A change is afoot in Plymouth.

The 80-acre site along Bass Lake Road and I-494 that was once the sprawling Prudential campus is slowly but surely being developed into a mix of residential and retail space.

“I’ve lived about a mile and a half from the settlement we’re talking about for about 40 years,” said George John, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota.

John says this area needs a grocery store.

“We’re kind of a doughnut hole,” he said. “We don’t have one here. So when they started demolishing the Prudential building, everyone wanted to know what was going to go in there.”

John and others in the area got their answer this week.

St. Cloud-based grocer Coborn’s announced plans to build a grocery and liquor store at the site the city calls “The Boulevard.”

According to a press release from Coborn’s, the Plymouth store will serve as a new prototype “designed to offer a fresh approach to grocery shopping, with a focus on a wide assortment of fresh produce, locally grown and produced products, and meals for any time of day.”

“We are excited to enter the Plymouth market and bring an entirely new, unique and upscale offering to this busy and rapidly growing community,” said David Best, president and chief operating officer of Coborn’s, Inc. in the press release. “Our new store will be a modern, convenient and inviting space that truly reflects the needs and desires of the community we serve. We look forward to being a part of this exciting development and serving the Plymouth area.”

A rendering of what The Boulevard in Plymouth will look like when construction is complete.

John says Coborn needs to work on his identity.

“It will be interesting to see how Coborn’s fits into that box, because it’s not clear to me that Coborn’s has an established identity in the Twin Cities,” John said.

When Hy-Vee entered the Twin Cities market in 2015, John said they were an established brand in Iowa. That familiarity created a lot of excitement.

“Coborn’s doesn’t quite have that preconceived image,” John said. “I’m not saying it’s bad, but they need to work on it.”

However, Coborn’s has 27 stores across Minnesota. The ones closest to Plymouth are in Ramsey and Delano. John predicts that if the Plymouth location does well, more stores will open in the metropolitan area.

“I mean, it’s such a big, untapped area for them,” John said of Coborn’s move to the metropolis. “Whether it’s wise or not, I can’t say. Time will tell, because contrary to what people may think, grocery retail is a brutally competitive and nearly unprofitable business given the high prices we face today.”

It is a store that could open by fall 2025.

Plymouth city officials said they have not yet received Coborn’s formal zoning application. Once they receive it, they will decide whether the plan needs to be submitted to the city council and planning commission for approval.

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