Dive Brief:
- Schnuck Markets will close its Schnucks Fresh location in Jasper, Indiana, on May 24, the grocer announced Friday.
- Schnucks Chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck said in a statement that the store, which opened in summer 2021, “simply has not generated the business it needs to stay open.”
- The news comes about two years after Schnucks announced it would close down its natural and organic banner, Eatwell Market, and underscores the difficulty grocers are having operating alternative formats.
Dive Insight:
When it opened nearly five years ago, the Jasper location marked the debut of the Schnucks Fresh concept. At just 18,000 square feet, the store is significantly smaller than its traditional supermarkets but includes a wide array of fresh products. In an interview shortly after the opening, a company executive said the chain was looking to provide a full-service store to a community that didn’t have many grocery options.
But shopper demand wasn’t strong enough to keep the store in operation, according to Friday’s announcement. Schnucks still operates a Fresh store in Oak Grove Village, Missouri, that opened in 2023, but does not have plans to open any other locations, a company spokesperson said.
Numerous other grocers have opened small-format stores in recent years in an attempt to provide a more tailored grocery shopping experience, but success has been mixed. Publix did away with its Greenwise banner in 2023, while Kroger, Stop & Shop and Whole Foods have all closed down similar concepts.
Still, several retailers are attempting to crack the code on smaller-format grocery stores. Meijer has steadily increased its lineup of stores under both its smaller-sized community market and supermarket formats, while H-E-B has accelerated the pace of openings for its discount grocery banner, Joe V’s Smart Shop. And although Whole Foods’ 365 stores failed to gain traction, the chain is at it again with its Daily Shop urban markets.
In its announcement, Schnucks said it’s offering the 29 employees at the Schnucks Fresh store in Jasper the opportunity to move to the grocer’s nearby location in Evansville, Indiana. If they don’t wish to do that, they can receive a severance package.
