A Hy-Vee store is to open Aug. 14 at War Memorial Drive and Orange Prairie Road. But it won’t be the Hy-Vee store Peorians might have been long expecting.
This Hy-Vee outlet, to be located at 5421 W. War Memorial Drive, is a convenience store. According to store director Dan Simon, it also is to sell gasoline. Eventually, a car wash is to be included.
If the City Council approves during its meeting Tuesday night, the new Hy-Vee also can sell beer and wine. The Peoria Liquor Commission gave its assent Monday.
Iowa-based Hy-Vee has about 140 convenience stores located adjacent to its full-service grocery locations, Simon said. A convenience grocery tandem is located in Galesburg.
“It’ll be a separate entity from the store,” Simon said.
That was a reference to the Hy-Vee full-service grocery planned along Orange Prairie Road, just north of the convenience store. Simon said he expects ground to be broken in a year to 18 months.
Almost three years ago, the City Council approved zoning changes to accommodate construction of the Hy-Vee grocery. At the time, the company stated it had no timetable. The current dormancy isn’t unusual, Simon suggested.
“I think what happened in this case is typically, we’ll buy a property and we keep it kind of on the lowdown,” Simon said. “The lowdown didn’t happen this time.
They budget five years out, 10 years out.”
Demand suggests Hy-Vee will construct a grocery on the Orange Prairie property eventually, according to Simon.
“I hear it all the time that there’s nothing out that way for the folks that are coming in from Kickapoo or the surrounding communities,” he said.
Property-acquisition issues prevented Hy-Vee from building a convenience store next to its only Peoria grocery, located in the Sheridan Village shopping center, Simon said. But that situation might change.
Simon also is in charge of the Sheridan Village Hy-Vee. The firm operates about 230 stores in eight Midwestern states.
The Liquor Commission also approved a live-entertainment provision for Oliver’s Pizza & Pub North, 3300 W. Willow Knolls Drive. According to Oliver’s manager Jill DeBeau, the restaurant plans to offer acoustic, non-amplified music indoors and outdoors when weather allows.
“Just to provide background for the dinner crowd. That’s it,” DeBeau said. “We’re not providing concerts.”
Outdoor music cannot continue past 11 p.m., the commission stipulated. Oliver’s request does not require council approval.