Dive Brief:

• Schnucks is closing its location in Bettendorf, Iowa, on Aug. 16, because the store has not been able to make money, the Midwestern supermarket chain announced in a press release. All of the store’s 80 employees will be offered jobs at other Schnucks locations, the company said.
• The 61,000-square-foot store, which opened in May 2005, is Schnucks’ only location in Iowa. The store is approximately three miles from a Schnucks location in Moline, Illinois.
• Schnucks will operate 112 stores in four states — Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin — following the closure. “To ensure the long-term strength of our company, we are always evaluating store profitability, customer expectations and shopping patterns,” a Schnucks spokesperson told Grocery Dive.

Dive Insight:

Schnucks decision to eliminate its store in Bettendorf is the latest in a string of operational changes the grocer has made over the past year as it looks to fine-tune its business.

The company decided in April that it would not reopen a store in Alton, Illinois, that it had temporarily closed at the start of the pandemic in March to free workers to help at other Schnucks locations. The Alton location, which Schnucks acquired in October 2018, had seen poor sales because shoppers were frequenting two nearby stores instead, prompting the company not to renew the store’s lease, Schnucks said.

In October 2019, Schnucks said it would close three stores in the St. Louis area that each were located less than a mile from another Schnucks store because they were not performing well.

But as Schnucks closes old stores, it opens new ones. The Bettendorf closure is slated to take place around the same time as Schnucks is scheduled to launch a new format focused on natural foods. The first store in that line, known as EatWell, will open this summer in Columbia, Missouri.  In 2018, Schnucks also opened a small-format store with traditional grocery offerings but an emphasis on bakery, produce, seafood and meats. At the same time, Schnucks closed two of its underperforming stores in Rockford, Illinois. 

The grocer hasn't opened a traditional format store from the ground up since 2016, the retailer told Grocery Dive. This is partially due to the fact that Schnucks acquired 19 Stop N' Save stores from Supervalu in 2018.

On March 6, the family-owned food retailer also said it acquired an IGA store in Mahomet, Illinois, and intended to convert it to the Schnucks brand. 

Four days after making that announcement, Schnucks announced that it made a deal to sell most 99 in-store pharmacies to CVS. Schnucks also sold pharmacy files from 11 stores to CVS and reportedly closed the pharmacies at those locations. Pharmacies in Schnucks stores are now operated by CVS under the healthcare company's brand.

A previous version of this story misidentified the state where Rockford is located. The city is in Illinois.