More Details Emerge About New Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh Concept

DES MOINES, Iowa — Plans for Hy-Vee's Fast & Fresh concept are beginning to take shape.

With its sights set on two locations in the Des Moines metropolitan area, the grocery retailer's plans call for a 10,000-square-foot-plus convenience stores, with grocery items, fresh prepared foods, a coffee shop, fuel stations and a Hy-Vee Market Grille Express, according to KCCI.com.

"This is a new concept for us as we look toward bringing more fresh expanded food offerings elsewhere in our eight-state region," said Tina Potthoff, vice president of communications for Hy-Vee.

The Hy-Vee Market Grille Express will be a sit-down restaurant with table service; the coffee shop may be a Starbucks, according to other media reports.

The retailer's original plans for the store at Merle Hay and Hickman roads in Des Moines proposed a 4,700-square-foot convenience store.

According to Potthoff, construction on the Des Moines area location could start as early as next summer. The retail will provide more details at the Oct. 5 Des Moines Planning & Zoning meeting.

The second store is penciled to rise at the Shoppes at Prairie Crossing in Altoona, Iowa. Construction on the mini grocery store could begin this year, pending city approval, said Chris Whalen, director of real estate for Heart of America Group, the company developing Prairie Crossing, The Des Moines Register reported.

"When Hy-Vee came to us with this proposal, it was something that struck a chord with us," Whalen said. "This is not a traditional convenience store."

Hy-Vee operates both convenience stores and grocery stores in eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.