Duluth's Cub Foods store is finishing up an extensive remodeling project that is beefing up its produce and natural foods sections and adding 5,000 items to its shelves.
The project, which began Sept. 18, is 90 percent finished, said Tom Land, store director, and final touches should be in place before Thanksgiving.
"We're trying to adapt to the changing needs of our customers," Land said.
At 89,000 square feet, Cub Foods, 615 W. Central Entrance, is the largest supermarket in terms of square feet in the Duluth area.
The Cub Foods chain has83 stores and is owned by grocery giant Supervalu of Hopkins, Minn. The company conducts extensive customer research to find out what customers want, said company spokesman Chris Murphy. Remodelings reflect the most recent desires shoppers have expressed, he said.
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In Duluth, the remodeling extends from the paint on the walls to the products on the shelves. The store, which carries 60,000 items, is adding even more. Land declined to reveal the cost of the remodeling, other than to say, "It's a lot."
In the front portion of the store is a new, large salad bar, a hot case with an Asian food bar and six kinds of hot wings, new artisan bread offerings in the bakery, two cheese cases instead of one and an enlarged produce section.
The natural foods department has nearly doubled in size, with a 24-foot refrigerated case, a wall of frozen food products and far more shelf space for grocery items. "There is a growing demand for these kinds of products," Land said.
Other changes include:
* About 5,000 new items for sale.
* An additional aisle in the grocery section.
* Rounded black shelves in many aisles featuring new, high-end specialty foods.
* 112 feet of candy shelves.
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* A baby shop that groups together items such as diapers, baby food and baby bottles.
* In December, the addition of a sushi chef, who will make all of the store's sushi in full view of the customers.
The remodeling brings with it a handful of new employees to add to the 170-person store payroll, Land said.
The grocery business in Duluth is changing quickly as Miner's Inc., owners of Super One Foods, acquired five Jubilee and Festival Foods stores and another Supervalu chain, Save-A-Lot, is gearing up to open in the Spirit Valley Mall. Mount Royal Fine Foods, which is independently owned by Driskill's Inc., is undergoing a major remodeling project that is due to be complete in May.
