Hi,

The layout of the Carpentersville, IL and Kenosha, WI stores is roughly the same. I can pretty much find whatever I want at each store with ease.

I was recently at the Janesville, WI, which was poorly marked from the outside and had a rather low ceiling inside. The liquor department was already closed, though how to access it from the main store seemed to require a separate entrance. It had a dark, dingy feel to it, I did not enjoy my visit.

I am now curious to visit the Rockford store given JLawrence's reaction.

Regards,

We have been shopping at the North Aurora store ever since it opened, 5 years? We shop on Saturday but out strategy is to go at 8 am when the side doors open. We usually can get in and out pretty quickly without a wait in line at checkout. By now we know the store well and plan our trip ahead. It took a while to understand that you can find items in many places, soup for example can be in 3 different places depending on what kind of soup you want. I know people who refuse to shop there because they get confused or they think the store looks junky but for us, it's far far better than the Jewel we used to go to.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

The layout of the Carpentersville, IL and Kenosha, WI stores is roughly the same. I can pretty much find whatever I want at each store with ease.

I was recently at the Janesville, WI, which was poorly marked from the outside and had a rather low ceiling inside. The liquor department was already closed, though how to access it from the main store seemed to require a separate entrance. It had a dark, dingy feel to it, I did not enjoy my visit.

I am now curious to visit the Rockford store given JLawrence's reaction.

Regards,

The liquor stores at every Wisconsin Woodman's I've been in have separate access. We've learned which side of the building to park since we're usually stocking up on New Glarus.

The North Aurora store used to have an outside and inside entrance to the liquor store but did some remodeling last year and closed off the direct outside entrance. Now it has a large door into the store and another into a foyer that is also an entrance into the store and self checkouts.

Hi,

I stopped by Woodman's in Kenosha around midnight recently. In their discount meat bin, they had corned beef brisket for just over $2 per pound. When I unwrapped it on Valentine's, I found the original price was $4.99 per pound.

This corned beef was very, very good. From reading the label it is 'Pat's' brand packaged in Algonquin, IL. I have never heard of Pat's corned beef. Woodman's has a reputation for stocking lesser known relatively local products. Whoever is behind Pat's has a pretty good recipe for pickling their corned beef.

Regards,

Hi,

On this same visit, I found a product I was unaware of: Baker's reserve Philadelphia cream cheese.

I found some comments, it was a limited production for the holidays made with few ingredients: pasteurized milk and cream, salt, carob bean gum and cheese culture. An ingredient list quite similar to Organic Valley's cream cheese.

Regular cream cheese has: Pasteurized Nonfat Milk, and Milkfat, Whey Protein Concentrate, Cheese Culture, Salt, Whey, Stabilizers (Xanthan Gum, and/or Carob Bean Gum, and/or Guar Gum). Sorbic Acid, as a preservative Vitamin A Palmitate.

I bought two pounds of the Baker's reserve, which went to into a Lindy's cheesecake. I'm sorry I did not buy more to use on a bagel or other uses.

Regards,

Dill sauce for bloody marys, smoked hog jowls, Bond-ost cheese, Zatarain's pasta mixes

I live in Algonquin and have never heard of Pats. In any case, I shop the Cville Woodmans weekly and always find some new and obscure thing to buy and try. Usually it is so obscure I forget what aisle I found it in and only might trip over it by chance weeks later. If only they would upgrade their bakery, fresh foods and butcher area like a Mariano's it would be a dream. Or better yet, stick a Mariano's in the empty Dominicks kitty corner.

Absolutely agree. We find this from time to time @ Woodies. Have had over the last year or so about 6-8 of Pat's. We LOVE corned beef: Pat's is THE BEST we've ever had. Really; none better. We look for the 'fattier' ones. Yeah, cholesterol, but as a co-worker once said: "You only live once; eat what you want."

These freeze well for us & even after cooked, we freeze any remainders and have them for lunches: white bread, mustard & 'da beef warmed in a microwave. GREAT !!!

Just finished the last one and it truly was "melt in your mouth"; no joking. Melt in your mouth. It WAS fantastic.

