Shoppers came to check out the Hy-Vee store in New Hope, which opened Tuesday, and were greeted with a flier and store directory.

The Des Moines-based chain also opened a store in Oakdale, the first two in a planned long-term expansion into the Twin Cities market.

Hy-Vee will go head to head with Cub Foods, Target, Lunds & Byerlys and other Twin Cities supermarkets.

The company does about $9 billion in annual sales and has more than 230 stores in eight states, with the biggest concentration in Iowa.

That will change if CEO Randy Edeker's prediction is correct: "We see this as being our largest market someday," he told the Star Tribune in July.