On Wednesday, April 15, the Mechanicsville High School band played outside 6468 Mechanicsville Turnpike. A JROTC color guard presented the flag, and store manager William Kearney gave $10 gift cards to the first 500 customers through the doors of the new Kroger Marketplace. Kroger also gave $10,000 to the FeedMore food bank that morning.
It was the biggest grocery event Hanover County had all year. It also added no new grocery store to Mechanicsville. Six months later, the new grocery stores on Hanover's map are going up along Washington Highway, where Route 1 crosses into Henrico, on the other side of the county.
Mechanicsville got a bigger version of the store it already had
According to WTVR, the new Kroger Marketplace cost $40 million and covers 118,300 square feet. That makes it the largest Kroger location in the Mid-Atlantic region. The store has a Murray's Cheese counter, a pharmacy, home goods, activewear, a Picadeli salad bar and an 18-pump fuel center.
Staffing shows how big the jump was. The new store employs 300 associates. The old Mechanicsville Kroger had 160.
"We pretty much outgrew our previous facilities. So this one is phenomenal."
William Kearney, store manager, speaking to WTVR
The previous store is less than a mile away at 6335 Mechanicsville Turnpike. It closed on Saturday, April 11. Its pharmacy stayed open through April 13, and the new store opened two days later. Mechanicsville still had one Kroger, now with nearly twice the staff and an empty store just down the road.
Kroger told WTVR it was working with Hanover County officials on options for the vacant building to "best serve the community." Kroger did not name a new use in that report.
Mechanicsville's other new stop this year is a coffee shop. Grit Coffee announced a café at 8101 Judith Lane in the Shops at Rutland Grove, and Richmond BizSense reported in April that it was expected to open in May. Grit's own locations page now lists the Hanover café as "Now Open!" with hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and online ordering for pickup.
The new grocery stores are going up on Washington Highway
Since April, Richmond BizSense has reported two grocery projects in Hanover. Both are on Washington Highway, near the Henrico line.
The first one is opening this month. Stony Run Commons is a new shopping center from South Carolina-based developer Twin Rivers Capital at Washington Highway and Sliding Hill Road, just north of Virginia Center Commons. Its addresses use a Glen Allen mailing label, but the center sits in Hanover County.
The anchor is a 20,000-square-foot Aldi at 10310 Washington Highway. That's about one-sixth the size of the Mechanicsville Marketplace, and it adds a grocery store where there wasn't one before.
The opening date moved once. In April, BizSense expected the store to open "this summer." A September 9 BizSense story first said the Aldi was already open, then ran a correction: the store is set to open October 15, according to Aldi's website. Aldi's store page still lists the location as not yet open.
How the Aldi opening is set up
Aldi's store page lays out the opening schedule:
- Wednesday, October 14: A sneak peek of the store begins.
- Thursday, October 15: Opening day. The first 200 customers get Golden Ticket gift cards worth up to $100.
- Also October 15: The first 200 customers get Aldi goodie bags, and shopping totes are handed out while they last.
Aldi's promotion rules say no purchase is necessary, with $3,000 in gift cards in total across the first 200 eligible customers. The store page doesn't give a door-opening time or a ribbon-cutting schedule, so check the page before you leave the house that morning.
Stony Run is filling in around the Aldi
A grocery store usually brings smaller tenants with it, and Stony Run is following that pattern. Here's where each tenant stands as of early October 2026, based on BizSense reporting and the companies' own pages:
| Tenant | Address | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 7-Eleven | Stony Run Commons | Open by late April 2026 |
| Panda Express | 10282 Washington Hwy | Open, taking online orders |
| Aldi | 10310 Washington Hwy | Opening Oct. 15, 2026 |
| Bank of America | 10274 Washington Hwy | Under construction, expected Q1 2027 |
| Take 5 Oil Change, Advance Auto Parts, Christian Brothers Automotive, self-storage, Hyatt Studios hotel | Stony Run Commons | Listed on the project flyer as future tenants |
When Twin Rivers announced the Panda Express land sale in December 2025, it projected a June or July 2026 opening. The company's locator now lists the restaurant as open.
The Bank of America branch will be about 4,700 square feet. It will be the bank's third in Hanover County, after 400 England St. in Ashland and 6563 Mechanicsville Turnpike. The flyer also lists the Richmond region's first Hyatt Studios hotel.
A second Kroger is planned for the same highway
The second project is bigger and further off. On August 18, Richmond BizSense reported that Kroger plans a 120,000-square-foot store to anchor Telegraph Commons at 10364 Kings Acres Road, at Washington Highway and Kings Acres Road near the Hanover–Henrico line.
At 120,000 square feet, the planned store would be slightly bigger than the 118,300-square-foot Marketplace that just opened in Mechanicsville. Developer Roka Partners expects construction to start in mid-2027. The center's three to five outparcels had no signed tenants, and Kroger hadn't given an opening date.
So it will be a while, but the plan shows the direction. In 2026, Mechanicsville Turnpike got a bigger Kroger in place of the old one. Washington Highway near the county line got a new discount grocer opening in October, plus a full-size Kroger expected to start construction in mid-2027.
What's still undecided on Mechanicsville Turnpike
Two Mechanicsville sites near the new Kroger had no announced timeline in the latest reporting.
The first is the former store at 6335 Mechanicsville Turnpike. As of WTVR's April reporting, Kroger was still talking with county officials about options for the building.
The second is on the new store's own property. When Kroger broke ground on the Marketplace in May 2025, BizSense reported plans for a 9,800-square-foot retail and office strip center on the 6468 site. Kroger gave no construction timetable at the time.
For now, the new Hanover grocery store with a firm date is the Aldi at 10310 Washington Highway. The sneak peek starts October 14, and opening day is October 15.
A new store down the road usually gets neighbors wondering what it means for their own street. If you're curious where your home stands as Hanover's errand map changes, the team at Garner Realty LLC can put together a free home valuation. We're based right here in Mechanicsville, and we'll give you a clear, honest answer with no pressure.
