Dive Brief:

• Cub Foods has reopened a store in Minneapolis after closing it last May because of damages it sustained amid civil unrest in the city following the protests against systemic racism. The renovations made were developed with local community input, the grocer announced in a press release Wednesday. 
• The store now offers an expanded selection of fresh produce, meat and dairy; a wider range of prepared and hot bar foods; a larger selection of international foods, an in-house tortilla-making station; a popcorn shop; and a custom cake decorating bar. 
• Cub also updated the Lake Street location to adapt to shopper behavior during the pandemic, adding grocery pickup and delivery, pharmacy prescriptions delivery and a dollar discount section.

Dive Insight:

While Cub Foods has 81 locations in Minnesota and Illinois, its operational strategy in the wake of unrest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has stayed focused on the local community.

In the announcement of the Lake Street reopening, CEO Mike Stigers said that the company knew as soon as it was closed that it "would not only rebuild, but rebuild with the intent on creating a store that was a better reflection of the neighborhood it serves."

The features of Cub Foods' renovation, done following consultation with local residents, build off long-running elements of Cub Foods’ strategy to adapt their stores to the contemporary consumer. Its expanded deli bar with quick meals solutions, a hot bar, a new soup and salad bar and greater variety in fresh meat and specialty cheese mimics the style of its larger deli in its first urban concept opened back in 2019. The experiential, in-house elements of the Lake Street renovation — tortillas made on-premise from scratch, a popcorn shop for consumers to make their own mixes — follows similar store remodels that included foodservice offerings ranging from a coffee shop and creamery to a sushi station and kombucha bar. 

During the period the grocer closed its Lake Street and Broadway Avenue locations for renovations, it opened temporary grocery stores in parking lots to carry high-demand grocery and pharmaceutical items, as well as offered store pick-up. By keeping a version of Lake Street in operation, the chain kept around 40 store associates employed. Cub also offered local residents a bus service to its stores several miles away during the renovation period to prevent the creation of a food desert. Both Aldi and Target in Minneapolis also closed temporarily, but reopened in the fall.