Go Fresh 365 plans first North Carolina store in former Cary Lidl space

A vacant grocery box on Cary’s busy NC Highway 55 corridor is getting a new tenant: Go Fresh 365, a Chinese and Asian supermarket based in Long Island City, New York, plans to open its first North Carolina store in the former Lidl space at High House Crossing.

The grocer is set to occupy 35,726 square feet at 2741 Hwy. 55, giving one of Cary’s most visible retail vacancies a second life. Kimco Realty, which handles leasing for the center, says Go Fresh 365 has already signed on as a tenant, and the property page lists the space as occupied. An opening date has not been announced.

The move matters because large grocery anchors are hard to replace, and the former Lidl box had been empty since Lidl closed its Cary store on July 16, 2023. Lidl said at the time that the store was underperforming. Replacing that space with another grocer should restore weekday traffic and weekend family trips to High House Crossing, while also supporting neighboring shops that benefit from grocery shoppers stopping in the same center.

High House Crossing sits in a prime retail corridor near High House Road and NC Highway 55, within 1 mile of the new I-540 and minutes from Research Triangle Park, according to Kimco’s marketing materials. The center has 87,981 square feet of gross leasable area and 502 parking spaces, making it well suited to a destination retailer that can draw shoppers across western Wake County.

The new lease also underscores how sharply Cary’s grocery market continues to expand. The town’s July 1, 2024 population estimate reached 182,659, up from 174,721 in the 2020 census. The Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 data puts Cary’s median household income at $134,905, with Asian residents making up 20.4% of the population and 26.6% of households speaking a language other than English at home. That mix helps explain why Asian grocery chains continue to see an opening in the town.

Go Fresh 365’s arrival comes as another national grocer is also betting on Cary. Whole Foods Market is planning a third Cary location at Preston Corners on High House Road, adding to the competition for affluent, fast-growing shoppers in western Wake County. Together, those moves suggest that Cary’s retail market is still strong enough to absorb major grocery footprints, even as older boxes change hands.