How Hy-Vee Utilizes Shipping Container Grocery Store Storage Rooms

Hy-Vee, a popular grocery store chain located in the Midwestern United States, faced new challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted more business online. Hy-Vee operates 275 stores across an eight-state region and had to pivot quickly when many customers shifted to its Aisles Online to obtain their groceries. While Aisles Online had already been a popular e-commerce platform for customers—and adoption was growing—the pandemic quadrupled online traffic in a matter of weeks.

While Hy-Vee already had curbside pickup and delivery systems established, they needed to quickly increase their capacity to fulfill and deliver online orders while continuing to shift to meet their customers’ needs during the pandemic. An important step in their efforts to boost curbside pickup included purchasing a fleet of grocery store storage rooms. The Aisles Online kiosks – created from modified shipping containers – not only created grocery storage, but improved curbside pickup efficiency.

Ecommerce Grocery Shopping – in a Global Pandemic

Many businesses unexpectedly faced challenges brought up by restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Grocery stores across the country were no exception as many Americans utilized curbside pickup to limit contact with others. Hy-Vee took action to upgrade its curbside pickup experience – understanding that they needed to accommodate the increased volume in online orders.

This quick change in business presented a few challenges. Most Hy-Vee stores cannot sustain high traffic for curbside orders. They needed to either provide chain locations with grocery store storage rooms or replace any existing, rented curbside storage with more long-lasting structures. To top it all off, they needed to ensure the new curbside storage would accommodate parking lot traffic flow while creating a hub away from the store entrance.

Modified Shipping Containers as “Aisles Online” Kiosks

Hy-Vee turned to shipping containers, modified into helpful and reliable grocery store storage rooms. Collaborating with Falcon, they requested a fleet of double-wide 40-foot container structures that included operable cargo doors, personnel doors, insulation, climate control, and lighting.

“We experienced flawless execution working with Falcon Structures. Our stores were thrilled to receive these container kiosks. The Falcon units were easy to install, helping us quickly meet new demand.”

Hy-Vee, Inc.

The modified shipping container units were easy to transport and place on site. Falcon worked to modify the fleet through a standardized, systematic manufacturing process – creating uniform units that were easy to install and combine. As the needs for curbside pickup continue to develop, Hy-Vee can easily relocate the container units as needed.

Meeting Demand by Improving Curbside Pickup & Delivery

The new shipping container grocery store storage rooms helped to improve the curbside pickup experience for Hy-Vee customers. Today, the units successfully boost efficiency and help employees prepare orders prior to pick up. Eight drive up lanes allow employees to run orders out quickly, minimizing customer wait time. Thanks to the speed of on-site installation, Hy-Vee saved time and money. Falcon prepared the units to securely combine without the need of an onsite welder – due to Falcon’s unique design.

Now that Hy-Vee has durable, portable, and professional looking container storage to assist online orders, the company feels better prepared for future evolutions in the grocery ecommerce market. Hy-Vee customers can similarly feel confident that they’ll quickly and easily receive groceries while remaining safe, healthy, and comfortable.

If your organization is interested in shipping container storage or other shipping container structure modifications, give us a call at 877-704-0177 or Sales@FalconStructures.com. Our team members will set you in the right direction to make your container vision a reality.