Giant Food Stores wants to make its Lancaster Shopping Center supermarket — one of its smallest stores — into one of its biggest.

The Carlisle-based chain intends to double the size of the store, mostly by expanding into space now occupied by Berean Christian Stores and America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses.

The proposal caps years of effort by Giant to find a way to enlarge the store and years of speculation about the fate of Berean and its predecessor, Provident Bookstore.

Subject to Manheim Township approval, the wide-ranging project also would alter the center's entrances/exits and parking lot, give a facelift to the exterior of the rest of the center and construct a stand-alone branch bank.

The price tag for the project is $12 million, according to a filing with the township.

"We love this location," said Giant spokeswoman Tracy Pawelski.

"We've been successful here since we first opened in 1981, and we now have the chance to give our customers an updated facility with all of the modern amenities that you will find in our newer and larger stores."

Giant hopes to have the work completed by fall 2010.

The growth-minded chain, with eight Lancaster County locations, has wanted to enlarge the cramped store for a decade or more but was blocked by main roads that run past the supermarket and the bookstore.

Giant even went as far as proposing to build a replacement supermarket in 1999 at the Lancaster Stockyards, although those plans fell through.

But next April, Berean's lease expires, so the shopping center's owner is making available to Giant Food Stores the space it has long coveted.

Berean president and chief executive officer Bill Simmons said he expects to move the Berean store next spring to "a prominent shopping center" in Lancaster, which he declined to name at this time.

To make the supermarket expansion possible, Giant and shopping center owner Federal Realty are scheduled to seek nine variances from the township Zoning Hearing Board at its Oct. 6 meeting.

The supermarket chain and its landlord submitted their joint request for the variances to the township last week.

Lancaster Shopping Center is a 159,000-square-foot strip mall between Oregon Pike, Lititz Pike and Route 30.

Giant, the largest of the property's 17 tenants, occupies 39,800 square feet on the Lititz Pike side of the 11-acre center.

By expanding into Berean's 15,100-square-foot space and America's Best's 3,600-square-foot space, and by pulling out the front of the supermarket, it would become 75,000 square feet, plans show.

However, extending the front would force Giant to close the adjacent entrance/exit at Lititz Pike. Other main entrances/exits at the south end of the property would be widened.

The rest of the parking lot would get landscaping and green space, which it now lacks.

As a result, the size of the lot would drop from 730 to 581 spaces, or 205 fewer than required by the township. The lot already is 66 spaces short.

Giant and Federal Realty are seeking variances to allow the greater parking-space deficiency, the wider entrances, the expanded store's wall length and other items, noting that the center already does not conform with township regulations in those ways.

The zoning board may grant a variance if it finds the applicants face a hardship and the variance would "enable the reasonable use of the property," among other conditions.

The expansion of the supermarket would lead to more selection and more jobs, although the number of new hires at the 140-employee store has yet to be determined.

Pawelski said the project would be "geared toward providing a more efficient, consumer-friendly shopping experience including more prepared foods, more natural and organic products, more everything."

"Key departments such as bakery, deli, meat and seafood will be expanded and set off with their own look and feel, giving unique identities to the various sections of the store," she said.

Coupled with the changes to the facades of the other stores and the parking lot, "At the end of the day, it will look like a brand new shopping center," said Pawelski.

Federal Realty's David Iemolo, senior director of development, said the improvements "will enhance the property aesthetics, create a more viable environment for our tenants and allow (the center) to better serve the surrounding community."

Giant arrived in the Lancaster Shopping Center by remodeling the former Pantry Pride space. The store expanded in 1995, taking it up against the bookstore.

The store also has undergone a major remodeling three times, most recently in 2002, said Pawelski.

Still, it's nearly the smallest of Giant's eight stores here, exceeding only the 39,600-square-foot Reservoir Street store, the chain's initial location here in 1979.

Berean's roots at the center go back to 1987, when Provident moved into the former S.S. Kresge space from East King Street. The Berean store has 35 employees, according to newspaper files.

Simmons, Berean's CEO, said the new location here will be the same size as the Lancaster Shopping Center store, which generates the most revenue of Berean's 26 stores.

"It's an incredible store. The community loves it...We're committed to continuing that store," he said.

A corporate spokesman for America's Best could not be reached for comment today.


Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030. blog comments powered by Disqus