Kmart has approached the city of Mesa about building a superstore on two sites in the suburb east of Phoenix, one northwest of the corner of Greenfield and Baseline roads and another at Southern Avenue and Stapley Drive, according to Mesa's Planning Director Frank Mizner.

Super Kmart Centers are as large as 200,000 sf and have as many as 350 employees. The Troy, MI-based retailer has built more than 100 Super Kmart Centers since 1991, three in Tucson and one in Yuma--but so far, none in the Valley. The Super Kmart Centers include a grocery store component in addition to traditional retail goods. It would take nearly two years to build and open the stores, says a company spokeswoman.

Wal-Mart has two SuperCenters in Mesa, and a third has been held up in court by angry neighbors who don't like super-size stores. Neighborhood backlash to superstore development has been fierce in the past two years, and Mesa is among a handful of Arizona cities considering ordinances that would limit where big box retailers could build. Several big box developments have been scuttled by public outcry.

Mesa is the third largest city in Arizona, with nearly 400,000 residents, and one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. Mesa is approximately 12 miles southeast of Phoenix and is bordered by Tempe, Chandler and Mesa.

If Kmart were to enter the grocery store market it would add another combatant to a field already thick with contestants. Five major grocery store chains and Wal-Mart are fighting for market share, and one, ABCO, is being sold off store by store.