Hy-Vee Officially Nixes Minnesota Distribution Center

Hy-Vee officials confirmed last week that the West Des Moines, Iowa-based grocer will not be proceeding with a distribution center in Austin, Minn. It would have been the first outside of Iowa.

In a statement released to local news outlets, Hy-Vee said that the project was canceled "after evaluating recent changes in consumer shopping and lifestyle behaviors…Our newer facilities that opened in Ankeny, Iowa, and Chariton, Iowa, will assist with supplying fresh items to Hy-Vee’s locations and eliminate the need for an additional distribution center at this time.”

Hy-Vee first announced plans for the distribution center in September 2017, but then said just two months later that it was delaying groundbreaking for the facility.

At that time, Hy-Vee noted that it was focusing its efforts on new formats, such as the recently opened Fast & Fresh small format concept located in Davenport and Altoona, Iowa, which the company recently said that it would expand. The grocer also recently opened its new Hy-Vee Health-Market concept in West Des Moines.