A supermarket smackdown is taking shape in Oakdale.
Three weeks after a $26 million Hy-Vee opened, Oakdale officials said Cub Foods plans a store directly across the street.
Cub officials would not comment, but city administrator Bart Fisher said Wednesday that the supermarket chain already is remodeling the abandoned Kmart at 10th Street and Interstate 694.
Fisher said that according to plans submitted by Cub, the footprint of the former Kmart would not change. That building has about 86,000 square feet — almost as big as the Hy-Vee’s 90,000 square feet.
The new Cub store is expected to open in March. The existing Cub Foods store, in the same mall but farther away from 10th Street, would close.
The Hy-Vee store is owned by an Iowa-based chain that runs 236 stores in the Midwest. The company plans to open six more in the Twin Cities metro area.
The Oakdale Hy-Vee includes an in-store restaurant, carry-out food stations and a drop-in health clinic. Across the parking lot is a Hy-Vee gas station with a Starbucks.
The Cub store will be built to compete with Hy-Vee, said Bob Streetar, Oakdale’s community development director. “They are going to be going head to head,” he said.
Details are sketchy, but Cub’s plans call for a liquor store and drive-through pharmacy.
“This is a good shot in the arm for Oakdale,” Streetar said. He marveled at the fast turnaround for the area, which 10 years ago was full of abandoned stores and empty parking lots.
The city council’s decision to buy and demolish the old Oakdale Mall cleared the way for construction of the Hy-Vee.
“If they had not done that, today we might still have a vacant Oakdale Mall and Kmart. It would look a lot worse,” said Streetar.
Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433.
Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.
