Dive Brief:

• Schnuck Markets plans to open a Schnucks Fresh store on Oct. 25 in Oak Grove Village, Missouri, marking the debut of the second location under the Midwestern grocery chain’s fresh-focused, small-format banner.
• The 23,000-square-foot store, located in a newly constructed building, will primarily offer products in departments like produce, seafood, deli, bakery and meat.
• The location will feature technology including electronic shelf labels supplied by Aperion and a robotic inventory-scanning system from Simbe Robotics, Schnucks spokesperson Paul Simon said.

Dive Insight:

Like the first Schnucks Fresh location, which opened in 2021 in Jasper, Indiana, the new location is intended to give Schnucks access to an area where one of its standard stores would have been too large to be viable, Simon told Grocery Dive.

The new store is larger than the inaugural store, which comprises 18,000 square feet, but much smaller than one of Schnucks’ traditional supermarkets, which average 60,000 square feet, Simon noted.

The new store will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. By comparison, traditional Schnucks stores generally close at 10 p.m., Simon said.

The budding Schnucks Fresh concept “provides us with growth in markets that may not be able to support a conventional supermarket. This allows us to offer our signature fresh food offerings to smaller communities,” Simon said. The store will offer a limited assortment of packaged goods as well as items Schnucks is known for, such as donuts, fried chicken and Certified Angus Beef, according to Simon.

Schnucks also operates small-format stores under its Eatwell Market banner, which is focused on locally sourced goods such as natural and organic foods as well as made-to-order meals.

The new Schnucks Fresh store, which will have 32 employees, will replace a Frick’s Market in Sullivan, Missouri, that Schnucks purchased last year and plans to close on Oct. 22. Workers at the Frick's location will move to the new store. 

Schnucks’ effort to expand the Schnucks Fresh format comes as the grocer continues to roll out electronic shelf tags across its fleet. Simon said Schnucks, which operates retail locations in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, has added the digital equipment to about half of its stores and expects to bring the technology to all of its locations by the end of 2024.