New Aldi the spearpoint for Ozark Marketplace

Ozark welcomed an Aldi grocery store with a soft opening Dec. 10 and a ribbon-cutting Dec. 11.

Plans for a commercial development in what was then a farm field were announced in February 2024 in Springfield Business Journal by Brad Thessing of Thessing Commercial Properties LLC.

That development, named Ozark Marketplace, is sited on the north side of South Street, just east of U.S Route 65. Since the announcement, Thessing’s original plans for a 20-acre development doubled to a 40-acre one.

The former farmland looks quite different today, with the new Aldi store fronted by a Plaza Tire that is now under construction. Between them, crews just finished resurfacing an extension of West Waverly Street to serve the store and connect with 20th St.

More commercial development is coming, Thessing said, with a McDonald’s on the way beside Plaza Tire. Later, Dutch Bros. Coffee and a Casey’s will be coming out of the ground in the first quarter of 2026, followed by a dental office and a Waffle House. Thessing is also in negotiations with some national clients he’s not yet ready to name, and a few vacant lots also remain.

Thessing expressed satisfaction with the effort so far, having provided a few more local options for the Ozark community.

“It’s another place to shop and eat, and we’re providing a lot of jobs to the city of Ozark, plus we’re adding $1 million to the city’s revenue annually,” he said.

City officials estimate job creation from the development to number 250-400.

Projected sales are $50 million per year when the development is completely built out, he said.

“As a private developer, we paid for all the infrastructure costs up front, and we’ll slowly get some of that back over time,” he said.

Thessing’s company paid for all the new stoplights and a new South Street interchange, as well as sidewalks and crosswalks on both sides of the highway and all new curbs and gutters on the south side. The investments will be repaid through a community improvement district incentive that Thessing said is one cent on the dollar.

“You have to have incentives to do projects anymore because the bottom line is the tenants want to pay less, real estate costs more and development costs more,” he said. “Without incentives, these projects don’t work.”

He said he believes the development will spur continued growth for Ozark, and South Street infrastructure improvements and the widening of Route 65 to three lanes in the area of the exit helps matters. Additionally, Thessing is looking at another development in the city.

“We’re looking at another project relatively close to this one,” he said, but added it would not be quite as large as the current one.

Additionally, new housing is going in south of the development, located across South Street.

With the housing development already well underway by Bussell Building Inc., some 144 homes are anticipated when the project – called Valley Ridge Estates – is completed, according to city officials. Another 80-acre tract is available for residential development south of Lowe’s – which is beside Walmart on South Street – city officials said.

It’s a desirable area, according to Thessing, located between Springfield and Branson with easy access from the highway. Even so, he said development has been a long process, particularly annexation of the property into the city. Dealing with three entities – Christian County, the city of Ozark and the Missouri Department of Transportation – complicated things, he said.

“They’re usually all on board for pro-growth, and all the infrastructure is being funded by private development, which obviously helps all three,” he said.

He said Ozark is development friendly with department heads that are easy to work with.

“That’s why we try to work with communities that are pro-growth and pro-incentives,” he said. “When you deal with different councils that are not pro-growth and pro-incentives, there’s developers, including myself, who would just go on to another market, because we know it doesn’t work without incentives.”

First customers
There was a line to get into Aldi for the Dec. 10 soft opening, most with the requisite Aldi quarter in hand: The chain’s carts are linked together out front and are released when customers insert a quarter that they get back upon the cart’s return.

Untouched aisles without a gap in sight greeted the first shoppers to the store that features 12,000 square feet of retail space. A spokesperson for the company said it hires 15-20 full- and part-time associates to staff new stories, and there is currently one remaining opening in Ozark, for a full-time assistant store manager.

Three shoppers looked particularly happy – a family group consisting of a grandmother and her sister and an adult granddaughter. The trio said they often travel to Nixa, Branson or Springfield to shop at Aldi.

“When I found out this was coming, it felt like Disneyland,” said Carol Schwarz.

Schwarz’ sister, Ashley Strader, credited Mayor Don Currence with setting a business-friendly climate in the city.

“I’m really excited that this mayor had made the decision to expand businesses in our community – it’s why I voted for him,” said Ashley Strader.

Strader’s granddaughter, Irelyn Mosandl, was also eyeing the bargains during the sneak peek.

“As a young person in the community, it is so nice to get the grocery store shopping done and not have to break the bank,” said Mosandl. “That is the most important thing for me, because getting paid $15 an hour, it doesn’t go very far.”

Strader said Ozark needed another place to shop, and she added that the local offering will keep her from having to go out of town.

“To us it’s so important to have another store,” said Strader. “This is really a really nice addition for Ozark.”