WEST FORK — Harps Food Stores continued to expand its footprint when it opened its 72nd store Wednesday in West Fork.
Roger Collins, Harps chairman and chief executive officer, said the Springdale-based grocer plans to open about five stores a year.
“We are in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, but this West Fork store shows there are still a lot of places locally for us to expand,” he said.
The 33,000-square-foot store is just east of Interstate 540 at Exit 53, near the schools. The store will not only serve the town, but the outlying rural areas, Collins said.
By The Numbers
Harps Food Stores
• 53 Arkansas stores
• 18 Northwest Arkansas Stores
• 10 Oklahoma stores
• 9 Missouri stores
• 3,600 employees
Source: harpsfood.com
Sandra Skaggs of West Fork was shopping in the store shortly after the doors opened following the 9 a.m. ribbon cutting ceremony.
“It’s really nice to have a grocery store in town so I don’t have to spend money on gas going to Fayetteville,” she said.
The Harps is a full-service store with a pharmacy, deli, bakery and gas pumps, Collins said.
“There is enough demand down here we thought we’d be successful,” he said.
Harps also opened a store in Elkins in November and will open a new store in Bentonville on March 20.
The Bentonville store at the corner of North Walton Boulevard and Northwest 12th Street is a replacement for the store in the Midtown Shopping Center.
Collins said the lease is up in the spring and they were forced to look for a new site.
“I am happy with the location we found,” he said.
The new Bentonville Harps will be larger — 37,000 square feet — and offer expanded fresh produce and deli products.
“We think it will be our nicest store, but then the newest is usually the nicest,” Collins said.
J. Max Van Hoose, Harps vice president of store planning, said the company is building a pair of stores in Hot Springs and recently purchased grocery stores in Morrilton, Mayflower and Jasper.
The company recently sold its Elkins building to a company out of Kansas, but Collins said that’s routine for the business.
Harps often buys land and builds a store before selling the property and leasing it back for store operations, he said. The company doesn’t want its money tied up in real estate when it could be used for other purposes including expansion.
Collins said Harps only owns about five of the properties housing its 72 stores.
“In fact, we are in the process of selling the West Fork site,” he said. “We have a lot of people interested in owning the site.”
Harps is also adding jobs when it opens a new store. The West Fork store has about 90 full- and part-time employees, said Frank Ray, vice president of human resources.
Ray said that number could fluctuate once company officials evaluate sales and adjust employment.
Even the relocated Bentonville store will add some jobs, he said. Most of the store’s employees will move over to the new store, but the larger format will necessitate the need for more workers. Ray expects the store to employ more than 100 people.
Harps has more than 3,600 employees across three states. The grocer started in 1930 and is the largest employee-owned company headquartered in Arkansas.