Cub closing Midway grocery store, laying off 96 employees in St. Paul

In less than two weeks, St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood will lose a major grocery store and gain another vacant storefront.

Cub will permanently close its University Avenue West location Aug. 2 and lay off 96 employees starting Sept. 22, according to a filing with Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development released Monday.

Cub started in Stillwater and has more than 100 stores in Minnesota and Illinois. Another local company, Eden Prairie’s SuperValu, had owned and operated the chain until Rhode Island-based UNFI acquired SuperValu in 2018.

UNFI did not respond to a request for comment, including about the reasons for shutting down the store. UFCW Local 1189 represents nearly all the affected workers and said in a statement the situation was “deeply concerning.”

Most of the workers have layoff protections and might be eligible for severance pay under the union contract. The union also said it is working to place affected employees at other UNFI-owned facilities and will meet with company representatives Friday to discuss the closure in detail.

“We’ve fought hard for contract protections that serve as a safety net,” the union’s statement read. “We’ll enforce every provision and fight for equitable placement and compensation.”

Another Cub store in the state also recently announced its closure, but that appears to be a different situation than in St. Paul. Miner’s Inc. acquired three stores in the Brainerd area from another regional owner and plans to close the Baxter location in September while rebranding the others as Super One Foods. Miner’s is offering the more than 200 impacted employees interviews for jobs at its stores.

While other grocery options remain in Midway — including an Aldi and many Asian or other ethnic markets — interim St. Paul City Council Member Matt Privratsky said he was disappointed to see a unionized store like Cub close. The representative of nearby Ward 4 said he hoped another union grocery store would move into the space.

“It’s a little bit more of an opportunity than people realize,” Privratsky said. “People are discounting how significant that is going to be.”

Privratsky said development — including a hotel that began construction this summer — is underway around soccer stadium Allianz Field. But there are long-standing concerns about stalled progress in the area. Financing gaps, lawsuits and the pandemic have delayed plans for new housing, restaurants and offices. Much of the 35-acre former Midway Shopping Center site also remains underused and vacant.

“It’s always fair to say, ‘Why did the previous tenant move? What lessons can we learn? What are we going to do differently?’ ” said Chad Kulas, executive director of the Midway Chamber of Commerce. “It’s still pretty new to process fully, but we want to work with anybody we can to help those developments in those buildings.”

St. Paul Ward 1 Council Member Anika Bowie, who represents Midway, and Mayor Melvin Carter’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

“You look at that entire tract over there, and it’s almost expected,” he said. “It’s a broken promise. These companies were here when the money was easy, but when things are challenging, they’re the first to walk. And who’s left holding the bag? Us. And now it’s an empty grocery bag.”

Hanson, who has lived in Midway on and off since 2009, said the loss is especially harmful for families, seniors and low-income residents who rely on nearby grocery options.

For residents like Joe Hughes, a regular Cub shopper, the ending hits hard.

“It’s devastating,” he said.