As the new Lakeville Hy-Vee opened Tuesday and the new Brooklyn Park store opens July 26, the question remains--what is Cub Foods doing to protect its market share?
According to Jeff Swanson, vice-president of communications for Supervalu, which owns Cub Foods, two new stores have opened since last November in Oakdale and White Bear Lake. The Plymouth Rainbow location will convert to a Cub in July. The company just broke ground on a new store in Blaine at 109th and University.
Swanson wouldn't confirm that the existing Burnsville store on County Road 42 will also be replaced with a larger store, similar to what Cub did at its Oakdale location. Two Burnsville store reps who answered the phone Tuesday said construction on the new store is expected to begin in August. Swanson responded, "We'd prefer to not provide a specific timeline at this point."
Swanson did comment on freshening the stores. "We also have a huge focus on remodeling our existing stores to ensure they are fresh, modern and represent all the best that Cub has to offer our shoppers today. We've completed over 15 remodels in the past two years and have three major remodels nearly complete right now at our Lakeville North, Lakeville South and Rosemount locations," he said in a statement.
Supermarket analyst David Livingston said that Cub needs to step up its game to compete with Hy-Vee. "There are a lot of new concepts now. Time is running out," he said when the Cub opened its larger format store across from Hy-Vee in Oakdale.
Cub, which has 69 stores in the Twin Cities, currently has a 24% market share in the Twin Cities, followed by Wal-Mart and Target, according to Nielsen. In 2009, when Supervalu had 48 stores, before Rainbow exited the market, it had a 35% share of the Twin Cities supermarket scene.
