The Grocery Store Papago Plaza Promised in 2019 Opens Friday

At 6:45 a.m. this Friday, October 30, Sprouts Farmers Market will hold a ribbon-cutting at the corner of North Scottsdale Road and SkySong Boulevard. Fifteen minutes later the doors open at 1490 N. Scottsdale Rd. The first 200 shoppers get a free reusable tote, and the first 400 customers get a long-stem rose from Falcon Farms Floral. From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., a pop-up party out front will offer samples and a scavenger hunt. According to the store's own page, it is Store #50, and the giveaways continue through Sunday, November 1.

The opening is bigger than one store. South Scottsdale lost a full-size supermarket in 2024. Instead of getting another big store in its place, the area is getting three smaller ones, each with a different approach, all within about two weeks of each other. Papago Plaza is first because it has been coming the longest.

Seven Years From Groundbreaking to Groceries

The store opening Friday was planned as the last piece of the Papago Plaza redevelopment. It became the piece the whole project waited on. Here is the order of events, from the developer's first talks to this week:

1. 2013. At the 2019 groundbreaking, Pivot Development president Lee Mashburn told ABC15 that talks about buying the 60-year-old center started in 2013. The first idea was a facelift and new tenants. Changes in retail pushed the plan toward a mixed-use project meant to complement ASU SkySong across the street.
2. December 5, 2019. The ceremonial groundbreaking happened with demolition already underway on the northwest end. Mashburn named Starbucks, Wells Fargo, a SpringHill Suites hotel and Aldi as signed tenants. Phase one was to include the bank, a parking garage and restaurants, with completion expected in summer or fall 2020. The grocery store was in phase two, possibly in 2021.
3. August 2022. Sprouts signed an agreement for the store and a 328-space garage. Around then, SeventyOne15 McDowell, a 274-unit apartment community, finished construction.
4. 2023. The 116-room SpringHill Suites opened in September. Meanwhile, AZBEX reported that the retail and restaurant buildings, originally meant to come first, stopped that year when their permits expired. Sprouts submitted its plans to the City of Scottsdale in January.
5. April 2025. AZBEX found a pending permit request that matched the grocery and garage plans at 1490 N. Scottsdale Rd.
6. August 2025. In a JLL announcement about the project's financing, the retail piece was renamed Papago Marketplace: 55,500 square feet anchored by a 23,343-square-foot Sprouts, 80% pre-leased, with completion projected for August 2026.
7. October 30, 2026. Opening day.

The apartments and hotel are both several years old. For that whole time, the grocery store at the center of the original plan was still a fenced lot. On Friday that changes. Aldi, one of the grocers named in 2019, did end up in south Scottsdale, just not at Papago Plaza.

The Supermarket That Isn't Coming Back

To see why three stores are arriving at once, look about two miles northeast at Indian School and Miller roads. For 48 years, a Fry's Food Store filled roughly 50,000 square feet at Downtown East Shopping Center. Scottsdale Progress reported that a posted notice set the closing for 4 p.m. on May 31. KTAR reported in May 2024 that Whole Foods would take over the space at the Jakosky Properties center.

Whole Foods opens there on November 12 in a 38,158-square-foot store. That's about three-quarters of the space Fry's used. The Papago Sprouts is smaller still, at less than half the old Fry's footprint. Put side by side, the three new stores look like this:

The smaller formats follow an industry trend. Lisa Bednar, president of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance, told Axios Phoenix that grocery chains are building fewer large-format stores in established communities and saving those projects for faster-growing areas on the edges of the metro. Most of south Scottsdale was built out long ago. So when a big box closes here, it tends to come back as several smaller stores spread across different corridors.

The same Axios report sorted the three chains into separate lanes: Aldi for discount, Sprouts for health-focused shopping, Whole Foods for upscale. Between them, they cover more ground than a single supermarket could.

A Weekly Shop Spread Across Three Corridors

The data backs this up. Per research from FMI, the food industry association, cited by Axios, the average American shops at 5.4 grocery chains a month, and Gen Z shoppers visit 6.7. Bednar described a common pattern: staples and store brands from discount or traditional grocers, and specialty items from specialty stores. The Axios reporter, a south Scottsdale resident, sketched her own version. She'd go to Sprouts for produce, Whole Foods for a prepared lunch and Aldi for cheap, fun snacks.

Each store's details show what it adds to that kind of routine.

Sprouts at Papago Plaza is the second Sprouts south of Chaparral. The first, at 4402 N. Miller Rd., is about three miles away. For households near McDowell Road, SkySong or the Tempe border, the new store means a Sprouts trip no longer requires driving north.

Whole Foods at Downtown East will be the 11th Whole Foods in Arizona. Per the company's October 15 announcement, it will open at 8 a.m. on November 12 and keep regular hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Store Team Leader Senait Yohannes will run it. The store will carry more than 260 items from more than 70 Arizona suppliers, and the announcement names many of them:

• Produce: squash and herbs from Duncan Family Farms, salads from Willo Indoor Farms, citrus from Silver Canyon Citrus
• Specialty and grocery: fudge from Black Mesa Ranch, chocolate from Stone Grindz Chocolate, cold brew from Cartel Roasting Co., popcorn from Kettle Heroes, salsa from Sting 'N' Linger Salsa Co.
• Beer: Four Peaks Brewing Company, Huss Brewing Co. and Wren House Brewing, part of a selection of 245 craft beers alongside more than 700 wines
• Prepared foods: hot and salad bars, pizza by the slice or whole pie, a Market Sandwich counter, and sushi rolled daily by Kikka Sushi

The prepared-foods counter matters here. The old Fry's was the place many people did a full weekly stock-up. The Whole Foods replacing it is built as much around lunch and dinner as around the pantry.

Aldi at Indian River Plaza is the least settled of the three. The store locator already lists 7919 E. Thomas Road. The USA Today Network's Aldi expansion update places that address in the Indian River Plaza shopping center. On its August 24, 2026 agenda, the Scottsdale City Council approved forwarding a recommendation to the state Department of Liquor Licenses and Control on Aldi's liquor license request for Suite 105. As of Axios's October 15 report, the store was hiring. No opening date has been announced.

The Dates Between Now and Mid-November

For anyone planning around the openings, here are the dates that are set:

• Monday, October 26: Cheba Hut "Toasted" Subs set this as its opening date at 2200 N. Scottsdale Rd., Suite 110, a short drive north of the new Sprouts, per QSR Magazine.
• Friday, October 30: Sprouts ribbon-cutting at 6:45 a.m. Doors open at 7 a.m. with tote and rose giveaways. Pop-up party runs until 5 p.m.
• Saturday, October 31: Doors at 7 a.m., another 200 totes for the first in-store shoppers, and the pop-up from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sunday, November 1: Last day of Sprouts grand-opening deals, per Axios.
• Thursday, November 12: Whole Foods opens at 8 a.m. at 7628 E. Indian School Rd.
• To be announced: Aldi at 7919 E. Thomas Rd.

In short: a corner promised a grocery store in 2019 gets one Friday morning, and a building that was a Fry's for 48 years reopens as a Whole Foods two weeks later. Aldi will follow on Thomas Road once it sets a date.

Grocery stores shape how a neighborhood works day to day, and that's the kind of change I follow closely across south Scottsdale. If you own near Papago Plaza, SkySong or Downtown East and want to know how corridors like these are showing up in nearby sales, Jaime Fernandez can put together a current picture for your street. Request Your Free Home Valuation.