If you like corned beef, and can find one, try one of Pat's. We've had some in the past that were 'meh'; never if it was from Pat's. Outstanding !!!


jerrydee

Buffalo Grove approves plan for Woodman's on Milwaukee Avenue

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2016 ... 161229900/

Woodman’s Markets Plans to Buy Land at 191st and Harlem

TINLEY PARK, IL - Woodman’s Markets, a Janesville, Wisconsin-based supermarket chain has agreed to pay $4.5 million for 72 acres of property at 191st and Harlem - land currently owned by the Lincoln-Way High School District 210. The district agreed to award the bid for the land to Woodman’s since they were the only buyer that made an offer that fit the district’s criteria, according to the Daily Southtown.

Woodman's in Buffalo Grove is opening in September according to this location's website.

1550 Deerfield Pkwy. | Buffalo Grove, IL 60089

Cathy2 wrote:Woodman's in Buffalo Grove is opening in September according to this location's website.

1550 Deerfield Pkwy. | Buffalo Grove, IL 60089

Per their FB post, they’re now open.

I stopped in this afternoon and probably spent 30 minutes there. I was definitely underwhelmed. I got everything on my list, and I guess the prices were good, but I didn't see anything that will make me go back.

I was there today, too.

My best deal of the day: free car wash! They were testing their equipment and asked random customers if they wished for a car wash. Free! It is not even my birthday!

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi,

Vital Information was quite surprised to learn about the new Woodman's. He inquired if they had the old-fashioned shopping carts that drop-down in the front to accommodate easy grocery removal. I affirmed they had the very same carts as their other locations.

When I went later to the store, I noticed one upgrade to the carts: a place to mount your cellphone. You can refer to your list and keep your hands free to grab your groceries.

Regards,
Cathy2

My sister and I checked out the Buffalo Grove Woodman's yesterday. She was looking for a goose for Christmas Eve dinner and got one there for $5.99/lb. The best prices I've seen elsewhere were $6.49/lb (Mariano's) and $6.99/lb (Jewel). I got a duckling for my Christmas Eve dinner, $2.89/lb. I think it was $3.49/lb at Mariano's today and more than that at Jewel.

We were short on time so didn't explore fully, but we got, among other things, a few types of frozen pizzas that you don't see outside of Wisconsin. Lots of coupons were taped to the sides of the pizza freezers. As much as I love cheese spreads, I'm stocked up for now, but it's nice to know Woodman's cheese spread aisle is nearby now.

I was surprised to see tubs of Vienna Beef's French Dip there. I can't remember if I've seen that at any other grocery store before.

Some prices were the same as elsewhere, some better, some worse. There are some unusual finds and lots of Midwestern products, which are among the pleasures of shopping at Woodman's. I couldn't find everything on my shopping list; some staples I can find regularly at Jewel or Mariano's that Woodman's does not carry. We didn't have time to check out prices in the liquor section (what with sales tax on liquor, I don't expect Buffalo Grove prices to compete with Kenosha prices, but I'd like to compare). I definitely want to go back again to explore more.

From an email received this morning:

"To give our teams ample time to stock and clean our stores, our store hours are currently 7am - 10pm. We are offering special shopping hours on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 6 - 8am for seniors 60+ and those identified by the CDC as more susceptible to COVID-19. Our stores will be closed Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020."

I've been falling into the habit of Woodman's once a week, getting there around 8pm and doing self check-out. Between the low crowds and the always-available toilet paper, I'm able to make that my only stop for the entire week. The only issue can be that some of the produce (especially tomatillos and peppers, for some reason) can sometimes be sub-par, so I still may make one more stop somewhere else.

Here's some of the things I've found there that I enjoy:

• The variety of Organic Valley products. They even have milks by the gallon, which is great when I want to make a few batches of ice cream over a week. And a few weeks ago I saw an "Organic Prairie" turkey, which I learned is Organic Valley's meat division.
• Carr Valley cheeses
• Greens from Superior Fresh in Hixton, WI. One of the most recent episodes of "Wisconsin Foodie" toured that operation. It'd be cool if Woodman's started carrying their salmon too.
• An interesting mix of coffees, including a brand called Daydream Coffee out of Western Springs.
  I've enjoyed that coffee over the last 2 weeks.

Grocery is back open 24 hours.

Dave148 wrote:Grocery is back open 24 hours.

Yay! I often pass later in the evening coming home from meetngs. Reaching there by 10 pm is not very reliable. Granted, all my meetings have been zoom lately, but I like the option.

Regards,
Cathy2