New Stater Bros. Supermarket Opens with Fanfare

The new Stater Bros. parking lot at 1775 East Lugonia Avenue in the Redlands Village Shopping Center was filled with community members, community leaders, Stater Bros. employees and other Stater Bros. personnel who had gathered Wednesday morning, Sept. 25, to celebrate the new market’s grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new Stater Bros. market will replace the smaller Stater Bros. market located across the street at 1786 Lugonia Ave., which closed its doors Sept. 24. The new location in the Redlands Village Shopping Center opened for business at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning and will operate daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Redlands East Valley Marching Wildcats opened the ceremony with patriotic music set for the occasion before local leaders and Stater Bros. leaders addressed the public. “This is your store,” Stater Bros. Chairman and CEO Jack Brown told the crowd. “We don’t just do business in a town, we’re part of it.” During the ceremony, Stater Bros. Charities also made donations of $2,000 each to the Redlands Police Department for their Children’s Community Block Party; to the Redlands East Valley High School Marching Wildcats; and to the A.K. Smiley Library for their Young Readers Room. The Stater Bros. Charities also made a donation of $2,000 to the City of Redlands, which will go toward the purchase of eight barbecues at Crafton Park in honor of the City’s 125th anniversary. The new, 44,000-square-foot building is approximately 50 percent larger than the previous Stater Bros. market, Stater Bros. leaders told the crowd on Wednesday, and includes wider aisles, outdoor seating and a decor scheme that reflects the city’s history, according to a release issued by Stater Bros. The new market location will offer full-service fresh meat, seafood, deli, bakery, floral and produce departments, along with a self-service beverage bar featuring over 100 flavors of sodas and a selection of ICEEs, teas, espresso, coffee and cocoas. The market is also home to a full-service U.S. Bank. Brown stated, “The Stater Bros. Supermarket Family is especially proud to build this modern and environmentally friendly Stater Bros. Supermarket to better serve our longtime and valued Redlands customers.” He placed emphasis on the store’s large variety of produce and touched on the store’s reach-in refrigerators. Brown said, “You talk about about environmentally friendly. You’ll see over 125 skylights inside. This store’s footprint will save over 30 percent [more] in carbons than a store of a comparable size.” The market also uses energy-efficient lighting, like LED lights, to further reduce its energy use; and an Energy Management System that controls refrigeration, HVAC, Demand Response and lighting. It also features a recycling center; uses fully recycled grocery bags; and is part of a chain-wide green waste recycling program, according to a release issued by Stater Bros. The store’s produce selection is also on the larger side, Brown told visitors. This Stater Bros., he said, will “offer over 1,000 produce items. The average supermarket … will have about 400 or 450, maybe, so if you want selection, if you want freshness and produce, you’ve come to the right place.” Mayor Pete Aguilar thanked Stater Bros. for their contributions to the city. “For 76 years, Stater Bros. has been a contributing member to this local community [and] to our local economy. There are so many store members and executives who live in Redlands and shop in Redlands. From our perspective, this is a great place to live, work and raise a family, and we’re honored to have Stater Bros. as a partner in this process.” Kurt and Ann Klingbeil are Forest Falls residents who frequent the Redlands area. Ann receives radiation treatment at Redlands Community Hospital. Their daughter has worked with Stater Bros. for 23 years, they said. “A lot of times we end up in Redlands and we find that [Stater Bros.] is more affordable,” said Ann. Lori Leach is a new Redlands resident who just moved to the area with her family from Oregon. She has two sons in the Redlands East Valley Marching Wildcats band and was there with her daughter, Sandra Bazan, to see them perform. Though they have only lived in Redlands since June of this year, the two were happy to see the new Stater Bros. open its doors. “I think it’s great for the community. It’s a great addition. It’s bigger, there are more [food] options and it’s bringing in jobs,” said Leach. Stater Bros. has been a staple in the Redlands community for 76 years since the market opened in 1937. Redlands is also home to two other Stater Bros. locations, one at 11 East Colton Ave. and another at 1536 Barton Rd.