A new grocery store is about to enter a Central Indiana market that Walmart reshaped and Kroger is fighting to hold, and the woman who will run it sat down for this week’s Fridays with Larry podcast.
The Sept. 11 edition, available now in both audio and video, opens with a look at how grocery competition is changing here. Kroger led Indianapolis grocery sales with 34.4% in 2022, followed by Walmart at 25.3%, according to Chain Store Guide data reported by Axios. In May, Reuters reported Kroger was preparing price cuts on thousands of products to win back share from Walmart, Costco and Aldi.
Into that market comes Meijer Grocery at 15700 Southeastern Parkway, the first Meijer inside the Fishers city limits. The 75,000-square-foot store opens at 6 a.m. Sept. 30. It is a smaller, food-focused format than a Meijer Supercenter, with bakery, meat, seafood and deli departments plus a pharmacy.
Store Director Janice Thongvanh joined the podcast to talk about the opening. She started at Meijer in 2017 as a part-time member of the remodel crew and was made full time within two weeks. Her team has filled more than 200 team member positions and 15 leadership roles through a series of local job fairs.
Thongvanh said the response from residents along Southeastern Parkway, who have wanted a grocery in that part of town for years, has been enthusiastic. The Meijer Express fuel station that opened earlier drew a crowd, she said, and the message was consistent: “It’s about time.”
She also discussed her work on food insecurity and childhood hunger, and what surprised her about Hamilton County. Meeting with schools, food pantries, housing communities and youth mentorship groups, she learned how many local students qualify for free and reduced-price meals. In an affluent community, she said, hunger is often hidden.
Opening week will include giveaways, discounts and events beginning at 6 a.m. Sept. 30, along with some locally sourced products still being finalized.
Also this week: Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers high schools have logged roughly 50 phone infractions each a few weeks into the school year under Senate Enrolled Act 78, the state’s bell-to-bell phone ban that took effect July 1. About 20 of those came on the first day alone. The rule everyone braced for turned out to be a shrug — but as I argue in this week’s commentary, settling the classroom is the easy part. Nielsen reported YouTube accounted for 13.8% of all television watched in this country in May, more than any network or streaming service. The living room is the harder conversation, and no state law is coming for it.
The episode closes in Poland, where about 30 robots demonstrated outside the digital affairs ministry calling for tougher regulation of artificial intelligence.
Fridays with Larry is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.
Watch the podcast at this link, or just listen using this link.
