T-R PHOTO BY TREVOR BABCOCK - Marshalltown Fareway Store Manager Brian Schmith and Market Manager Michael Hanna cut the ribbon to celebrate the new replacement grocery store open for business.

Shoppers will experience an updated look and feel at the now open Fareway store in Marshalltown.

Community members attended a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday morning to commemorate the completion and first day business for the nearly 25,000 square foot replacement Fareway store at 102 W. Anson Street. The previous Fareway store located at the same address will be demolished.

“What a fun thing to have another big renovation in our rebuild Marshalltown effort that’s going on,” Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer said. “This Fareway store is just another example of people that are willing to stick their necks out, make an investment, improve things, hire more people and get people to move to Marshalltown and live here.”

Fareway Regional Vice President B.J. Van Der Linden said the entire process of getting the new store built and open took about five years, with construction beginning in 2020.

“We look forward to continuing to serve the area residents of Marshalltown, like we have since 1946,” Van Der Linden said.

The new store features more natural lighting, a modern looking interior and enhanced technology. A 20 percent larger meat counter will expand Fareway’s meat selection.

Self-service checkout lanes are available at the new store and online shopping with curbside pickup is also now an available option.

As the first customers entered the store, many pointed out the new lighting and more spacious building as the first features they noticed.

“There’s just generally a lot of excitement, staff has been highly anticipating this,” Fareway Corporate Outreach and Communications Manager Emily Toribio said. “We have such a long term, tenured staff that have been in the storefront, so this new store look and feel is going to be really exciting for them and for our customers alike.”

The local Fareway management team introduced themselves at the ribbon cutting ceremony, and voiced their excitement about the completion of the store.

Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce CEO and President John Hall thanked Fareway for their approximately $6 million investment into the new store and asked those in attendance to really think about the impact the new store may have in Marshalltown.

“They had a lot of options for where they could have chosen to build and the fact that they are reinvesting back into Marshalltown, back into the core of the community, you think about the accessibility that this store has for residents throughout the community, this is incredible and we sincerely appreciate it,” Hall said.

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Contact Trevor Babcock at 641-753-6611 or tbabcock@timesrepublican.com.