Residents react to Hy-Vee's plans for concept store

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BY HILARY KINDSCHUH / Lincoln Journal Star

Van Tyler has been getting his groceries at 48th Street and Leighton Avenue since 1945.

So naturally, he was disappointed when Hy-Vee announced plans to close its store there this weekend in preparation for Tuesday’s opening of an 80,000-square-foot store at 84th and Holdrege streets.

“There are a lot of older people,  not a lot older than me,” Tyler said of his University Place neighborhood. “They can’t walk very far, ... they can’t carry much ... and a lot of them won’t be able to afford the gas to travel very far.

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“They need to have the store.”

His fears were alleviated on  Friday when Hy-Vee announced it will test a smaller concept store of 20,000 to 25,000 square feet in Uni Place.

Hy-Vee came under heavy criticism from neighborhood residents because of a provision in its lease that prohibits another grocery store from occupying the space until 2014.

The company said the lease restriction is a standard measure taken to protect the $30 million investment it is making in two new Lincoln stores, one at 84th and Holdrege and one at 50th and O streets.

Friday’s announcement also was welcome news to Diane Walkowiak, a member of Release the Lease, a neighborhood group formed to protest Hy-Vee’s lease restriction.

“We’re very happy they have realized University Place is a viable market for a smaller store,” she said. “There are a lot of low-income, elderly and student residents.

“It would have been a hardship to them to try to find transportation to another store.”

Hy- Vee will offer a free shuttle  bus to take shoppers to the new store four days a week.

But Walkowiak said that would not have been “any sort of solution for a neighborhood without a grocery store.”

“For us, it was more of a self-serving gesture to bring people to their new store.”

Once final plans for the smaller store are approved, the company will set a timetable for construction and re-opening, Hy-Vee CEO Ric Jurgens said.

“We are extremely excited about testing this neighborhood store format and feel privileged to unveil it in a market that has welcomed us with open arms for more than 25 years,” Jurgens said.

Walkowiak said she felt her group had made a difference.

“Grassroots activism can definitely have a positive effect,” she said. “It was largely due to our efforts and people making their voice heard, their concerns, that we were able to get Hy-Vee to keep a store in our neighborhood.”

Not all of the 48th and Leighton store’s customers come from Uni Place.

Rick Garrett, who has been shopping at that Hy-Vee for the past eight years, said he went out of his way to go there because it had everything he needed and wanted.

“I’ll probably go to 84th and Holdrege now,” said Garrett, who lives near 63rd and Holdrege.

He acknowledged the new, smaller store at 48th and Leighton would be convenient for people in the neighborhood.

“For the local people, the low-income, the people that don’t have vehicles, this is a great place to come,” he said. “They sit here and they socialize in the cafeteria. ... This is a way of life for them and I can see they’re pretty upset about losing it.”

But, Garrett said, he didn’t think the new, smaller Uni Place store will generate much business.

“I think it’s a simple patch, so to speak,” he said. “And then when they don’t have any business at all they’ll shut it down anyway.”

Tyler is more optimistic about the new smaller concept store.

“Even though it’s milk and bread, and not too much meat probably,” Tyler said as he put his groceries in the trunk of his car.

“What did I pick up today? Milk,” he said, laughing. “But they got a good sale on.”

Tyler said he and his wife like their neighborhood store rather than big supermarkets.

“It just is home,” he said.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com.