There have been a lot of firsts on the west side of I-55 in Madison since construction of Colony Crossing began five years ago - first gas station, convenience store, fast-food restaurants, fine dining spot, a hotel and a wide variety of retailers. Now, residents can cross grocery store off their list of needs.

 Kroger opens its second store in Madison and the first grocery on the west side of the interstate beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday. A ribbon cutting will be held two hours later at 10 a.m., when the store will present donations to Madison Crossing Elementary School, Madison County Sheriff Department D.E.A.D., or Drugs End All Dreams program, and the Madison Fire Department.

“This is something this community needs,” Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler said. “It’s great to have a major grocery retailer opening on the west side. It will be very successful.”

At 115 Colony Crossing, the store will be open 24 hours a day, Chef John Burns will be part of the store’s staff, daily preparing meat and seafood dishes for customers to sample. “He’ll have party suggestions, answer customer questions and offer cooking techniques,” Kroger spokesman Whitney Atkins said. He’ll be working in the European meat case, which is unique to the new Madison store, she said.

The produce section will offer more than 50 organic varieties of fruits and vegetables, Atkins said. In addition, the store’s “Nature’s Market” offers more than 3,200 items of organic and natural foods, plus a resource center that contains recipes, she said.

There will be a Coffee Café the center of the store. A variety of ready-to-eat foods will be available in the store’s restaurant, its Sandwich Station, the Soup Bar or Sushi Island, where chefs will prepare sushi daily.

Unique to the store is the personal and beauty care section that is designed with a department store ambience, Atkins said. Other
amenities will be a pharmacy with a drive-through window, a floral shop with a “build-a-bouquet” section for customers to create their own arrangements and photo area with seating.

 The manager of the Colony Crossing store is Mike Fuller, who has 33 years of service with Kroger.

The new store has 46,024 square feet, about 4,000 more than the existing store on U.S. 51, which is scheduled to undergo renovations. No date has been set for that work to begin.

 The west side of I-55 at Ridgeland gets a grocery store in March. The Fresh Market will open March 5 in Renaissance shopping center at Old Agency Road and Highland Colony Parkway. Each store in The Fresh Market chain is designed with the atmosphere of an old world European market.