SYLACAUGA — If the closing of Food World on U.S. 280 in May was a sign of the bad economic times, perhaps the planned opening of a new grocery store in the same building is a sign of good economic times to come.

Vince Culotta confirmed that a new Piggly Wiggly store will be opening in that building, and he expects it to be up and running by February. Culotta is co-owner of Piggly Wiggly stores in Columbiana and the Talladega Highway location in Sylacauga along with his brothers, Charles and Sam Jr.

Culotta said the papers were signed to lease the building on Friday.

“We’re going to gut that whole building, take out the old equipment and replace the floor and the ceiling,” Culotta said. “There will be new décor, and it will look like a new place.”

The new location will not have any effect on the current location, so customers at the Talladega Highway location should not expect any changes in service. The new location will resemble the current one, Culotta said.

“It should be very similar. We’ll make it as nice, if not nicer. We’ll have the same kinds of products, the same pricing and the same ads,” he said.

Perhaps the only major difference between the two locations could be the addition of a pharmacist. Food World had a pharmacy, and Culotta said he was interested in utilizing that area in the building for the same purpose, if he could get a pharmacist to locate there. He said very few Piggly Wiggly locations have a pharmacy.

Culotta said he was excited about this new opportunity.

“Sylacauga has been good to us. We’ve been very fortunate to do as well we’ve done here,” he said. “We see this as an opportunity to continue to grow and help the community. We employ about 70 people (at the current Sylacauga location), and we hope to employ about 55 to 60 more people there.”

The Food World store was closed in late May after parent company Bruno’s Supermarkets filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, and a Birmingham judge approved the sale of 56 of the company’s stores to Southern Family Markets.

Southern Family Markets decided to continue operation of 31 of the stores but chose to liquidate 25 of the stores, including the Sylacauga, Pell City and Moody locations.