Jonathan Badger and his family gets ready to cut the ribbon and open their newest Lee’s Marketplace in Richmond on Wed. June 21, 2023.
RICHMOND – Jonathan Badger, the president and CEO of Lee’s Marketplace, a family-owned grocery store business, was giving hugs and handshakes in Richmond on Wednesday, June 21, outside of his company’s newest Lee’s Marketplace grocery store.
The store located at 185 North 200 West in Richmond opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony led by the Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce.
The parking lot and drive into the new grocery store were packed with cars and crowds of people who were there for the ribbon cutting.
Badger said they purchased the property five years ago but due to COVID and some other issues they didn’t start building until just over a year ago.
“We learned a lot over the last five years,” he said. “This is a much better store than we had originally planned to build earlier.”
The Richmond store is the smallest of the three stores in Cache Valley, at 35,000 square feet. The Logan store is 47,000 square feet and the Smithfield store is 53,000 square feet.
“This location will serve many of our guests who have already been shopping with us in our Smithfield store,” Badger said. “We are excited to bring all that our guests have come to love at Lee’s in a new, bright, clean store closer to home.”
The new store also has made-from-scratch baked goods with legendary donuts, ready-made meals, fresh produce, quality meat, and a hometown pharmacy.
In Shari Badger’s opening remarks, she gave a short history of the Badgers’ grocery store journey from their first store built in Smithfield in 1981 to their seventh store in Richmond.
“More than 15 years ago, the only grocery store in Richmond closed its doors,” she said. “Afterwards, guests would stop by our store in Smithfield and tell Lee that he needed to open a store in Richmond, Lee loved to say to me,” she said.
She said they thought of opening a mini store and calling it ‘Little Lee’s’ but decided to open a full-sized Lee’s in Richmond.
There is also an upstairs area called the Richmond Café for in-store dining and eating gourmet popcorn from The Popcorn Shop.
Lee’s Marketplace is described as a friendly grocery business that has grown from its first store in 1981 to seven locations, with stores in Logan, North Ogden, Smithfield, Heber City, North Salt Lake, Herriman, and now Richmond. Lee’s Marketplace has always generously supported the communities they serve.
For more than 40 years Lee’s has promised to offer quality, freshness and made-from-scratch goodness throughout all departments, including the sit-down deli, designer floral, modern bakery, full-service butcher block, fresh local produce, and hometown pharmacy.
Lee’s Marketplace is a member of Associated Food Stores.