Lunds & Byerlys Will Close Downtown St. Paul Location Later This Month

Lunds & Byerlys Will Close Downtown St. Paul Location Later This Month

Lunds & Byerlys has announced it will close its downtown St. Paul location at 115 East 10th Street at the end of the day on March 26.

The company says in a statement, “It’s a decision we didn’t want to make, but one we needed to make given the significant staffing and financial challenges we’ve experienced over the past five years. From a financial perspective, the store’s operating costs continue to far outpace sales, which has made it no longer financially sustainable to remain open.”

Some of the factors for the closure include declining store visits due to a shift to remote work for some downtown businesses and an increase in store security costs, according to the company.

Lunds & Byerlys claim it has been difficult given the many incidents the store team experiences, ranging from shoplifting, harassment, vandalism and an arson in 2022 that caused extensive damage and costly repairs.

“We deeply admire St. Paul as evidenced by our more than four decades of serving this community, starting with our Highland Park store in 1983 and Downtown St. Paul in 2014,” said Tres Lund, president and CEO of Lunds & Byerlys.

They are planning to partner up with the city and landlord to keep store equipment and infrastructure in place for the possibility of a grocery store in the future.

SOURCE: abc KSTP.COM