Heinen's foray into Cleveland's urban core will fill the need for a full-service grocer that offers a swath of locally sourced products, prepared foods and a comprehensive wine and craft beer selection to office workers and the burgeoning residential population.

But co-owner Jeff Heinen said there still is some uncertainty about whether the $10 million, 27,000-square-foot upscale store has been sufficiently configured into a historic building at East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue that originally was the Cleveland Trust Co. Some adaptations to the store's layout and delivery schedule may need to be made. Meanwhile, the weeks and months following Heinen's Feb. 25 grand opening will offer insight into whether downtown's residential population has reached a level that can sustain brisk business seven days a week. The residential population reached 13,000 residents in 2014 but is expected to nearly double that figure in the next seven years, to about 25,000, according to estimates from the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. “We're at the beginning of what we hope will be continued momentum for development and housing demand in downtown Cleveland,” Heinen said. “Our challenge is to put as much into the store as possible. We'll find out whether we have enough space or need to make some changes.” The store is located within the historic Italian Renaissance-style rotunda, the centerpiece of which is a century-old stained glass dome-shaped ceiling supported by massive marble columns. A series of murals depicting farming and the development of civilization in America surrounds the dome, painted by artist Francis David Millet, who died on the Titanic. Unlike the clean lines of aisles featured in a typical boxy or rectangular suburban store, the urban grocer's departments and kitchen/storage are segmented between three floors and four levels. The perishables — meats, deli, seafood, bakery, prepared foods, a garden/superfoods salad and soup station — and an Equal Exchange Fair Trade Coffee Shop surround the cylindrical first-floor center, which will offer seating for about 50. Down a couple steps off the rotunda, a labyrinth of long, narrow aisles, and refrigeration units, shelf the produce, dry goods, dairy and frozen items. “It could get a little tight back here. Don't bring a suburban mentality to an urban store,” Heinen said. Below the rotunda, a maze of concrete hallways lead either to an industrial-sized kitchen, refrigeration units, employee break room or loading docks. “There will be a learning curve associated with getting all the product from down here up to the other floors,” Heinen said.