Fareway's 2nd meat market in Iowa opens in Des Moines' Beaverdale neighborhood

Beaverdale has the meats.

Fareway's second meat market in Iowa opened in Des Moines' Beaverdale neighborhood Wednesday, nearly a year after the city council approved site plans at 2716 Beaver Ave.

The 7,800-square-foot store is essentially a smaller Fareway grocery store with a limited produce section, snacks, artisan cheeses, craft beer, wine and spirits, grilling accessories and a 20-foot long barbecue seasonings and sauce section.

The star of the show is the full-service meat counter with ready-to-eat barbeque smoked in-house and other prepared meals that can be taken home or eaten at picnic tables on the store's patio.

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Jeff Cook, Fareway's vice president of market operations, said the Beaverdale meat market differs from the Boone-based company's other meat markets by offering more grocery items, noting the next nearest grocery store is Price Chopper at 1819 Beaver Ave. nearly a mile away.

"Every category in a regular grocery store is represented here," Cook said. "We’re really excited to expand our offerings to the community. We always wanted to try to get a meat market in the Des Moines metro area and the Beaverdale neighborhood was a perfect fit."

The meat market is just the start of Fareway's expansion throughout the Des Moines metro.

Next year, a new full-service grocery store will open in West Des Moines at the southeast corner of 91st Street and Mills Civic Parkway and another is coming to Clive at the northeast corner of 161st Street and Hickman Road.

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Cook said the meat market will also soon offer barbecue catering services for events. The market is currently hiring, looking for staff to work behind the deli counter, meat counter or in the grocery section.

The grocery store chain opened its first Fareway Meat Market in 2016 in Omaha. That 6,000-square-foot market offers a 56-foot meat case, stocked with beef, chicken, pork, fish, lamb and sandwiches. That meat case is about 16 feet longer than a typical Fareway grocery store. Also available, artisan cheeses, wines and craft beers.

The first Iowa location for Fareway Meat Market opened in September 2018 in Ames.

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Fareway Meat Market in Beaverdale

Where: 2716 Beaver Ave., Des Moines

Hours: Open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Sundays.

Contact: 515-381-6867

Hannah Rodriguez covers retail for the Register. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @byherodriguez.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Fareway opens its second meat market in Iowa in Des Moines' Beaverdale