A push to use public and private dollars to save Heinen’s downtown grocery store couldn’t overcome the financial realities driving its closure this month, the company’s co-president said.
The grocer lost $18 million over more than 11 years on its Downtown Cleveland bet, co-President Jeff Heinen told Signal Cleveland in an email Monday. It plans to close the downtown location July 31.
Heinen’s move into the Cleveland Trust rotunda in 2015 became a symbol of downtown’s resurgence. A well-known local name in the suburban grocery business took up an iconic residence to serve office workers and a growing downtown population.
“We were willing to make that bet as life-long Clevelanders even though we believed we might never make any money,” Heinen wrote.
That bet turned out to be a loss.
“Fast forward 11 + years and over $18,000,000 in cash losses and we knew we put our best effort forward and it was not good enough,” he continued. “We understand our closing creates uncertainty for residents who rely upon the store yet as a family run business operating in a very competitive industry, that level of losses is not sustainable.”
Heinen’s tried to reduce space and costs
Heinen’s shrank its downtown store’s footprint to try to save money in 2024 and 2025. It moved its beer and wine offerings from the rotunda’s second floor down to the first floor.
That enabled the company to save roughly $40,000 on its property taxes for the second floor, but it didn’t see operating expenses go down, Heinen wrote. He said the overall move cost about $500,000.
Local government and others stepped in to help.
Cuyahoga County awarded $50,000 to assist Heinen’s with the move from the second floor, conditioned on Heinen’s staying open until the end of July 2026.
Cleveland Development Advisors, the lending affiliate of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, also granted Heinen’s $50,000 for the project. The grant was tied to a lease extension, according to CDA’s chief executive.
Cleveland pitched in with $250,000 in 2025 for the reconfiguration work, according to Mayor Justin Bibb’s office.
In addition, the county gave $50,000 to Downtown Cleveland Inc. in 2024 for a downtown retail awareness campaign that put a focus on Heinen’s.
The grocer had been talking with the city and county for two years, and “no one was blind-sided” by the closure announcement, Heinen wrote.
“The City and the County did what they were willing to do and we appreciate their concern and for the financial assistance they provided to help us move off the second floor,” Heinen wrote. “The salient fact is that our operating model does not fit that location and no entity governmental or otherwise is understandably willing to write checks to cover our losses.”
