Valley Foods, a long-anticipated grocery store in Downtown Fresno, should open in August following years of delays. Photo by Edward Smith

Something is stirring at a long-anticipated grocery store in Downtown Fresno that points to an opening this spring.

Valley Foods, at 50 N. Van Ness Ave., is opening in April “as long as everything goes as planned,” according to General Manager Mansoor Mohamed.

Initial orders have been placed for canned goods and other nonperishable items to begin filling the shelves of the grocery store in the Historic Lowell neighborhood of downtown. They hope the first delivery should come by March 20.

The store will have dry goods, produce, meat, deli and taqueria as well as customer convenience services such as bill payments, check cashing and money orders.

Mohamed said they plan to hire 13-15 people to work at the store, with applications being taken starting this week.

They have received “quite a bit” of applications already, he added. To apply before March 23, interested applicants can visit Amigos Food Market at 4220 E. Church Ave. to apply. After March 23 candidates can visit the Valley Foods store to apply.

Valley Foods was looking forward to opening as early as June 2018. Securing the needed business and building permits caused the delay.

Mohamed said the store has a permit to sell beer and wine.