Kum & Go plans its first urban convenience store at historic Griffin Building downtown

Kim Norvell
The Des Moines Register

Kum & Go will open an urban convenience store in downtown Des Moines, a new concept for the locally owned gas station chain.

Its 3,000-square-foot store will be located in the renovated Edna M. Griffin Building, a historic structure that was the scene of a major event in the city's civil rights history. It is slated to open in spring 2020. 

The walk-up store will focus on "healthy and better-for-you products," as well as traditional convenience store items, said Tanner Krause, president of Kum & Go. It will also serve as a test store for the chain's new items, and, if the business model is successful, a prototype for additional stores in the 11 states the company serves. 

"Kum & Go is trying to take a lead on healthy items in a convenience setting and we think this concept and this audience will be a great testing ground for that change," Krause said.

The Edna M. Griffin Building, 319 7th St., will have a new life as apartments.

The new concept is part of a nationwide trend of traditional convenience and grocery stores opening urban retail locations that focus on healthier items, according to Ultra Creative, Inc., a marketing firm. Whole Foods Market opened its first smaller-format store in New York City this year with a mix of grocery items and traditional convenience fare. 7-Eleven opened a new concept in Texas that focuses on specialty food and beverages and partners with a fast-casual taco restaurant.

Kum & Go's concept came from a team of seven employees who were tasked with finding new and innovative ways to grow the company, Krause said.

The company has had stores without gas pumps, but the downtown store will be the first in an urban setting without a dedicated parking lot. It will also be the first not built on the company's standard lot, which averages 1.5 acres. 

That size means Kum & Go is largely located in the suburbs and along busy corridors.The new downtown location will target Kum & Go customers who live and work downtown, but are unwilling or unable to travel the mile to the nearest traditional store at 1300 Keosaqua Way, Krause said.

Kum & Go estimates there are 10,000 people living and working within a 2 1/2 minute walk of the new store at 319 Seventh St.

"There are great fans of Kum & Go that are unable to have their needs met during the majority of their workday due to our locations," Krause said. " ... We think this is a great opportunity to offer them a nice, safe, elevated retail experience."

The downtown store will offer pizza, sandwiches, salads and select high-end wine and liquor. It will also have traditional convenience store packaged snacks and household items like medicine and toiletries. It will not have roller grill hot dogs, the nacho cheese bar or craft beer growlers offered in Kum & Go's newer Marketplace concept

The store will focus on sustainability, putting customers' purchases in reusable cloth bags — not plastic grocery bags.

Kum & Go is also rolling out compostable silverware and straws, recyclable cups and lids and post-consumer recycled food packaging in this and all its stores nationwide. The change will reduce the amount of flood plastic used in the company's food operations by more than 90%, Krause said. 

Edna Griffin Building: A 1948 sit-in in downtown Des Moines forced the Katz Drug Store to integrate its soda fountain, a victory for civil rights in Iowa.

The new store, already under construction, is part of a $12.4 million historic rehabilitation of one of the city's most prominent buildings.

Work is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year, said Tim Rypma, one of the building's owners in the Des Moines Griffin Building, LLC. 

Thirty-five apartments will occupy floors three through six. Rypma expects to open leases in a month. The first tenants will likely occupy the building in January. 

The second floor is reserved for office space, and the first has room for three retail bays. A second retail user has been identified and has signed a letter of intent to move in to the space, Rypma said. That leaves one 800-square-foot space for rent. 

The 134-year-old building has been home to dozens of restaurants and offices over the years. The last two tenants, Sarpino’s Pizzeria and Quizno’s, closed after a 2014 fire that destroyed former Younkers department store building nearby. It's been vacant since. 

Rypma called Kum & Go's new concept "a game changer" for the building's future tenants, surrounding neighbors and downtown's workforce. 

"I think it's very well needed and it's going to add to the vibrancy of living down there," he said. 

Both Des Moines Griffin Building, LLC and Kum & Go plan to pay homage to the building's namesake, Edna M. Griffin. Rypma is working with a local artist who will paint a mural honoring her legacy. Kum & Go is still finalizing its plans. 

"The story of Edna Griffin is one that I hope more central Iowans know and can learn from. And it ties in to the type of company we're trying to develop or become from a diversity and inclusion perspective," Krause said. "I think her story is really inspiring and courageous."

Who is Edna M. Griffin and why is this building important?

Sometimes called the Rosa Parks of Iowa, Edna Mae Griffin was a civil rights pioneer who led sit-ins and protests of Katz Drug Store after being refused service there on July 9, 1948, because she was African American.

Griffin later sued owner Maurice Katz and the Iowa Supreme Court backed her claim. It led to a ruling that made it illegal to deny service based on race in Iowa. 

Katz Drug Store was located in the Flynn Building at the corner of Locust and Seventh streets in downtown Des Moines. It was later renamed the Edna M. Griffin Building in her honor, 50 years after she first organized the sit-in. 

►More:See our database of famous Iowans

Griffin, who was born in Kentucky, grew up in New Hampshire as the daughter of a dairy-farm supervisor. She graduated from Fisk University in 1933, married a doctor, Stanley Griffin, and became a schoolteacher. The couple moved to Des Moines in 1947.

Griffin died in 2000 at age 91. 

Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259.

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