One thing known about the now-vacant 57,575 square foot space (per leasing info) is that the shelves are staying. That’s according to some Shop ‘n Save employees wearing corporate badges when the store was closing.
Rumors have been floating about the future of the site. One local grocery chain — Schnucks — when contacted, didn’t confirm or deny anything — just: “In keeping with company policy, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation. As always, if we have news to announce regarding future locations, we will share it at the appropriate time.”
See also: Maplewood Shop ‘n Save to close, Union Local 655 says, Shop ‘n Save store-wide sales begin, more cuts coming
Has anyone been to a Sav-A-Lot store since they did their remodeling? Nicer than Shop-n-Save but not as nice as Dierbergs… might be a nice fit for that location, though. And they have a cute little automated bakery.
There are Krogers in Southern Illinois, My daughter lives in Salt Lake City and they have Smiths stores there which seem to be owned by Kroger as they carry Kroger brands. They are enormous stores with lots of things besides groceries.
Maplewood needs a full-service grocery store. Even a small one is better than another cut-rate warehouse store.
There is a Ruler Foods on Grand across from Tower Grove Park
The reason Kroger gave for leaving the area at the time they did was differences and clashes with the labor unions.
Kroger was terrible when it used to be in St. Louis. I hope they don’t come back other than through their Ruler stores. My wife says they are good elsewhere. The two stores I shopped often still had last week’s sale prices up and nobody cared if the right price was marked. I complained but it didn’t matter.
It’s such an odd sized store. Much smaller than most Schnuck’s and Dierberg’s locations. At around 50,000 square feet, this is 25,00o square feet smaller than a Schnuck’s or Dierberg’s and might make it challenging to find another grocery operator to go in here. This store is too big for an Aldi, Ruler, Trader Joe’s. Too small for a modern Schnucks, Dierberg’s, Kroger, etc. When you look at current retail stores this size I could see a Big Lots, Fresh Thyme, Marshall’s or Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market as being a good fit.
True, what about Culinaria?
Fresh Thyme would be a good fit for Maplewood. Their stores are about that size and their prices are reasonable.
I think Schnucks has been opening some smaller stores (not Culinaria type) in some of their other markets outside of St. Louis. One article I found mentions a 38,000 Sq ft store in Warrenton opening later this year.
The store they opened at Clarkson and Kehrs Mill Road in Ellisville is also a smaller footprint.
I went to Shrewsbury Shop n Save today due to missing the place. The store was fine, but there were a few drunks hanging around the front. Never saw anything like that in Maplewood.
The Kroger company operated a store in Maplewood for many decades. A Kroger store was in the building that now houses Schlafly’s Bottleworks. The earliest Kroger location that I know of was in the building on Sutton that now houses the Muddled Pig restaurant and for many years was a laundromat. Their presence there dates to the 1930s. My wife and I have long been fans of Kroger and shop there whenever we are in a town where they are located. We would welcome their return.
Doug,
Wasn’t there a Kroger in the Deer Creek plaza back in 1980s? If my memory is correct it was on the east end of the building, about where the state license office is now. The main part of the building was a Venture, I think its a Ross or Marshall’s now. Colonel Days was at the far western end.
Yes, there was a Kroger next to the old Venture store there.
Kroger was paid off by Schnuck’s to vacate the STL market in the late ‘80’s. The current Schnuck store in Brentwood was being built as a Kroger, and were bought out to abandon this project. Kroger still operates in other areas. Currently Kroger is reentering the STL market with their discount stores, Ruler. There are several around. This might prove a good fit to reuse the SnS store.
Kroger sounds really unlikely to me given they have no presence in saint Louis at all. And why would anyone even want a Kroger store here? That would basically be the same crappy quality we had with the shop n save!
Kroger does indeed have a “presence” in the area. The Ruler Foods store you see popping up all over is owned by Kroger. They are testing out the market to see if Kroger coming back to the area is viable. Wee shall soon see.
I’ve never been in a ruler brand store but from what I understand it’s similar to Aldi in terms of quality and number of products though mostly Kroger Brand. Tbh I don’t think we need another version of Aldi around here. Kroger does own Luckys and I’d def take one of those despite the fact that there is one in rock hill.
Kroger is huge, seriously huge when considering all of it’s other brands
why is so many think Kroger is the store to have here? I cannot think of having seen or been to Kroger in years? Where are they at anyway these days? Are they even around anywhere in the local vicinity? If now what makes you think they want to come here and be a stand alone store?
Ruler Foods is owned by Kroger. The nearest actual Kroger store is in Troy, MO. Just outside our metro area.
Ruler ( Kroger) is on St CharlesRock Rd in St Ann
For the love of God and all that is new let it be at least a Kroger store.