Lunds & Byerlys will close its downtown St. Paul store on March 26, the company has confirmed to Bring Me The News .
The grocery store chain says the decision was made due to staffing and financial challenges it has faced over the last five years. It means that downtown St. Paul is officially a grocery store desert, with Lunds the only established store in the district.
“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,” a statement provided to Bring Me The News says.
The financial struggles include a decline in store visits, which the company attributes to remote work reducing the number of people frequenting downtown offices…