by Peter Bodley
Managing editor

A $2 million facelift has been completed at the Riverdale Cub Foods store.

It is the first major change the 72,000 square-foot store has undergone since it opened at Riverdale Crossing Shopping Center, Coon Rapids, in October 1990 - 15 years ago.

The renovations, both inside the outside the store, have been made to keep up with the times and to meet customer demand, according to Doug Winsor, Cub district manager.

Some areas of the store have been expanded with more variety of products and other areas have been upgraded, Winsor said.

The floral department has been expanded because of customer demand and the produce department has increased the varieties of produce offered, including, for the first time, organic produce.

"We have all new refrigerators cases in the produce department," Winsor said.

The deli department has also undergone design changes, including removing the center aisle, and a salad bar has been added to the deli complete with several homemade salad varieties, he said.

The area where customers could sit down and eat has been enlarged to double the sit-down space from four to eight tables and the menu now includes soup and tacos, not just salads, according to Winsor.

"We were overcrowded before," Winsor said.

And the Cub Foods at Riverdale now boasts an in-house chef, whose job includes discussing menu ideas with customers, he said.

The meat department, too, has undergone changes, with more products and expanded service.

For the first time, the store will offer fresh bratwurst and pork sausage that are now made in the store itself, Winsor said.

"The meat department also has several items we have not carried before like marinated chicken and steak and pork on a stick," Winsor said.

And there are more meatcutters or butchers employed in the meat department to offer customers greater service.

More cases have been added in the fish department to house a larger variety of fish products, he said.

"All this has been done to meet customer demand," Winsor said.

The pharmacy department has also had an upgrade.

The interior decor of the store has undergone a facelift with new softer earthtone colors and lighting instead of the traditional Cub red and green, according to Winsor.

In fact, the Riverdale Cub is the first Cub store to show off the new-look company decor, Winsor said.

The outside facia of the store has been renovated, with the addition of windows in the outside walls to increase the light inside the store, he said.

And for customer conve- nience, the Riverdale Cub now has four self-checkout lanes, Winsor said.

"Customers using the self- checkout can pay the same way they can at the normal registers - cash, check or credit card," he said.

"The self-checkout lanes have been a big hit."

Customer response to the overall changes at the store has been very positive, Winsor said.

"And we appreciate customers' patience in putting up with the mess while the renovations have been taking place," he said.

Work stared on the facelift in mid-January.

A grand opening of the new-look Riverdale Cub is planned for mid-July, Winsor said.

The Riverdale Crossing Shopping Center is also in the midst of renovations, a $6 million-plus project launched by the new center owners, H.J. Development, Wayzata.

Details on that project will appear in the July 15 newspaper.

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