116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Independent grocery store to close in southwest Cedar Rapids
New store will move in after owners retire, co-owner says
Nov. 26, 2024 8:55 am, Updated: Nov. 27, 2024 7:29 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — An independent, family-owned grocery store near Czech Village is closing after almost 28 years in business.
Save A Lot, 1625 J St. SW, will close by Christmas. Owners Jim and Robin McVeigh, who opened the store in 1997, announced plans on Monday to retire.
They will lease their building to another store starting in 2025. The new occupant, who has not yet been named, was described as a well-known national chain that offers housewares and some grocery items, but is not a grocery store.
The owners’ retirement and closure of the family-owned business have been in planning for several years, Jim McVeigh told The Gazette.
The business model’s strength ”starts with price and really goes into how you cared about people you were serving,” he said. “I would tell you that’s one hallmark of all the employees I have — they care about people.”
The Save A Lot brand is the largest independently owned and operated grocery store in the United States, with more than 800 locations across 32 states. Independent grocery stores are becoming increasingly sparse in Iowa, where an oligopoly of chains including Hy-Vee, Fareway and Aldi dominate the market.
The Iowa Grocery Industry Association has 140 independent grocer members left — about one-tenth of its total membership base, and a total slightly fewer than the 156 Hy-Vee stores in the state.
More than 90 percent of the group’s independent grocers are in small, rural towns. In the last 10 years, they’ve seen a 15 percent decrease in independently-owned members.
“When we opened our doors all those years ago, we were just two people, newly married and hoping to succeed in building a business,” the McVeighs said in a statement. “Together, we raised our two children among the aisles, and it has been a joy to watch them grow alongside so many of you. Over the years, you’ve not just been customers to us; you’ve become friends, sharing in our lives and our community and we are grateful for the support you’ve shown us.”
The next closest grocery store in the neighborhood is the Hy-Vee at 20 Wilson Ave., about three-quarters of a mile away from Save A Lot.
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
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