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Fresh Market could be the first of upscale retailers to move into Fayetteville [The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.](Fayetteville Observer (NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 14--Construction is underway on a new Fresh Market store on Glensford Drive, the first full-service gourmet grocery store to come to Fayetteville. The company has not formally announced plans to open in Fayetteville, but on Sept. 2, the Fayetteville Development Services Department issued a building permit for the store shell. On Wednesday, Construction Systems Inc., the contractor on the project, started digging the foundation on the 26,000-square-foot building. Reaction has been overwhelmingly positive to the news. The store's plans has developers and city promoters wondering whether the presence of Fresh Market will prove to be a turning point for retailers, opening the gates for similar high-end stores to follow suit. Beth Tallant, for one, is anxious for the day that Fresh Market opens in Fayetteville. "I have been waiting and waiting," she said. "I'm so excited right now. I feel like going out and celebrating." Fresh Market's decision to open a store in Fayetteville could help create a sea change in an area that largely caters to a blue-collar civilian and green-collar military clientele, said Jim Scott, who works in sales and marketing for Construction Systems of Fayetteville. "Will that open the door for more?" he said, rhetorically. "I think it will certainly open the eyes of other vendors that are in the same tier." Scott said it seems like there has been talk of Fresh Market coming to Fayetteville for about a decade. Local developer Joe Riddle said he "was talking about doing a Fresh Market" on Cliffdale Road about 15 years ago. "It just takes time," said Scott, who has worked for CSI since 1995. "It takes time for the market to prove itself." Chamber's task Fresh Market is being developed by C&S Commercial Properties of Fayetteville and will be built at 230 Glensford Drive, between BJ's Wholesale Club and Bonefish Grill. Construction on the building, estimated to cost $1.98 million, will continue into 2015, said Duane DeGaetano, president of Construction Systems. The addition of the Fresh Market coincides with an effort by the Fayetteville Regional Chamber to look harder at recruiting upscale retailers and businesses to Cumberland County. Doug Peters, the chamber president, said conversations between C&S Commercial Properties and representatives of Fresh Market date back two years. At that time, Peters said, the chamber provided Fresh Market with data on the area. "They make their market decisions based on demographics," he said. "Based on the Ph.Ds per capita. They evaluate the median income and educational attainment, and those kind of things support their model. This substantiates something we've known for a long time -- that this market is on the move and we're recognizing that." Other high-end retailers to embrace the city include Embassy Suites, Bonefish Grill, Panera Bread and Carmike Cinemas Patriot 14, an IMAX movie theater slated to open later this year on Lake Valley Drive. Last year, Cross Creek Mall built an expansion, known as the District at Cross Creek, which consists of higher-end women's and men's retailers, such as Loft, Chico's and Men's Wearhouse. "Fayetteville and Cumberland County are on the move," Peters said. "This community is not like any other," he said. "Typically what you see, when a Fresh Market locates in a market area, they tend to attract others like them. It would not surprise me within the next two years you see additional announcements that are similar to this one." Quality products Tallant, who is 61, moved to Fayetteville with her family in 1991 from Mount Holly, New Jersey, an eastern suburb of Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, she was able to buy the fresh meats, fruits and vegetables that she loved from the farmers market down by the pier. She relished the fact that she could find about anything she wanted "right off the boat." According to the Fresh Market website, the company focuses on providing customers "the freshest, most delicious quality products from around the corner and around the globe." Fresh Market, founded in 1982 by Ray and Beverly Berry in Greensboro, falls into the same specialty grocer category as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Publix Super Markets. "I've been waiting for a store like this to show up," Tallant said Thursday. "The prices are pretty good. They're mostly interested in organic and knowing where the foods are coming from. Fresh Market seems to do that," she said. Though Tallant said she doesn't frequent the upscale markets outside Fayetteville, there are shoppers who make the effort to travel outside the community. Southern Pines has a Fresh Market, and so do Cary, Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Greensboro. As a result, Fayetteville has been losing "economic impact," Peters said. "A lot of folks here travel to seek those kind of places out. It will be great to welcome them to this community and keep those dollars at home." Joe Riddle of Riddle Commercial Properties said Fresh Market will need to prove itself before similar establishments decide to join the Fayetteville market. "It will be like a litmus test," said Riddle, who has built more than a dozen grocery stores in the surrounding area and Raleigh. "You're not going to get Whole Foods because Fresh Market opens. They'll come if Fresh Market smokes. I think it has got to open up and do a killer business to draw more." Developer Cam Stout of Stout Properties concurred. "I would think indications are, if it's successful, you'll see some of the other grocery chains come in. They will probably follow them," Stout said. Fayetteville, Stout said, is ready "for those upper-end type of things. Them coming here can't be anything but positive for the market." Peters said credit for "the real salesmanship" in luring Fresh Market to Fayetteville should be given to the Riddle family and Butch Dunlop, the senior vice president of C&S Commercial Properties. Dunlop could not be reached for comment. "Even the soldiers and airmen don't mind coming into town and having a nice meal and having nice quality groceries," Scott said. "A lot of military have traveled all over. They've been places and seen things and developed a taste that goes along with that. They appreciate nice things." Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3529. ___ (c)2014 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) 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