Straub’s is proud to announce plans for store number five, the first new store in over 40 years for this fourth generation, family-owned four-store chain.

A 40,000 sf Straub’s Market and Café is planned for the new Fountain Plaza development at the northeast corner of Clarkson and Clayton Roads in Ellisville, MO. The new Straub’s will be over three times the size of their current stores located in the Central West End, Clayton, Webster Groves and Town & Country.

“We’ve discussed a possible fifth store for a number of years and have eyed numerous locations,” says Trip Straub, vice president of Straub’s Markets. “We are very excited to make a Straub’s store more convenient for our current customers from Ellisville, Chesterfield, Wildwood and Clarkson Valley. We’re also thrilled to be able to respond to many requests for us to put a store further west. This location will give new customers an easier way to try us as well.”

The new Straub’s will be unlike any grocery in the Midwest. It will provide the intimate neighborhood atmosphere of the current stores, but in a larger venue with increased opportunities for special offerings.

“Our small store format has worked for us for 106 years. This design, however, will allow us to spread our wings in our current departments and give us the ability to add new departments. It gives us the opportunity to offer a much greater selection of fresh store-made prepared foods, high quality artisanal products and a greater selection of national brand items,” adds Straub.

The store will represent Straub’s time-honored traditions of offering high levels of service and carrying the best quality products and, at the same time, include new features such as a 150-seat indoor / outdoor café and a cooking school. Store number five is being designed as a destination experience, not your typical grocery. “There will be many surprises,” Straub says.

“Over the past decade, I’ve traveled extensively visiting retail food stores all over the country and abroad,” explains Straub. “I’ve seen and heard exciting ideas during my travels and in conversations with business owners and consumers. My goal with this store is to incorporate the very best of everything I’ve seen in an environment that appeals to St. Louisans. Our customers travel as well, and with the rising popularity of cooking magazines and the Food Network, our customers expect us to have things they see and would like to try.”

Building on an established standard of excellent customer service, Straub’s will seek and train approximately 125 new staff members. Straub’s has successfully cultivated a knowledgeable and loyal workforce with longevity, resulting in employees who know generations of customers by name.

Convenience is also part of the company’s culture. Check-out stations are monitored and opened as needed to avoid long wait lines; easy access is accomplished through ample parking. At the new store, over 500 surface parking spaces will be provided for customers as well as self-checkouts for those customers who like that convenience. There will be two entrances on Clarkson Road and one entry on Clayton Road.

Centrum Clarkson, LLC, an affiliate of Chicago, IL- based Centrum Properties, is the landlord and developer of the mixed-use Fountain Plaza project. In addition to Straub’s, the other major anchor is Life Time Fitness.

Working as consultants to Straub’s are TRi Architects and Brinkmann Contractors. Representing Straub’s is Hycel Properties Co. Opening is scheduled for summer 2008.

Straub’s Markets has been honored twice as the NASFT Retailer of the Year and as one of The Top Ten Best Places to Buy Gourmet Food Online. The company is owned and operated by the third and fourth generation, Jack W. Straub, Jr. and his son, J.W. “Trip” Straub, III. Trip Straub serves on the retail advisory board of both the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) as well as Gourmet Retailer magazine.

In 1901, William A. Straub opened the first Straub’s store in Webster Groves. In those days of horse and buggy delivery, Straub’s quickly earned a reputation for customer service, USDA prime beef and interesting, quality products. In 1933, Straub’s opened in Clayton, where the corporate offices were established and remain today. In 1948, the Central West End location opened on Kingshighway across from the popular Chase Park Plaza. In 1966, the fourth store opened in Town & Country, at a time when farmland was rapidly absorbing the suburban shift of population growth.