Hy-Vee Store to Open Next Summer in Waukee

A much-anticipated grocery store is finally on the horizon in Waukee. 

According to store officials, the Hy-Vee grocery store near the corner of East Hickman Road and Northeast Alice’s Road could be up and running by summer 2013.

“We know it’s going to open in the summer,” Ruth Comer, assistant vice president of media relations for the grocery store, told the Des Moines Register this week.

It seems like forever ago when news of a possible Hy-Vee store started circulating in Waukee. A site plan that included a grocery store, convenience store and car wash was initially filed with the city of Waukee in February 2011. A year later, the council voted to extend Hy-Vee's site plan for another year when a building permit had not yet been filed.

It wasn't until April 2012 that a building permit for the Hy-Vee convenience store was filed and and construction began not long after. It just opened for business in October.

If nothing else, fans of the Hy-Vee grocery store can take heart in the fact that, once it's built, the store itself will be something to talk about. Offcials say it will be very similar to the newest metro Hy-Vee store at 8701 Douglas Ave. in Urbandale.

That store, the company's largest, features "authentic Italian gelato, a sushi bar, a wood-fired stone pizza oven, a breakfast bar, and a housewares department with demonstration area." Projected cost to build is approximately $18 to $19 million.

The site plan for the Waukee location calls for an approximately 87,000 square-foot store with a pharmacy, cafeteria and coffee shop, among other things and will employ between 450-500 people once it's open.

While Hy-Vee officials wouldn't put an exact date on the store's opening, Comer said it will be sometime after June 21, 2013.