After months of watching the former Lunds & Byerlys sit dark at E. 10th and Robert streets, downtown St. Paul is finally getting its grocery back. Discount grocer Aldi is set to move into the vacant corner space, with building-permit filings outlining a full remodel from March 16 through June 22, 2026. If that schedule holds, the opening would end a nearly yearlong gap in full-service options since Lunds closed in March 2025.
Building-permit descriptions for the site spell out the March 16 to June 22 construction window and a conversion of the space into an Aldi store, according to Bring Me The News. In a statement to the Star Tribune, Mayor Kaohly Her welcomed the move, saying, "I want to thank Aldi for choosing to invest in our city and contributing to our vision of revitalization." Joe Spencer, president of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, told the paper that a grocery store is "one of those essential bits of infrastructure" that residents and developers count on.
Permit records list the address as 115 10th St. E and describe the work as a remodel of the existing space to become a new Aldi retail grocery store, per reporting reproduced via the Pioneer Press on Yahoo. That coverage notes additional permit entries for signage and says a Jan. 9 filing described the project while also indicating the main building permit had not yet been issued at the time and the general contractor was still listed as "TBD."
Downtown has been without a full-service supermarket since Lunds & Byerlys closed on March 26, 2025, a retreat that MPR News reported was driven by lower commuter foot traffic, higher security costs and staffing challenges. City leaders and residents have repeatedly argued that having a walkable grocery store is a basic requirement if the city wants to lock in more housing and everyday retail in the core instead of losing people to the suburbs.
Remodel timeline and next steps
The March 16 construction start would unfold alongside several other downtown projects, and the 10th and Robert site would become Aldi's fifth location in St. Paul, according to the Star Tribune. The paper also reports that Aldi is in the middle of a nationwide expansion push, aiming to top 3,000 U.S. locations by the end of 2028, a scale city officials hope will help support steady weekday and weekend foot traffic for nearby businesses.
There is still no grand opening date on the books, and Aldi had not responded to requests for comment as of Feb. 23, according to Pioneer Press coverage reproduced on Yahoo. Even so, downtown advocates are treating the permit filings as a cautiously hopeful sign after months of lobbying for a replacement grocer, pointing to nearby investments such as the Pedro Park renovation and the Robert Street reconstruction as reasons to believe this corner of downtown might finally be turning a corner, per Bring Me The News.
