Fareway Stores intends to stop operating a small-format meat store it operates in Luverne, Minnesota, on Jan. 17, after concluding that the location’s limited size hindered its success.
The grocery chain said in announcing the closure that it viewed the 2,300-square-foot store, which opened in 2022, as an experiment. The store, which occupies a building that formerly housed W-2’s Quality Meats, is significantly less spacious than other meat markets Fareway runs. For instance, a Fareway Meat Market in Kansas City is almost four times larger than the Luverne location.
“With limited square footage restricting product offerings, site constraints prohibiting expansion, and insufficient sales justifying acquisition of the property or new construction at an alternative location, the decision has been made to close” the store, Fareway said. The location has a full-service butcher counter and was Fareway’s first standalone meat market in Minnesota.
Fareway, which runs about 140 grocery stores in nine Midwestern states, said that it has offered workers at the store employment opportunities at its other locations.
The company added that shoppers can visit other stores it runs in the region that are bigger and offer more items, noting that it will continue pursuing growth opportunities in current as well as new markets.
Multiple grocers have tested small-format stores in recent years, although those locations have generally been larger than the store that Fareway is closing.
Whole Foods Market inaugurated its Daily Shop concept with a 9,100-square-foot store in New York City that opened in 2024. Other retailers, such as Meijer and Wegmans, have developed grocery stores that are more compact than their standard locations but still much bigger than Fareway’s experimental store.
The average grocery store in the U.S. spanned 42,453 square feet in 2024, down from more than 51,500 square feet in 2021, according to FMI — The Food Industry Association.
