"The fall was always very optimistic, and the complexities of trying to design a new store in that space," the former Ameritrust bank building, were greater than expected, Jeff Heinen said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The much-anticipated opening of Heinen's Fine Foods' first downtown Cleveland store in The 9 building, originally slated for this October, has been postponed until early 2015.
"We just found that there was more to do than we anticipated to convert that space into a supermarket," said Jeff Heinen, co-president and third-generation owner. "The fall was always very optimistic, and the complexities of trying to design a new store in that space," the former Ameritrust bank building at the corner of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue, were greater than expected.
He acknowledged the delay is likely to disappoint some people, but said that rather than trying to open at the very end of the year during what is often the busiest food shopping season, he and his brother, Tom, had decided to wait until the first quarter of 2015.
Even without the Downtown Cleveland store, the 85-year-old Heinen's Fine Foods is already opening more stores this year than ever before, including a 19th store in the Village of Glenview, Ill., on May 7; its 20th store in Bannockburn, Ill., in late July; and its 21st store in Lake Bluff, Ill., soon after that.
Although the Heinens had originally planned to open only two stores in 2014, they learned in February that they had won bids to take over two more stores. Both are former Dominick's Finer Foods stores that became available after their parent company, Safeway Inc., announced its was leaving Chicago to focus on more profitable markets elsewhere.
"We got to four stores faster than we anticipated, but the Dominick's closings provided an opportunity that we couldn't afford not to take advantage of," Jeff Heinen said at the time.
Dominick's, with 72 stores, was the second-largest grocer in Greater Chicago after Jewel-Osco in terms of store count. Rivals including Mariano's Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market both expanded their reach by buying up its empty stores.