It’s been more than six months since Fareway moved into its new headquarters in Johnston, a move company leaders said would allow space to bring employees under one roof in a location that was more of a geographical center for the grocer.

Fareway bought the former Iowa Bankers Association building at 8800 N.W. 62nd Ave. from the Graham Group in 2023 for $3.65 million. Renovations began in early 2024 with employees moving in last fall. The cost of improvements was around $5 million.

Today, it features 13 conference rooms, 34 private offices and 89 workstations. More than 140 employees work in the building, creating a more collaborative environment for the company.

Before the move, Fareway employees were split between its warehouse and administrative offices in Boone, where the company was founded in 1938. The company now has more than 130 stores and more than 13,000 employees in seven states.

The move came as the company considered its long-term plan for office space and looked for a new location for its headquarters in Central Iowa. With two-thirds of Fareway office workers living in Story or Polk County, moving the headquarters to the metro created a more centralized location for the company while increasing office space nearly threefold.

The move comes with Fareway’s continued commitment to Boone, where its administrative office downtown will be filled with other employees and its 1.3 million-square-foot distribution center employs around 650 people.

Here is a look at Fareway’s new headquarters. The office features a cafeteria-style area called the Fuel Station that has a production kitchen providing meals to employees daily and an area for product testing and meal prep.

There is also a conference room with a ceiling-to-floor screen where a special software program allows staff, store managers and product distributors to view in real time any shelf in any of its stores as they make inventory and product placement decisions.

There is also a photo mural on a wall along a staircase inside the visitors’ entry that illustrates the company’s history. On another wall in another area of the building is a Fareway family tree, displaying the lineage of company leadership, from its founders to its current CEO Reynolds Kramer.

A conference room in the new Fareway headquarters that has a ceiling-to-floor screen where staff, store employees and product distributors can view in real time any shelf in any of the company’s stores as they make inventory and product placement decisions. Photo by Duane Tinkey

A view of Fareway’s new office space. Photo by Duane Tinkey

A look inside the boardroom at Fareway’s new headquarters. Photo by Duane Tinkey

Fareway’s new headquarters in Johnston. Photo by Duane Tinkey

A look inside the employee entrance of Fareway’s new headquarters. The area is a common place for greeting special guests and conducting check presentations to community groups that the grocer partners with as part of its philanthropic efforts. Photo by Duane Tinkey

A training room in Fareway’s new headquarters in Johnston. Photo by Duane Tinkey

The Fuel Station, a co-working cafeteria space in Fareway’s new headquarters in Johnston. Photo by Duane Tinkey