Old Kroger in Raleigh reopens as Carlie C's

Carlie C’s IGA re-opened the old Kroger store, at 4111 New Bern Ave., two weeks after the Ohio-based chain closed the store in east Raleigh, as well as another on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in southeast Raleigh, because the locations were no longer "financially feasible."

"The important thing for me to accomplish here is to see a lot of satisfied customers, and, of course, just to see if we can get the volume here," Carlie C's founder, Carlie McLamb, said. "I know we can."

Kroger's announcement in November that the stores would close left residents and city leaders concerned about the ease of access to food for the community.

That's when, McLamb said, he began looking into opening a store in the area. He said he would also like to be in the old Kroger store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard but that it would take negotiations.

McLamb and his wife, Joyce, opened their first country store in Johnston County in 1961.

They moved the store to Dunn a year later and began to grow into a business with more than a dozen stores in Harnett, Johnston, Wake and Cumberland counties.