Laura Peters

lpeters@newsleader.com

WAYNESBORO – The city of Waynesboro will be seeing a new strip mall and grocery store in the coming months, according to city officials. Dirt has been moving along the Lew Dewitt and Rosser Avenue corridor in the past few weeks around Lowe's, Wal-Mart and Waynesboro Town Center.

The building by Wal-Mart, which is ready, will soon house Regal Jewelers, which will move from its former location on Rosser Avenue, said Greg Hitchin, Waynesboro economic development director. There also is space for other stores in that complex.

From the new Augusta Health Urgent Care facility opening last week to a new restaurant coming soon — The Orbital Grill — in front of Zeus Digital Theater, the area is filling up fast.

"The retail corridor, if you think of that being the area between Target and Wal-Mart, is full. There are some spots available down by the Marriott and the apartments," Hitchin said. "We do view Lew Dewitt as the next part of retail expansion."

The strip mall going up by Lowe's will house five stores, with two stores already confirmed.

Hitchin said that Five Guys Burgers and Fries will add a Waynesboro location there and also a mattress store, both expected to open by Thanksgiving. The other three have not yet confirmed, he said.

A new grocery store, Aldi, will open in the Waynesboro Town Center, which has other big retail names such as Kohl's, Target, Books-A-Million, and Bed Bath and Beyond. Aldi, a Germany-based discount supermarket chain with more than 1,300 stores in 32 states, offers its own brand-named products, according to the company's website.

Currently, Aldi has five stores in Virginia in Culpeper, Winchester and Fredericksburg.

Hitchin said he doesn't have a projected opening date for the grocery store.

Aldi is also the parent company of privately grocery chain, Trader Joe's, through a family trust.

Kroger in downtown Waynesboro brought in almost $42,000 in real estate and personal property taxes in 2013, according to Don Coffey, Waynesboro commissioner of revenue, which is a possible comparison to what Aldi could bring to th

e city.

There is no word on how much revenue the new stores will bring into the city, but Hitchin expects a number of jobs to be added, both full- and part-time.

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