Hy-Vee stores cutting overnight hours and will soon no longer be open 24 hours a day
Katie NelsonA Midwest grocery store chain will no longer be a 24/7 operation.
Starting Feb. 10, Hy-Vee stores will begin closing daily from midnight until 5 a.m., the company confirmed. Not all locations are currently open 24 hours a day and hours can vary by location.
No employees will be laid off, Hy-Vee spokesperson Christina Gayman said, but will be moved to different shifts. Stockers and other non-public-facing employees will still work overnight.
Gayman said the decision to change store hours was the result of wanting to offer better customer service during the day, when most customers shop.
"Customer shopping decreases overnight at any 24/7 business," Gayman said of customer volume, adding that Hy-Vee is "constantly evaluating store operations."
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Hy-Vee has made several changes to its stores in recent months. Last week, the chain announced it was taking over several former Shopko locations in Iowa and converting them into a new concept called Dollar Fresh, a more affordable grocery store model geared toward smaller communities.
In 2019, Hy-Vee announced it was replacing its full-service Market Grille restaurants with a new Hy-Vee Food Court concept. Prior to that, many Market Grille locations were being changed to Market Grill Express self-service eateries.
Headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, Hy-Vee ranks as the 35th on Forbes' list of America's largest privately held companies in 2019 with revenues of $10.1 billion, the magazine reported.
About half of the Hy-Vee's stores are in Iowa, while the rest are spread throughout the Midwest in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Hy-Vee employs more than 83,000 workers.
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Contributing: Daniel P. Finney, Des Moines Register; Kelly Tyko, USA TODAY