Hy-Vee's second Springfield store sets opening date

A Hy-Vee store in the works for a decade is coming to fruition this month in Springfield.

West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee Inc. announced in a news release that the 2150 E. Sunshine St. store would open to the public on Feb. 22. It's the second Hy-Vee in Springfield, following the 2011 opening of the company's 1720 W. Battlefield Road store.

"The Hy-Vee on Sunshine is one of the company’s first entirely reimagined grocery stores in its eight-state region," officials said in the release.

Features include a Wahlburgers restaurant and Starbucks store, along with “digital innovations” that are new to the company’s stores, according to a spokesperson.

The Missouri Job Center last month announced it was working with Hy-Vee to bring on around 450 full- and part-time employees for the new store. The store Facebook page for the new Springfield Hy-Vee recently announced the hiring of company veteran Jim Deitchler as store director and Mike Montgomery as one of its managers.

The planned opening this month comes after a long road for the store, a $12.7 million, more than 90,000-square-foot concept, Springfield Business Journal previously reported.

Springfield City Council in 2012 approved the rezoning of the 11.5-acre site to general retail. The rezoning had faced opposition from more than 20 residents, according to SBJ archives. Wooded land at the site was cleared in 2019, and work was well underway by mid-2021.

Hy-Vee Construction, a subsidiary, served as both general contractor and architect for the store, which also has a gas station and convenience store on-site, according to past reporting.