It Takes A Retail Village

Lunds' new market in downtown Minneapolis aims to help drive area development.

Come for the groceries, stay for the electricity.

That's apparently what some folks are doing when going out of their way to visit the stunning new Lunds supermarket on Hennepin Avenue in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. Located in a retrofitted century-old building, the urban-concept store combines history with green technologies to deliver a shopping experience that's wowing and residents of, and commuters to, the city's Laurel Village neighborhood.

Among the impressed: a family that wrote to Lund Food Holdings CEO Tres Lund declaring their allegiance to the new store because it offers them a place to charge up their electric car. "It's a shock that our trade area reaches 32 miles out because we have electric car-charging stations," Lund says, noting the company may install the free service at other stores as well.

The charging stations — believed to be the first to be offered by a retailer in Minnesota — are at two of the store's 80 or so parking spaces, which, to great surprise, are rarely filled to capacity. "Our walk-in traffic is significant," Lund notes.

Because the store is on a city bus route with a stop right out front, it gets significant drive-by traffic, too. "When the bus stops, people run in, get their salad or something to take home for dinner, and get back on another bus," says Mike Edgett, senior project manager.

The high volume of pedestrians and commuters underscores the store's core mission to play up its street presence. "We need to make sure we're selling to the street," Edgett says, explaining how the store's expansive window displays are designed to catch the eyes of passersby, both on foot and wheels. "A lot of attention was paid to designing the fixtures so they could be seen from this corner."

It's all part of a concept being promoted by the grocer as an "urban retail village."

The Giving Trees

Opened in June after seven years of planning, the grocery store is housed in a building constructed in 1912 by the Reno Motor Co. Located within one of the earliest automotive buildings still standing on Hennepin Avenue, the store leverages the site's history and original aesthetics — such as its floor-to-ceiling windows that once showcased shiny new cars but now show off delicious food offerings — to create a truly unique environment. And it turns out that some of the store's most historic components are also among its most environmentally friendly.

Lunds salvaged all of the Douglas fir timbers that were reclaimed from an adjacent building that's now a wine and spirits shop; those beams are now used for dining counters and some specialty merchandising fixtures. In fact, there were enough of the original timbers — believed to be about 200 years old — that the leftovers will be used in Lunds' next urban store, already underway in downtown St. Paul. Other reclaimed building materials include the ancient brick pavers in the sidewalk linking the grocery store with its wine shop next door.

Additional nods to the past include vintage photos and historic car brands on the aisle signs, and even an exclusive custom line of Jones Sodas labeled with photos of the Hennepin Avenue location and other Lunds stores from days gone by. Eye-level signage calls out other facts about the building's history, as well as details about the store's energy-efficient LED lighting and refrigeration systems. "It's great to see the customers stop, read them and ask questions," says Brian Kopp, the store's general manager.

Many questions also came from green-minded applicants seeking employment at the store, Kopp notes. "They interviewed us," he quips, explaining that the store's downstairs bicycle storage area and showers are welcome on-the-job perks because "a lot of our employees don't even drive to work." Many customers are cyclists as well, Edgett notes: "We had to find a source for bulk twine so [wine and spirits] customers could tie 12-packs to their bikes."

Lund says the company's energy-saving projects have been "vast and significant," explaining that their long-term benefits — among them, 20 percent lower energy use — justify the higher front-end costs. In recognition of its efforts, Lunds is pursuing silver LEED status for the new store.

Meat and Greet

Serving a downtown area with a business population that can swell to 100,000 during the day, the store possesses many "fun social aspects," Lund says. "We're seeing a different ebb and flow or traffic patterns through the week."

While the store is a go-to lunch destination for the daytime business crowd, it pulls in more local counter made from vintage timbers, placed against the large windows facing Hennepin Avenue. "People like to sit and watch the city go by," Edgett says.

Due to space limitations, Lunds uses a queuing system for the store's checkout lanes, a departure from its other stores. "It works very efficiently," Lund says, admitting that it takes away the "waiting for my cashier" experience of traditional stores. Half of the eight lanes are self-checkout, which Lund says are used for about 30 percent of all purchases.

While Lunds worked with an outside architect, "we drove the design attributes of this store," Lund says of the company's in-house design team. "When merchants are a part of the process, you elevate your competencies in a significant way."

Along with a food prep area, the 9,000-square-foot basement offers storage for produce, grocery, dairy and frozen foods, conveyed by a freight elevator that was originally used to move automobiles around the building for servicing. Kopp notes yellow and blue stripes on the floor that designate where everything goes, from carts and pallets to specific products. "They make it more efficient for us to figure out our inventory levels," he explains.

More than 15,000 square feet on the building's upper two floors are being leased as office space, another part of Lunds' goal to promote downtown commerce.

In High Spirits

Housed in an adjacent building, Lunds Wines & Spirits features wines from such places as Argentina, New Zealand and Italy, along with a tasting bar, a walk-in cold beer vault, and a craft beer room offering nearly 300 labels, including dozens made in Minnesota (mixed 6-packs go for $9.99). Décor includes photos of local brewers who have done samplings and "meet the maker" events at the store. Many wine bottles are merchandised on racks ringing the support columns, the 360-degree displays offering better product visibility.

Built in 1914 as the Sturr-Bullard Motor Co., the building was originally a showroom for Nash and Ford vehicles. Vintage large carved oak panels continue to adorn the ceiling following extensive restoration and preservation efforts, which were able to save half the structure that fronts on Harmon Place.

The rear of the building was falling in on itself, Edgett explains, but in addition to salvaging the aforementioned timbers, Lunds was about to preserve one wall, to which a residential tenant of the building next door had lashed its outdoor decks. Retaining this wall allowed residents to maintain privacy from the store's parking lot, and the wall serves as a backdrop for a rain garden of native flora that collects rainwater, feeding an underground collection system so water can be released slowly to municipal drainage.

The wine shop's glass-and-steel façade stands in stark contrast to the vintage brick structure; local preservation authorities prohibit re-created history, so any new additions had to be of modern construction, Lund explains. Space on the second floor above the store is leased to a fitness center, which partners with Lunds on nutrition programs for its clients.

When construction started on the wine shop, "It was scary to be in here," Edgett says, noting that in addition to extensive clutter, crews discovered an entire separate house that had been built within the building. Removing plaster revealed 200-year-old timbers, which, after being cleaned up, now look like new, right down to the original nuts and bolts.

In all, Lunds has created a grocery shopping destination that just looks like it belongs. Lund says the goal was for the store to become part of the community, not a fixture. Confident of success, Lunds has already broken ground on its next urban store, in neighboring St. Paul, scheduled to open in July 2013.

It's safe to say that Lunds has met the goal of being part of an "urban retail village" in fine style, and should inspire further development in its vibrant neighborhood.

Lunds Hennepin Avenue

1201 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55403

Grand Opening: June 14, 2012

Total Square Footage: 20,000 grocery store, 5,700 wine and spirits shop

Selling Area: 15,300 grocery store, 4,200 wine and spirits

SKUs: 17,000

Total Weekly Sales: N/A

Employees: 75

Checkouts: Four cashier, four self-checkout

Store Hours: Daily 6 a.m. to midnight (grocery store); Monday-Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. (wine and spirits)

Store Manager: Brian Kopp

Designer: Shea Architects, Minneapolis

"We need to make sure we're selling to the street."

—Mike Edgett, senior project manager

We worked hard to bring in our color palette and still maintain the historic character."

—Tres Lund, CEO