When Hy-Vee Inc. opens its newest West Des Moines supermarket later this month at George M. Mills Civic Parkway and 50th Street, Central Iowa customers will notice many new products and services the grocery chain is introducing into its largest metro stores.

Among the new amenities: a redesigned dine-in area; a baby section that will offer merchandise such as strollers and high chairs as well as baby supplies and a gift registry; an office and school supply section; a classroom for cooking demonstrations and other classes; and a new self-checkout system.

The 79,200-square-foot store, which opens April 25, will be Hy-Vee’s largest in Central Iowa and will showcase the company’s drive toward increasingly building one-stop customer convenience into its stores. An estimated 35,000 customers per week will visit the store, which will be open 24 hours a day.

Based in West Des Moines, employee-owned Hy-Vee now operates 222 stores in seven Midwestern states, more than half of which are located in Iowa.

Due in part to its accessibility to Interstate 35, the Mills Civic Parkway store will likely serve customers from a wide geographic area, said store director Mark Luke.

“I think we’ll also service the southern communities, so we’ll have a wider variety of items, such as gourmet foods,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d call it all upscale, but just more variety.”

For instance, the store’s bakery plans to introduce more varieties of pastries in addition to the usual assortment of baked goods, as well as more organic and European-style breads. Its produce section will also have more organic fruits and vegetables and the Health Market within the store will carry more organic and specialty items for people with health conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Set apart with hardwood flooring and high-intensity lighting, the Health Market will also feature a new vitamin section organized by categories of supplements, such as heart health.

“We’ll have a health market manager and a dietitian that will help educate consumers on items and help them with their selections,” Luke said. “Items we don’t carry, we can try to get in.”

Grocery stores are increasingly relying on specialty services and departments to attract and retain customers, according to a 2005 survey recently released by the Food Marketing Institute.

“Shifting consumer behaviors and attitudes, shorter product life cycles, new store concepts and competitive pressures from a broad range of retail formats are driving a fundamental change in the way food retail companies do business,” said Michael Sansolo, FMI’s senior vice president, in a news release. The organization, which has 1,500 member companies, including Hy-Vee, obtained the data by surveying 77 of those companies.

For instance, 72 percent of new supermarkets around the country now provide space for cooking demonstrations, according to the survey. More than half have a coffee bar in at least one store and more than 55 percent feature an in-store pharmacy and 25 percent sell gasoline, each of which are components of the new West Des Moines store.

At the new Hy-Vee, customers will be able to sign up for cooking classes that will be offered in the store’s upper-level Club Room, which will double as an employee training room. In addition to cooking demonstrations, the classroom, which has a full kitchen, will also be used for courses in flower arranging, digital photography and other skills related to the store’s products and services.

Among the most visible additions to the store is the baby section, which will include display space for strollers, high chairs and other durable goods as well as standard baby supplies. Parents-to-be will be able to register at a gift registry kiosk to help friends or relatives select baby shower gifts.

The store will also feature four self-checkout lanes, which will use a new system recently purchased by Hy-Vee. The company currently has eight stores with self-checkout and plans to evaluate the new system at five locations before possibly introducing it at additional stores next year.

“I think more and more customers are getting used to checking themselves out,” Luke said. “I think that’s something that customers are going to like, as they get more and more comfortable about doing it themselves.” Customers can choose to bag their own groceries or have someone bag for them, he said.

The process of hiring and training staff and stocking the store, which will employ about 450 people, began nearly three months ago.

Luke said he feels fortunate that the response to employment ads has been good.

For employment, “we’re going to draw from some of the smaller, southern communities and we’re going to draw from some of those areas as well as West Des Moines. I’ve just really been blessed with the number of people who have shown interest in working here.”

A 20-year Hy-Vee employee, Luke managed stores in Sioux Center and Lenexa, Kan., prior to being chosen to open the West Des Moines store.

“I’m originally from this area, so it’s an opportunity for us to get back home, so to speak, and an opportunity to open a beautiful, brand-new store,” he said. “I just feel fortunate that I get to be the one to do it.”