COUNTY MARKET PLANNED FOR CAPE IN FALL

County Market, a group that operates more than 100 stores nationwide, will become the largest supermarket in Cape Girardeau when it opens on Silver Springs Road in the fall.

Formal documentation should be completed within 30 days, allowing for a fall opening, said Darrell Long, president of Supervalu's St. Louis and Scott City distribution centers.

Long announced Thursday that an agreement had been reached with Tom Harmon of Jacksonville, Ill., to open County Market in the former 60,000-square-foot Shop 'n Save supermarket.

Shop 'n Save Warehouse Foods, which opened at 254 Silver Springs Road in October 1991, closed about five years later, in February 1996.

The new County Market will be a full-service market.

The building, which is owned by Supervalu, will be renovated to the County Market's full-service format.

"This will be a nice store," said Long. "Groceries will be bagged and carried out for customers."

Long said prices should be competitive.

At 60,000 square feet, the store will be somewhat larger than Schnucks Market and the grocery division of Wal-Mart.

"I think people will find the new store a good place to shop," said Long.

The store will be supplied primarily from the Supervalu Scott City distribution center, with some supplementary variety products coming form the St. Louis distribution center.

Supervalu is one of the biggest food wholesalers in the country, providing products to 4,350 independent grocery stores in 47 states.

Harmon is a veteran grocery man. His father owned a grocery market.

Harmon owns and operates four supermarkets -- a County Market at Jacksonville and IGA supermarkets at Harrisburg, Vandalia and Jacksonville.

The store here will employ up to 150 people when it opens. Negotiations had been under way for the past three to four months.