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FORT COLLINS - The new King Soopers Marketplace store in north Fort Collins is celebrating its grand opening week, and hopes are high that the mega-grocery will be a lynchpin in helping lift up the area's business community.
"I think obviously it's going to be a service that helps out the people in the area, but it's also going to spur some more future development in our area and add (tax increment financing) money for the Urban Renewal Area so we can continue to do more improvement and infrastructure there," said Dean Hoag, owner of Rocky Mountain Battery and president of the North College Business Association.
Under construction for a year, the North College Marketplace had a new Chase Bank and Bullfrog Wine and Spirits already open when the anchor store - the 123,000-square-foot King Soopers Marketplace - opened June 1.
The development also includes two existing businesses - Pobre Poncho's Mexican Restaurant and North College Motors - and will eventually add more shops, including a Great Clips hair salon.
But the star attraction is the King Soopers supermarket, the second of three Marketplace stores set to open this year. A similar store opened in Greeley in February at 6922 10th Street and another is scheduled to open Dec. 1 in Arvada.
Kelli McGannon, King Soopers/City Market public affairs director, said the three new stores are much bigger than the company's typical stores and include a wide variety of additional shopping experiences.
"They have all the things you're used to finding at -King...