Fresh Market opening Oct. 1 in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Fresh Market, the Greensboro, N.C.-based specialty grocery chain, will open its first Iowa store Oct. 1 in northeast Cedar Rapids,

The 24,000-square-foot store at 180 Collins Road NE in the Collins Crossing shopping center will include a bakery that produces 30 freshly baked breads and 14 different varieties of pie daily, a full-service meat counter with freshly ground beef, a wide selection of ready-to-serve entrées, fresh seafood delivered to the store several times per week, more than 200 imported and domestic cheeses and a produce department.

The store will open at 8 a.m., and grand opening activities will include chef demonstrations, food sampling throughout the store, and drawings for the Fresh Market gift cards. A sample-sized bag of the company's gourmet coffee and a reusable shopping bag will be given to the first 1,000 customers.

Founded in 1982, the Fresh Market operates 160 stores in 26 states across the United States.

Hobby Lobby, a privately owned chain of craft and home decor stores, and Home Goods, a home fashions retailer, have new venues in Collins Crossing. The shopping center also will have a 15,000-square-foot Shoe Carnival store and other smaller retailers, according to RCG Ventures of Atlanta, Ga., the owner and developer of the complex,

Video Games Etc, which has continued to operate a store during the remodeling of the former Kmart-anchored shopping center, has moved to a different space in Collins Crossing.