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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Downtown Saint Paul Regains Full-Service Grocery Store as ALDI Opens in Former Lunds Space
SAINT PAUL, MN (September 27, 2026). The store restores walkable grocery access after the downtown neighborhood spent approximately a year without a full-service supermarket.
ALDI has opened its downtown Saint Paul grocery store at 115 East 10th Street, restoring an essential service that residents and city leaders identified as a leading neighborhood priority.
The discount grocer occupies the former Lunds & Byerlys space near Robert and 10th streets. Lunds left downtown approximately a year earlier, creating what residents described as a grocery-access gap for people living in the urban core.
ALDI’s downtown location arrived after months of remodeling and permit work. The store occupies street-level space in the Penfield development, a residential building whose grocery component was considered a central part of the city’s downtown housing strategy.
Grocery access carries particular importance for older adults, people with disabilities, residents without vehicles and households that depend on walking or public transportation. The absence of a nearby supermarket can transform routine shopping into a costly and time-consuming journey.
City officials have also connected the store’s opening to broader downtown recovery. A dependable grocery option can make housing more attractive, increase pedestrian activity and support surrounding restaurants and businesses.
The store uses ALDI’s smaller-format model, with a curated inventory rather than numerous versions of the same product. Its location provides downtown residents with an everyday grocery option within walking distance of apartments, offices and transit.
The opening does not solve Saint Paul’s wider challenges involving office vacancies, public-safety perceptions and struggling street-level retail. It does, however, restore a service residents had repeatedly identified as necessary for a functioning downtown neighborhood.
A grocery store is more than another retail tenant. For a residential downtown, access to food is basic neighborhood infrastructure. The opening also tests whether essential services can help stabilize street activity and attract additional investment.
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