Grocery Chain Hy-Vee To Close Fulfillment Centers: Hundreds Of Workers Could Be Laid Off

Grocery store chain Hy-Vee will reportedly close all of its fulfillment centers the week of March 23 as it looks to bring it online grocery order fulfillment to its stores. The locations to close include centers in Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; and Eagan, Minnesota.

An undisclosed number of employees will be affected by the closures, with some workers moved to Hy-Vee’s in-store operations, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported. Each fulfillment location has between 300 and 500 employees and ranges in size from 90,000 to 136,000 square feet, the news outlet said.

The fulfillment centers were a part of Hy-Vee’s Aisles Online, which it introduced in 2015 as a delivery option for its customers. Now, the grocery chain seems to have decided to bring these functions into its stores as it competes with other grocery retailers such as Target, Walmart, and Albertsons

"We are listening to our customers and they are wanting a full assortment of products, personalized shoppers and same-day pick up at the store, which we are unable to fully provide when we process orders at a fulfillment center," a Hy-Vee spokesperson told KMTV, a CBS affiliate out of Omaha, Nebraska.