Gordon Food Services opens full-scale grocery store in Trotwood
Nov. 14—Gordon Food Service today opened its newest grocery store in Trotwood, the first grocery story to locate in the city since Foodtown closed in 2019.
The store is located at 5031 Salem Ave., and is open to public and does not require a membership.
The store has been financially supported by the city of Trotwood and Montgomery County with a $7.5 million investment with Gordon Food Service to redevelop this formerly vacant, big-box store.
The city first announced plans to collaborate with Gordon Food Services on a project to fill the city's fresh food void in early 2020. Just months later, the project was put on hold in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
In July, Trotwood City Council passed a resolution that allowed GFS to enter into the city's Incentive Compensation Program, allowing the business to be compensated with non-tax fund grants based on a percentage of local withholdings paid to the city by GFS for all new employees hired after the new location's opening date over the next 10 years.
"The nice thing about the incentive structure we put in place is that it's going to be based on the sustainability of their job creation," said Chad Downing, Trotwood Community Improvement Corporation director. "This is a framework that's truly a partnership in that it's going to allow them to grow as they need, as both macro and micro economics will dictate, but it also incentivizes them to create these jobs."
The Michigan-based food service operated a wholesale store at 5380 Salem Ave. in Trotwood. The new location is open just over a mile down the road in the former Best Buy building.
GFS expanded its operations from a 15,000-square-foot building to 52,000 square feet, while increasing the number of employees from 20 to at least 30, Downing said.
"This project will be excellent in helping to stimulate that immediate area, both economically and by bringing more residents to that location," Downing said, adding that the new store will be located across the street from the RTA West Hub. "This will provide accessibility for everyone, including those who use public transportation as their primary mode of mobility."
An agreement between Trotwood and Gordon Food Services Inc. will help fill a crucial need for the city's residents with the development of a full-service grocery store, city officials said.
Since the September 2019 closure of the city's only full-scale grocer, Foodtown, the Trotwood community has been deemed a "food desert" by residents and city officials alike.
The new grocery store is estimated to open by early fall of this year.
Growth is also underway nearby, with the redevelopment of the vacant Sears & Roebuck building at the former Salem Mall plaza.
Officially closed in January of 2014, the building sits on a site that has been earmarked for $2 million in funding for redevelopment through the help of U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton.
Trotwood officials' vision for the building include it being the future home of the Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center, along with produce growers and "banking, office space and entrepreneurial programs," Mayor Mary McDonald said earlier this year.
That building has also been nominated for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.
