With the Sprouts Grocery building rising quickly in West Deptford, ownership has started the Phase 2 “full facade remodel” for the Southwood Shopping Center.
Stores are open during the construction! You can get amazing cheesesteaks at Whit or Whitout, refreshing smoothies at Fruiggie’s Too, shop for the best deals on carpet at Abbey Carpet… well more on the stores below!
Also under development at Southwood is a completely new Sprouts Grocery store. The healthy grocery also offers a full shopping experience. In South Jersey there are locations in Marlton, Haddon Twp and a location in Washington Twp is still planned.
The Southwood Shopping Center is located on Mantua Pike/Rt 45 (Across the roadway are Giant Fitness and the Hollywood Diner)
Once the remodel is completed (and Sprouts is open), the Southwood Shopping Center will be a premium shopping destination in West Deptford… and construction crews are working fast to make that happen!
This is a quick update on the Sprouts construction as well as the Shopping Center remodel… but likely even more important is keeping in mind that the current tenants are still open.
Even with construction fencing positioned in front of center, all of the stores are still easily accessible (more below)
The shopping center originally opened around 1959 with Grants discount store and Penn Fruit supermarket as lead tenants. While there have been some updates over the years it’s clear that for the last few years/decades the shopping center has been in need of significant upgrades.
In 2021 the Southwood Shopping Center was sold to a local group of investors who had big plans for the center including a full remodel which is expected to benefit the existing tenants, as well as attract new tenants to the available spaces.
Southwood Shopping Center -Sprouts
The exciting news today is the remodel has absolutely started as construction crews are blanketing the front of the shopping center, currently focused on rebuilding the upper facade into a more attractive design which will also better support store signage.
This remodeling effort is actually starting a little bit later than what ownership had initially expected… but honestly this is a very good thing!
It seems that just the early announcement of them wanting to invest in the shopping center was enough to get the attention of folks in the retail industries… and Southwood hooked a BIG FISH!
Last year Sprouts Farmers Market signed on for an all-new-build store at Southwood… and they are moving very quickly on the building which will be attached to the right side of shopping center.
It was literally just one year ago this month that we first learned that Sprouts had signed on and already most of the exterior walls are standing!
If you are unfamiliar with Sprouts, the are a healthy grocer who in a footprint smaller than a supermarket still offers dedicated “counters” for seafood, meats and deli… as well as healthy plant-based, gluten free options and more. Read my coverage of the Haddon Twp opening for more!
So consider that after signing the deal, in one year they quickly moved to presenting their plans to West Deptford to gain development approval, weeks after the approval they were already demolishing the former ALDI space to make room for the new development, and construction then quickly started.
Today just one year later after the initial announcement, construction has progressed to the point that you can clearly see the full scope, size and position of the upcoming grocery store.
As an example one interesting aspect of the Sprouts grocery store design is that it was designed to extend further out in front of the shopping center, and that wall is fully developed so you get the sense of how that “fits”
During my visit just a few days ago probably 80% of the exterior walls were developed. The front of the store shows the least amount of progress but likely there are windows going to come into play there.
Sprouts is expected to open in 2025.
Southwood Shopping Center – Remodel
Now that the Phase II Shopping Center remodel has started… the construction crews are not messing around!
In my visit this week there were at least seven different areas of the overhead facade across the entire center that were being worked on, with the core underlying steel frame for the new sections already in place.
Not only will the new design be more attractive and eye-pleasing, the new raised elements of the upper facade will offer more space to support signage for individual tenants.
This is a significant upgrade as basically every aspect of the large shopping center’s front facade is being worked, with construction crews in place and construction fencing positioned out front to support supply staging areas and other construction activities.
Southwood Shopping Center – Stores Are Open!
Which brings us to the reminder again that the existing stores at Southwood are still open during the construction. The construction crews are taking care that customers can still access all of stores.
The left side of the shopping center features a unique U-shaped inset configuration, and with the construction teams utilizing the center courtyard as a staging area… well let’s just focus on The Stores Area Open!
The information below comes from the Vantage Commercial Marketing Brochure. Where I could find a website, I included a link.
On the left side:
- Orange Cleaners
- Whit or Whitout Cheesesteaks
- Certa Pro Painters
- Elaborate Events
- Fruggie Too
- Hair Connection
- Bella Candles
- Clever Fox
Along the right half of the center the stores have more direct access from the parking lot, but there is construction fencing in place but there are openings to access all stores!