Out of the five development plans announced last week for the parking lot at Fourth Street and Court Avenue, the prop...
Out of the five development plans announced last week for the parking lot at Fourth Street and Court Avenue, the proposal for a grocery store — the longtime plea of vocal downtowners — may have generated the most buzz when we asked for your feedback.
Juice readers who live downtown said the offer of groceries in their neighborhood would be a worthwhile convenience, even if the smaller 35,000-square-foot location offered less variety than larger grocery stores within driving distance.
“I’ve been saying for a while I would kill for even a smaller, limited-option version of Hy-Vee since that’s my preferred store,” Jennifer Joanning, 34, wrote to Juice, “somewhere I can grab the basics.” Joanning often shops at the chain’s Southridge Mall location (a 12-minute drive from downtown) or the one on Fleur Drive (10 minutes away).
If completed, it would be Hy-Vee’s first downtown location in any city.
Jason Less, a 31-year-old accountant who lives in downtown’s Mulberry Lofts, moved to Iowa from Minneapolis last summer. While living up north, Less encountered Lunds, a Minneapolis-based grocery chain with several urban locations, including one downtown.
A downtown grocery store would have to avoid two potential pitfalls, in Less’ view: Having too little parking and too high of prices.
Each Hy-Vee store director sets the location’s prices, spokeswoman Chris Friesleben said, so the price of a gallon of milk at a downtown Hy-Vee may differ from the one on Fleur Drive. “We would expect the store director would be competitive,” Friesleben said.
