Hy-Vee With More Nonfood to Open Next Year in Sioux Falls

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Hy-Vee, Inc., based here, will start construction on an 80,000-square-foot store in Sioux Falls, Iowa, on the site of a vacant former Kmart due for demolition. The store, which will feature such amenities as bigger baby and pet departments, is expected to open in spring 2007.

In addition to the standard food and diapers, the baby section will offer furniture, clothes, and toys, while the pet section, in a first for the grocer, will sell a greater variety of food, toys, and other items, according to a local press report.

"As a company, we're going to put more emphasis on nonfood items that consumers buy day to day," Tim Stupka, manager of a nearby Hy-Vee that will close once the new store opens, told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. At nearly twice the size of Stupka's current location, the new store will be the largest Hy-Vee in Sioux Falls.

Additional features of the new store will include an organic and natural food section, a salad bar, prepared Chinese food, a Starbucks kiosk, a club room that can accommodate classes, an adjoining liquor store, and possibly even a portrait studio and clinic. The store will also focus more strongly on fresh and frozen foods.

"You have every mass competitor now selling groceries," added Stupka. "In order for us to keep our market share as well, we need to have more variety of some of the products we traditionally haven't sold."

The current store employs about 290 people, but the new store will require as many as 600 associates.
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