By: Brett O’Daniell
For years, residents of New Town and the surrounding neighborhoods have watched the area grow with new homes, new families, and new businesses. Now one of St. Louis’ most recognizable family-owned companies has joined the neighborhood.
Dierbergs Markets has officially opened Market at 370, its new St. Charles store on New Town Boulevard. The opening brings a full-service Dierbergs closer to thousands of area residents while also anchoring a larger commercial development that will continue taking shape around it.
For Dierbergs, the decision to invest here was driven by the same growth residents have been watching firsthand.
“North St. Charles is one of the fastest-growing, most family-friendly areas in the region, and it's a community Dierbergs is excited to be a part of,” the company shared with NTxConnect. “This location lets us become the neighborhood grocery store for families who are putting down roots here, offering the same quality and service Dierbergs has built its name on for more than 170 years.”
A Milestone Year for a St. Louis Institution
New Dierbergs stores don't arrive every year.
Market at 370 follows the opening of the company's University City location in May, making 2026 an unusually significant expansion year. Dierbergs now operates 29 stores, with 28 located in the St. Louis region.
The company sees that footprint as part of its identity. Dierbergs started local and has stayed local, even as the business has grown over generations.
The new store brings many familiar Dierbergs features, including the Dierbergs Kitchen, Butcher Shop, Seafood Market and Bakehouse, Bob's Barn, a health and beauty center, flower and gift shop and full-service Mercy Pharmacy. There's also Bob's BBQ, a customer favorite smoked fresh daily right in the parking lot.
Behind the scenes, Market at 370 also incorporates an advanced CO₂-based refrigeration system designed as a more environmentally conscious alternative to traditional refrigerants. Dierbergs first introduced the technology at its University City store earlier this year, making the new St. Charles location one of its earliest local adopters.
Local Faces Leading the Store
Perhaps the strongest connection between Dierbergs and its new community can be found in the people leading the store.
Store Director Caitlin Kelch is a longtime St. Charles resident and 2005 graduate of St. Charles High School. Her Dierbergs career began when she was just 16 years old. She moved to the Charlestown neighborhood in 2020 and now leads Market at 370.
“I love this community, and I'm so excited to be the Store Director of this location,” Kelch said. “I'm also personally excited about the retail partners that a Dierbergs anchor brings to the area.”
Assistant Store Director Justin Farrell brings another deep local connection. Farrell has worked for Dierbergs for 16 years and has lived in the St. Charles area for most of his life. A Fort Zumwalt South graduate, he has also spent approximately a decade coaching middle-school boys' basketball. “The excitement from the customers has been unmatched,” Farrell said.
Becoming Part of the Community
Nearly 100 associates work at Market at 370, adding a significant new employer to the area. Dierbergs continues to direct interested applicants to its careers website for current openings.
Dierbergs says being a good community partner means becoming a neighborhood staple, where customers feel genuinely welcomed rather than simply somewhere to shop.
That effort was visible during the grand opening, when Orchard Farm High School students were invited to perform. “The school is a big part of this community, and we wanted them to be part of ours from day one,” the company told NTxConnect.
As the store settles in, Dierbergs says it intends to continue looking for ways to become part of the fabric of the surrounding community.
That commitment arrives in an area that already has a strong tradition of locally owned businesses and neighborhood institutions. New investment inevitably changes the commercial landscape, but it also creates new traffic, new jobs and new opportunities. How those forces continue to interact will be an important story for New Town and the surrounding area in the years ahead.
More Development Still to Come
For residents watching growth along New Town Boulevard, the grocery store is only part of the story. Market at 370 anchors a development planned to add approximately 28,000 square feet of additional retail, restaurant and service space. That includes buildings attached to both sides of the store as well as a separate multi-tenant building in front.
Dierbergs says additional tenant announcements are expected in the coming weeks.
For North St. Charles residents, development just beyond the neighborhood increasingly affects daily life inside it, from where residents shop and eat to where neighbors work and which businesses invest nearby.
A regional anchor such as Dierbergs can create opportunities for restaurants, service providers and retailers through increased traffic, while established businesses adapt to new competition and consumer choices. Those changes are part of the larger story of a growing community.
More Than a Place to Shop
President and CEO Greg Dierberg says the company's ambitions for its newest community extend beyond what's on the shelves.
“We're not just opening a store here, we're becoming your neighbors,” Dierberg said. “For more than 170 years, our family has believed that a grocery store should be more than a place to shop; it should be part of the fabric of the community it serves.”
For New Town and the communities beyond it, Dierbergs’ arrival represents both a significant new investment and another sign of how quickly the area is evolving.
The real story is not simply that a new grocery store opened. It is how Dierbergs, existing neighborhood businesses, future retailers and the people who live here continue shaping the community together.