Cub to Close Brooklyn Park South Store
Brooklyn Park will soon have one less grocery store. The Cub along West Broadway and Brooklyn Boulevard will close on Nov. 16, according to its parent company.
“I am shocked,” said Kristina Franklin, a Cub shopper.
Some things are essential to a neighborhood. A grocery store is one of them.
“I grew up in the community,” said Paige Davis, another Cub shopper. “I grew up coming to this Cub, walking up here with friends.”
“It’s very convenient to everything. It’s like one-stop shopping here,” added Franklin.
United Natural Foods (UNFI), Cub’s parent company, announced this week that it’s planning to close the Brooklyn Park South Cub store, effective Nov. 16.
Longtime customers were in disbelief.
“This is the closest grocery store we have,” said Davis, of Brooklyn Park. “It’s heartbreaking to hear that they’re going to take that away.”
“It gears more to the Black community because we got the greens, we got the chitlins,” said Mary Washington-Lewis, a Cub shopper. “You know, where we gonna go to get all these things is what I wanna know?”
A statement provided to CCX News from Andre Persaud, president & CEO of UNFI Retail said:
After thoughtful and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close our Cub Brooklyn Park South store. We continually evaluate our stores to ensure they are meeting our business and performance criteria, and at times, we must close a store that doesn’t enable us to stay open long term.
We take this decision very seriously and remain deeply committed to our customers, to our team members and to the communities we serve.
We are grateful to our Brooklyn Park South team for their service to customers through the years and are committed to supporting all team members at this store through this transition. For our Brooklyn Park South customers, we are proud to continue serving you and your community at the following CUB locations, all within seven miles: Brooklyn Park North, Maple Grove, Champlin, Rockford Road and Brookdale. Customers will also be able to use http://CUB.com pick-up and delivery services.”
A Metro Transit bus stop is located a short walk from the Brooklyn Park Cub South store.
Tough Business
“It’s an extremely tough business to make money,” said University of Minnesota Marketing Professor George John on the retail grocery industry.
John said profitability, crime, and the perception of crime are all likely factors that led to the decision to close despite the fact that it was an important community asset. Particularly for folks with mobility issues who took the bus to shop at Cub.
“The difficulties and challenges Cub faces as a chain puts a greater spotlight on the profitability on the individual stores,” said John. “So they’re not going to tolerate a weaker store location just for the sake of having it in their portfolio.”
In the end, the longtime customers are bracing for the impact.
“I mean the community did it to ourselves by stealing and not taking care of the Cub, but we didn’t deserve to get the Cub taken away from us,” said Davis.
Sources at Cub told CCX News that the store employs more than 100 people, some of whom are homeless. The sources say the union that represents Cub employees is working to get severance packages or store transfers for the affected staff members.
Also See: Plymouth Lands Coborn’s Grocery Store at Prudential Site
