Walker Super One Foods’ new store to open May 15 — Grand opening celebration set for early August

The date for the opening of the new Super One Food Store in Walker has been set for May 15.

The 46,000 square-foot store, where construction began last summer, will open at 7 a.m. The old store, which was 26,000 square feet, will close at 6 p.m. May 14.

In a recent tour of the facility, construction crew, corporate re-set team members, current employees and employees from other Super One stores were busy stocking shelves and setting up the new check-out lines. There will be five register lines, four self-checkout areas and one service counter.

The new store will include both deli and produce sections that have doubled in size. Fresh produce will continue to be delivered seven days a week.

The meat department size has tripled, while the milk, freezer and other departments have doubled. Bakery will have a cake decorating area, with all baked goods prepared at night in Grand Rapids and delivered fresh that morning.

The loading dock area has two doors instead of one, plus a new service dock.

At the rear, the storage area went from 80 storage bays to more than 200. Each department will also have its own cooler and freezer.

Thrifty White Pharmacy is leasing a large area in the front left corner of the store.

The employee pool will increase from 100 to 120 full- and part-time employees, with a few full-time positions yet to be added.

Once the new store opens, the plan is to remove all the stock from the old store in one day, take four days to remove all the equipment, and one week to tear down the old building, all depending on the weather.

Construction of the new parking lot will be a challenge during the weeks of the demolition of the old store, to finishing of the parking lot for the new store. Signs will be posted to help direct customers through this process.

Last July a ground-breaking ceremony to officially kick-off construction of the new store was held with several people taking part in the ceremonial shovel dirt toss.

Super One Foods is owned by Miner’s Inc., headquartered in Hermantown. Miner’s currently owns more than 30 grocery stores, several liquor stores, and a distribution center in Duluth. The stores are scattered throughout northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.