The new Produce World store in Skokie’s Fashion Square is projected to open by the first week of February, about a month later than projected.

As workmen completed the construction of shelves, counters and other interior features of the store's third chain, owner Steve Pavlopoulos said he’ll begin accepting job applications within about a week at the new location, on the south side of the shopping center next to the Ruby of Siam restaurant. Pavlopoulos said he still expects to hire around 50 new employees.

“The detail stuff takes some time,” Pavlopoulos said near the empty deli counter as work proceeded around him. Back in September, he had forecast an opening by year’s end in Skokie, his original preferred location 20 years ago before he opted to open his second store in Morton Grove, at Waukegan and Dempster. Last summer a larger, supermarket-sized Produce World replaced that location, at Harlem and Dempster.

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“Some things came in wrong, we had to fix,” Pavlopoulos said. “We had to wait for some shelving. Do some things on the roof (if the weather holds).”

The Skokie store will be 20,000 square feet, 5,000 less than its Morton Grove counterpart. The only difference is the Skokie store will have less storage space and will have to replenish its stock more often.

Pavlopoulos said the newest outlet will have a somewhat different look than the Morton Grove store and the third outlet in Norridge.

“We’ll have a Kosher influence here with a Kosher section,” he said. “We won’t have as many international products as the other store, since we had more space in the other store. Our Norridge location is our biggest location, so we store a lot of things there.”

Pavlopoulos is improving on the deli arrangement in Morton Grove.

“We’ll have a little bit more hot food here – the area calls for it,” he said. “Soups, chicken, shrimp, sandwiches, Panini's. People in Old Orchard are eating sandwiches to go, so we’ll go in that direction.”

Pavlopoulos or an associate will be taking job applications between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the new store next week. He said he will hire for full-time and part-time cashiers, deli workers, meat cutters, and dairy and grocery stock workers. Some experienced workers from the other stores will be transferred to oversee the startup and new employees, Pavlopoulos said.

“After a transition period, they’ll be (transferred back) and let the newbies, so to speak, take over and ride the ship themselves,” he said.

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