As we reported in Wednesday's Post-Dispatch, Straub's Market is leaving its 40,000 square foot grocery store on Clarkson Road in Ellisville at the end of October.

And as followers of the west St. Louis County grocery scene know, Schnuck Markets wants to build a brand new store just up Clarkson Road in Ballwin, less than a mile away. The proposed size? 41,000 square feet.

Would it make sense instead for Schnucks to just move into the empty Straub's?

That is the sort of idea that has local retail and real estate-watchers buzzing the day after Straub's surprise announcement. But it is not an idea that Schnucks is pursuing, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday morning.

"We are committed to our Ballwin project," said Lori Willis, who declined to discuss the matter further, calling it "a competitive issue." "Our plans have not changed."

Still, it might be tempting. Schnucks' Ballwin proposal — for the southeast corner of Clarkson and Kehr's Mill Roads — has met with vocal opposition in the neighborhood. And while zoning changes for the project were approved by Ballwin aldermen in June, they are now in court, thanks to a lawsuit filed by local residents. That case is set for trial in April.

Moving down the street, into a grocery store that's already built, would end those headaches, and renovations likely wouldn't take as long, or cost as much, as building from scratch. And the two locations are close.

But Willis did her best to dampen the speculation.

"The bottom line is (the Straub's) is a completely different type of store than what we're thinking for Clarkson," she said.

It just happens to be basically the same size and in basically the same place.