By next week, residents in the under-served north Utah County area will have more grocery shopping choices besides Kohler's in Highland. And they won't have to drive to American Fork for it, either.

Smith's Marketplace, a 170,000-square-foot multi-department store, is opening its first store in Utah County at 1550 E. 3500 North in Lehi on Wednesday. The 300-worker store will anchor Center Pointe, a new shopping center being built on the southeast corner of State Road 92 and 1200 East, across from IM Flash Technologies.

"There are 116,000 people living or working in the half-mile radius of the store. S.R. 92 is always busy with people traveling to work in either Salt Lake or Provo," said Marsha Gilford, vice president of public affairs for Smith's Food & Drug. "Apart from [the existing] Kohler's and a Wal-Mart supercenter that's opening in Cedar Hills in about six months, there isn't any store of this kind in the area."

The Smith's Marketplace store format was introduced to Utah when Smith's bought out the Utah operations of sister chain Fred Meyer in April 2004 and converted five Utah Fred Meyer stores to the Smith's Marketplace banner for more than $7.5 million in June that year.

This concept differs from Kroger Co.'s other Marketplace concepts -- Kroger Marketplace and Fry's Marketplace -- in that Smith's Marketplace offers a full-line of general merchandise including household goods, hardware, electronics, sporting equipment, jewelry, toys and apparel in addition to a full-service grocery store.

The Lehi store also has a fuel center, a drive-through pharmacy and an outdoor garden center. Its deli will also offer more than 60 varieties of fresh-made sushi, an antipasto and olive bar, a gourmet cheese island and a bistro offering hot entrees and six fresh-made soups daily.

Meanwhile, the 200,000-square-foot Center Pointe, which is jointly owned by Ball Ventures of Idaho Falls and Raddon Development of Draper, plans to add more eateries, banks, credit unions and service retailers in Lehi over the next few months.

"There's a lot of demand for food and services here. And very few options for eating lunch," said Tyson Moore, a Coldwell Banker agent handling commercial leases for the Lehi center.

Already, a Kneader's restaurant that opened a month ago at the Lehi center is seeing strong patronage from nearby businesses like IM Flash, while Wendy's at the corner of S.R. 92 and Alpine Highway is one of the fast food chain's highest producing restaurants in the Intermountain West, he said.

Emerald City Smoothie, Sliders restaurant and Costa Vida are in talks with the strip mall owners to lease two 6,000-square-foot buildings to be completed by June. Mountain America Credit Union will begin construction of its new branch in the center, while KeyBank and America First Credit Union are also potential tenants.

Moore said the strip center also hopes to bring in a Rub-A-Dub car wash, Petco and Great Clips.

Raddon Development Director Andrew Hatton-Ward said the housing slowdown is starting to be felt in the commercial sector, but an anchor like Smith's Marketplace should generate more interest in the Lehi center.

It's harder to get commercial tenants now, compared with a year ago, because fewer businesses are now expanding, Moore said. "Mid-sized box retailers like PETCO are holding back, waiting to see how things go."

"Obviously, the economy has slowed everything down, so we have to make sure a property is partially leased before we build it," Hatton-Ward said.

In August, Raddon and Ball took over development of the Lehi property -- about 23 acres of undeveloped land -- after they acquired it from Patterson Construction, a Highland home builder. Separately, Raddon and Ball are also under contract to acquire all the assets of the bankrupt Suncrest from Zions Bank, subject to the outcome of meetings with the Draper City Council over issues facing the development.

Smith's, owned by Kroger, operates five existing Smith's Marketplace stores in Logan, Bountiful, West Jordan, Holladay and Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City-based Smith's has a total of 133 Food & Drug stores in Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and northern Arizona, including 47 in Utah. There are six Smith's stores in Utah County.

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