A new Hy-Vee opened this week 2510 SW State St. in Ankeny, Iowa. It’s Hy-Vee’s second store in the community located just north of Des Moines and the 234th store in the chain.
At 93,000 s.f. the store is similar in design and layout to the Hy-Vee that opened in August in Waukee, just west of Des Moines. The new Ankeny store is located in the Prairie Trail planned community, a 1,100-acre development that includes a mix of residential, commercial and retail properties as well as parks and other recreational facilities. The Prairie Trail Hy-Vee represents an $18 million investment in the Ankeny economy and the addition of 640 jobs, making it the company’s largest store in terms of employment.
In Hy-Vee’s newest store, the emphasis is on culinary expertise and a whole-health approach to providing products and services for today’s lifestyles. The store features Hy-Vee’s new Market Grille restaurant and café, a full-service dining experience that offers customers the option of ordering from a menu and enjoying wine or beer with their meals. Other attractions include a sushi bar, wood-fired pizza, artisan breads, patisserie desserts, specialty cheeses, a salsa and hummus bar, bulk foods and take-home entrees created by the store’s own staff of six professional chefs.
Elsewhere in the store, a large HealthMarket department offers thousands of natural and organic products as well as foods for those with specific dietary needs. The store’s two staff dietitians collaborate with pharmacists to focus on the health and wellness needs of customers. Other specialty departments are devoted to wine and spirits, housewares, cosmetics, pet supplies, candy and more.
The opening of the new Ankeny store propels Hy-Vee into one of the busiest periods of store construction in the company’s history. During fiscal year 2014, Hy-Vee will open new stores in Plattsmouth and Kearney, Neb., Fitchburg, Wis., and Springfield, Ill., and begin work on several more, including some that will operate under the Hy-Vee Mainstreet banner. It’s all part of a $300 million capital improvement plan that Hy-Vee CEO Randy Edeker says is designed to help the 83-year-old company stay in touch with the lifestyle needs of its customers.
“The supermarket industry is changing rapidly, and companies that don’t invest in new facilities and new technology will be left behind by consumers,” he said. “We have pledged to our customers and our employees that Hy-Vee will maintain the most innovative, up-to-date stores in every community in which we operate.”
Hy-Vee Inc. is an employee-owned company that operates in eight Midwestern states.
