MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Grocery stores are key to the city of Minneapolis’s long-range plan to grow in the downtown area.

The hope is that stores like the Lund’s opening Thursday morning will help the population double in size to 70,000 by 2025. Whole Foods is also opening a grocery store in downtown Minneapolis next year, down the street on Hennepin at Washington Avenue.

This Lund’s store has been in the works for more than seven years. The slow economy delayed the opening until now. This will be the first major grocery store in downtown Minneapolis even though the Target downtown does offer a limited grocery section.

Not only will Lund’s and Whole Foods help keep people living downtown, some say it should attract more people to move here.

“The people who can afford to live downtown are upscale people. The people who will be attracted down there in the future will very likely be upscale again,” said Professor David Brennan with the University of St. Thomas. “A lot of that deals with land economics in the terms of the cost of building condominiums and apartments. It’s a lot more expensive in the central city than it is in the suburbs.”

There will be a grand opening celebration for the Lund’s store at 9:30 a.m. The store opens officially for business at 10 a.m. There will be free coffee, juice and pastries as well as live music inside and outside. Customers will also get a limited edition reusable bag.