a reality. LeClaire Mayor Dennis Gerard told Tuesday’s crowd of hundreds of people about some of those struggles. He said years ago, after the Slagle Foods store closed, town residents “flooded” the Fareway website with requests to build a new grocery store in the community. Eventually, with the help of Mr. Geifman, other business leaders and Fareway officials, those plans were finalized. The Fareway project was announced during a LeClaire City Council meeting in April 2022. “We always felt this store would be a good fit for the community,” Mr. Gerard said Tuesday night. Business leaders are hoping LeClaire will also be a good fit for other businesses.  Mr. Geifman told the QCBJ that a new Starbucks coffee shop is now in the works near the new Fareway store. Construction on the free-standing business will start in the next few days and it should be open for business in February, he said. Ground-moving work has already started for the Starbucks near the large Fareway sign at the edge of the parking lot at 1301 Eagle Ridge Road. The Fareway store hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays. Fareway stores are closed on Sundays. The phone number is (563) 289-1234. The Iowa-based Fareway operates about 140 stores in a six-state region including several in the Quad Cities region. It is a family-owned business and has more than 12,000 employees.