Max Lichti stands in what will soon be his firm’s assigned space now that Hy-Vee has purchased the location to develop one of its small-market Dollar Fresh stores. The photo is taken from the southeast portion of the building looking north toward the main entrance, now blocked by the permanent wall under construction.
YORK – The talk about town of late is true; HyVee is coming to York.
It’s not as simple as that – the store won’t fly under the HyVee banner for instance – and other details are unique, too.
The process began when the phone rang one day at Lichti’s TV, Appliance and Furniture Center. Family patriarch Max Lichti wasn’t at the store that day so son Darin took the call. He first assumed it was a scammer trying to pull a fast one, but eventually came to understand the inquiry was legitimate.
On the other end of the line was a man representing a real estate search firm with Hy-Vee as a client.
The son, of course, rang up Dad immediately.
“He said, ‘Well, I just got an interesting phone call,’” related Max Lichti.
“By golly that next day they were here” in person, added Tina Carlson, a Lichti’s staffer since last November.
“A gentleman came in” and “said they would like to put a Hy-Vee store here. Buy us out,” Lichti explained. “They realized this is a very good, supportive community.”
Enter Carlson, whose experience from former work at a legal firm, said Lichti, proved timely, invaluable and just plain lucky the paperwork load grew increasingly formidable.
Lichti said Carlson spent, “a lot of time overlooking and reviewing the documents. She was able to communicate,” in legal-speak with the buyer. “Tina helped me through this process with Hy-Vee since last November,” he added.
And so it is all fact and no rumor that Hy-Vee Corporation, headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, has indeed purchased the Lichti building, a former Walmart location, though certainly not the longtime local business itself. Lichti’s will offer all the products and services going forward it always has.
Dollar Fresh, a store model designed and stocked to fit smaller communities like York (see sidebar), will carry Hy-Vee’s flag in town. A new Dollar Fresh is now open in West Point. Another is being developed at the former Orscheln location in Lexington.
The difference for Lichti’s – and it’s a big one – is the store will conduct sales and service (the parts department stocks 125 different oven element models alone, for example) from 39% of the building footprint rather than 100% as before.
The Lichtis hold a five-year lease on their slice of the building at the far east end with an option for five more years after that if they choose to exercise it at that time. The upstairs, where much of the inventory has been tucked away in the past, will be for Hy-Vee to use as it chooses.
Where to store hundreds of items – each noticeably heftier than pork ‘n beans and Pepsi – that obviously cannot be accommodated in 39% of the building? A new warehouse being built off Nobes Road a few blocks west of the store will cover that base.
“We’ll still have a big showroom,” Lichti explained, “only the overstock, as I call it, will go over there” to the warehouse instead of behind the scenes in the store proper.
Interestingly, Lichti said a covenant attached to the property, one he said pre-dates Walmart, prohibits anyone from developing more than 35,000 square feet of groceries in the building. Thus was Lichti’s 39% precisely measured.
As for divvying up the building, “We had nothing to do with any of it,” Lichti said.
Last week a crew from HyVee’s construction division was installing a permanent wall between the grocery and appliance stores that will have no door. Other work, too, is hustling along to get that side ready for Lichti’s.
“They are giving us our own entrance” off the parking lot, Lichti said. “Instead of making us move out” of the rest of the building, he said, “they let us move out” over time, even custom designing a pathway at the back wide enough to bring Lichti’s stock across comfortably.
Lichtis’ crew expects to have the west 61% vacated in six weeks time, after which construction will begin in earnest on the grocery store portion.
Glenda Walker, on Lichti’s staff the past 23 years, said, “It’s just exciting to see the change. I never would have thought it would be that much change.”
Sandy Lichti, Max’s wife, seems a bit thrown for a loop by the stunning turn of events.
Asked how she expects it to impact life for her and Max, she thought a moment, and then admitted, “It’s really hard to know. I think it will be good. I would expect he will be home more. He loves to garden and feed his birds.”
The Mr. in the relationship has the travel bug, too. The Mrs., however? Not so much. “I’m kind of a homebody,” Sandy said, so some negotiation remains on that option in the scenario by which Darin steps even more into the lead role.
Max Lichti said support for the change in the community has been wonderful, especially since people realize it fell in his lap at almost the exact moment retirement decisions will have to be made sooner rather than later. It’s not the first time he has local felt folks behind him, either.
With a wry smile he gently kidded, “When we had our fire downtown” and everything was incinerated on nearly the entire south side of the downtown courthouse square, “I found out I didn’t have to die to be appreciated.”
York the latest in a multi-state chain of Dollar Fresh stores
YORK – Responding to questions via email Monday, Janelle Grunwald of the HyVee corporate media relations office confirmed, “Construction is in progress at our York location, but we do not have a specific timeline for opening the store just yet.
“Our Dollar Fresh locations are designed for smaller communities, like York,” she added. “As Hy-Vee continues to innovate, we’re taking a look at the needs of our rural communities that lie near our larger Hy-Vee markets.”
“Dollar Fresh stores” she continued, “serve up an assortment of fresh and new products at low prices. While offerings vary based on the needs of each community, each store features a full selection of groceries, fresh baked items, a dollar section, a wall of value, ready-to-eat meal options and other services.”
By way of background on the Dollar Fresh concept, Grunwald said, ‘Since rolling out this new store concept in 2018, customer feedback has been tremendous. The model is a fit for smaller towns where value is important as well as selection and quality. It is because of the success of our current stores that we are moving forward with additional stores in the upcoming years.”
Dollar Fresh outlets are open in Falls City and West Point among other locations, especially in Iowa. A Dollar Fresh is presently under construction at a former Orscheln location at Lexington as well.
March 22, 2021 at 11:45PM
https://yorknewstimes.com/news/hy-vee-will-open-a-dollar-fresh-store-in-york/article_73b38fa4-8b2c-11eb-9afb-07e53588eb03.html
Hy-Vee will open a Dollar Fresh store in York - York News-Times
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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