Hy-Vee opens 2 new stores, including a ‘reimagined’ location
- Hy-Vee opened two new grocery stores in Wisconsin.
- The new store in Janesville, Wisconsin, includes a “totally reimagined” experience with an open food hall and pub.
- The other location is in the home of the former Bill’s Food Center in Oregon, Wisconsin.
Hy-Vee this week opened two new store locations, including one store that provides a “ reimagined” experience for customers.
The Midwest grocer opened new stores in Janesville, Wisconsin, and Oregon, Wisconsin. The Janesville location offers that reimagined experience for consumers and is the sixth store in its fleet to include the new design and consumer experience offerings, Hy-Vee said in a Feb. 7 release.
The Janesville location is approximately 97,000 square feet and has a large, open food hall focused on fast-casual dining for shoppers. The dining experience includes an expanded breakfast menu, a full-service bar with 32 taps and an outdoor patio. Food concepts at the new store include Mia Italian, HyChi and Hibachi, Nori Sushi, Market Grille, Long Island Deli and Wahlburgers.
The store cost more than $27 million to build and will carry more than 120,000 items, according to the release. The grocer says it will create 146 full-time positions and 631 jobs overall.
The new store will also include the features of a typical Hy-Vee store, including a full-service bakery, deli, specialty cheese selection, meat counter, seafood counter and a fresh produce counter. Additionally, the store houses a full-service pharmacy with a drive-up window along with a health department that Hy-Vee says includes a more extensive selection of vitamins and sports nutrition options. A floral department with a gift shop, beauty department and expanded candy offering also are available at the location.
The consumer experience also includes a wine and spirits department with a walk-in beer fridge and a climate-controlled wine room, according to Hy-Vee. The store also offers dry cleaning, postal services and a “mother’s room” for breastfeeding parents. The Janesville location will also contain shop-in-shop Starbucks, Joe Fresh, Pair Eyewear and Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW).
In-store tech offered at the new Janesville store includes:
- All-digital shelf labels with product information and pricing.
- Fifty TVs that show products, promotions and services.
- Digital kiosks to order cakes and prepared foods and to access Hy-Vee’s financial services.
- Hy-Vee’s Scan & Go that lets customers scan items from their phones as they shop and check out at a mobile checkout kiosk.
- Self-checkout kiosks.
The new store also has online ordering for pick up and delivery.
The Oregon store is located in the former Bill’s Food Center, which closed to customers at the end of January after four decades. It includes a wine and spirits department, specialty cheese, an expanded health and beauty department, and greeting cards, the release said.
With the two new locations, Hy-Vee now operates eight stores in Wisconsin. The grocer currently operates more than 285 retail stores across eight states — Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The grocer has plans to expand to several states, including Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.