CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — As city leaders scramble to find a replacement after Hy-Vee announced the closure of its First Avenue store last week, some City Council members questioned whether or not the store’s corporate office would even allow a different grocery to move into that location.
City Manager Jeff Pomeranz provided an update during the May 14, 2024, Cedar Rapids City Council meeting on the closure of the store at 1556 First Ave. NE, in a core city neighborhood where many residents lack transportation to reach other stores or pharmacies.
Read more: Corner grocery returns to roots in Cedar Rapids
Pomeranz showed a timeline of previous meetings city staff had with Hy-Vee and the owner of the First Avenue building, culminating with a message from the owner on Nov. 15, 2023, stating: “I am pleased to announce that we have successfully extended the lease with Hy-Vee for another 5 years.”
He noted that the building has since changed hands, with a new owner as of January 2024.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell received a phone call from Hy-Vee’s corporate office on May 9, stating the store would close on June 23.
“The city is treating this as they would any unexpected emergency,” O’Donnell said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Council member Dale Todd said the city had known about the potential closure for some time.
“We were asked by Hy-Vee last year to keep this quiet,” he said, citing the “trauma” the news could create among the neighbors and store employees. “As a city, we’re not great at keeping secrets, but this is one we did keep.”
Todd was on the City Council when the city provided incentives for Hy-Vee to upgrade the First Avenue site 20 years ago.
As Pomeranz suggested the city might provide transportation or other interim solutions, council member Ann Poe noted that many neighbors who walk to the store make multiple trips, as they cannot carry too much, with some even using walkers to reach the store’s pharmacy.
“To say I’m sad is an understatement,” she said. “This is a travesty.”
Council member David Maier asked about any non-compete clauses for the First Avenue site, while council member Scott Olson, a Realtor, cautioned the council to “be careful.”
“We have to make sure we don’t beat this thing to death,” he said, saying that could make it more difficult to find a replacement.
Olson cited other businesses, such as Casey’s, which continue to pay leases after closing, to prevent competing convenience stores from moving into their former locations.
Hy-Vee has continued to lease its former space near Lindale Mall on Collins Road NE, he noted, more than two years after the store closed in January 2022.
Pomeranz said the city has not seen the lease terms of the First Avenue property.
“We want to make sure another grocery store can go there,” he said of the site, noting it’s possible Hy-Vee may want to keep competitors out. “I hope it isn’t, but we want to make sure Hy-Vee will allow that.”
O’Donnell said suggestions have been offered, including the potential for a nonprofit consortium to operate a grocery store, as Matthew 25 has done in northwest Cedar Rapids.
“We will find a solution,” she said, after nearly an hour of council discussion on the issue. “That I do know.”
You were asked to keep quiet about the closing because of the trauma it might cause? Just when was a good time for the trauma? HyVee ass kissers. They’ve always been a nasty company and Dale Todd, you need to go. You like to schmooze and that’s about all you are good for.
If they are closing the store they should have to pay back all the incentives the city gave them.
And city should be making move to get them gone and something else in there quick.
This is why need to put stipulations on these tax incentives for these big companies
Not necessarily. I work at Hy-vee and I am very happy there.
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Ok, I just want to make sure the conclusion I’m drawing from the info provided is on the same page as the facts. The owner of the property, who was heading for the door (Jan 2024, was it?) extended a 5-year lease prior to his departure. All the while, this Dale with the City guy admittedly kept mum (at Hy-Vee’s direction) their plans to close up shop well before the end of the term of the lease agreement? Did the owner and buyer of said property also both know Hy-Vee’s intentions prior to the sale and both felt ok with it? Or, were they included along with the other people this news would potentially “traumatize” because they felt those involved in the sale would do the right thing (well, ethically speaking, anyway – in business terms, that’s an award winning power move) should the cat be let out of the bag re: the impending branch closure and not knowingly agree to contracting out another 5 year lease simply to house a vacant property, appeasing a non-compete clause? Bottom line is if this move was in any way strategic in nature, all I guess I can say is this is why I could never be a business-person. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing my “gains” were collected off the backs of the meek. It now makes sense to me how the phrase “Eat the rich” was coined. When they LITERALLY remove/block access to sustenance…someone please restore my faith in humanity and just confirm I’m reading into this way more than I need to be!
So sad this is happening. The city of CR has repeatedly tried to keep stores such as Hyvee in place. When they choose not to keep up their end of the deal the leases should be terminated. How dare Hyvee worry about competition, when they choose to leave a property. Bad business.
And Hyvee, do tell
Why you are actually closing? Shame on you
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