Hi- Some of the Jewel stores have converted to "fresh stores", and are supposed to be more like Mariano's. I think the beginning of January, they tried to have separate ads for the "fresh stores", and they got all kinds of flack from customers that expected to find the same sales at all the stores. Even though the everyday price was supposed to be less at one of the "fresh stores", people that only buy the lost leaders were upset, because their store did not have them. I'll see if I can find the list of the "fresh stores". Hope this helps, Nancy

A Dominick's supermarket in Lincoln Square sold for $7 million, while one in southwest suburban Countryside fetched $3 million, a disparity based in part on how easily buyers think they can make a buck on the empty stores.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realesta ... icks-worth

Jewel is buying 5 more former Dominick's locations...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... 7116.story

And now Cerberus, which owns Jewel, is buying Safeway for $9b.
(article at Crain's)

I wonder if divesting Dominick's was a condition

I know it's pretty late in the game on this one, but man Dominick's was terrible. I loved them in the 90's but the one on Chicago Ave was the worst (though staff was nice). Can't wait for Mariano's. And I wish Capputo's would open up in the city. That place is amazing.

The Butera family has struck a deal to buy a 62,000-square-foot Dominick's in Buffalo Grove and plans to convert the shuttered grocery store into a Piggly Wiggly, real estate sources said. It is the first Dominick's purchase by Elgin-based Butera Finer Foods Inc., which operates nine local groceries under the Butera Market name.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realesta ... ry-market#

Hi- One of the couponing blogs I post on just reported that Angelo Caputo's is taking over the Downers Grove Dominick's store. I believe they are going to open up the store in June. Hope this helps, Nancy

I walked past the Oak Park, Lake street store today.
A bunch of fairly big dudes where tearing the crap out of the place.
I guess the folks at Pete's Fresh Market intend to do a complete makeover.
Can't wait to see the new store.

zoid wrote:I walked past the Oak Park, Lake street store today.
A bunch of fairly big dudes where tearing the crap out of the place.
I guess the folks at Pete's Fresh Market intend to do a complete makeover.
Can't wait to see the new store.

Pete's Fresh Market, which completed the purchase of the shuttered Dominick's grocery store in January, is asking the village of Oak Park for $1.5 million to open the new store by the end of the year.

http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/5- ... for-$1.5M/

Joe Caputo and Sons is open in Northbrook at the old Dominick's at Dundee and Sanders. Heinen's is supposed to open at the Bannockburn Dominick's location around July 1st.

Anyone have the scoop on this Dominick's location?

1300 S. Naper Blvd
Naperville, Illinois 60540

According to the ad insert in my paper today, Tony's Fresh Market has opened in the former Dominick's space at 5233 N. Lincoln.

Tony's on Lincoln opened two weeks ago. It is much bigger than the other four Tony's stores in the city but not as large as the Niles Super Tony's. They are carrying a wider range of foods than the Elston store. I suspect that the assortment will be trimmed once they find what sells in this location. Certainly the demographics in the area differ quite a bit from around the Elston store let alone the other three. A sizable area north of this store is something of a supermarket desert, which may affect the customer mix. Jewel clearly and justifiably feels a threat as last week and this week they have had a special ad page for the Foster/Pulaski, Andersonville and North Center Lincoln Avenue stores including a coupon for 10 percent off total purchase with a few exclusions.

We plan to go to the new Tony's this afternoon for the second time and allow some time to roam the center shelves better. We frequently shop at the Elston store and will continue to do so when it fits into our routing better but otherwise will switch to the new store as it is better and closer to home.

Much of the parking is on the roof deck. There are elevators near the north and south ends of the deck. The south elevator drops you off near the produce department.

Thanks, ekreider. I should have mentioned the ad was touting their grand opening celebration. I don't recall seeing Tony's ads in my Wednesday paper the last two weeks. I'm in Edgewater so it's not completely out of range.

The range of foods is much wider than the Elston store with a lot more organic products, gluten-free products, Asian foods and varied imported foods. For example, there were five combinations of brands and package sizes for Arborio rice. The range of Bob's Red Mill products is larger than I have noticed anywhere else. Produce selection is also wider. The deli counter appears to be about as big as the one in Angelo Caputo's Elmwood Park store. Pricing on many packaged goods seems to be pretty reasonable with a fair number of multiweek specials. Who know what prices will be after the grand opening hoopla ends.

Cramming all of this stuff in the middle of the store has some downsides. The aisles are rather narrow while the shelves go way up. Trying to read labels and shelf stickers for the lowest and highest shelves without backing up can be a problem. There is no way my height-challenged wife can reach the upper two shelves. Combining the narrow aisles, small length of shelf frontage and difficulty of reading labels is likely to produce jams when the store is busy. The shelves are pretty deep and allow stocking a pretty decent number of packages of product even if frontage space is small. Some of these problems may be reduced when they cull out some items that sell slowly.

Considering how few spaces were available in the parking lot both when we arrived and when we left on a not too busy Wednesday afternoon, the parking situation at peak periods is likely to be a mess, just as it is in their other city locations. I also have to wonder about having only nine checkout lanes given the size of the store and the volume it is likely to do.

In just about every way the gap between this store and the Elston store is as wide as the gap between The Elston and Fullerton stores.

This is the third week of their grand opening. There are some strange things about their advertising distribution. We live in the southwestern part of Lincoln Square. The Tribune ad bundle in the Wednesday paper has the ad for the Elston store. Somehow we started getting the standalone Red Plum bundles on Tuesday even though these are not supposed to go to daily Tribune delivery customers. The Red Plum bundle has the ad for the Lincoln Avenue store. There probably are some peculiarities in distribution zones. Ad distribution into Edgewater seems quite reasonable as the Jewel between Clark and Ashland is only about a mile and a half away and clearly is being targeted.

Good to hear the report about Tony's at Foster and Lincoln. I'll probably give that store a look, at some point.

As for the Broadway and Thorndale Dominick's, since a few months ago when I passed by and noticed signage and other things like shelves being cleared out of the store over some weekend day(and after items in that store were auctioned off in I think March, based on an exterior sign I saw providing notice of that auction day when I stopped to take a closer look, when doing a walk), I haven't seen any changes to that location since the 'Whole Foods coming soon' signage went up. Also went by yesterday, and saw no evidence of any early demolition or prep work being done to that space. So I can definitely believe Whole Foods will take a good bit of time, before opening in 2015.

Also have been to Mariano's at Foster and Sheridan now a few times since its April opening, and it isn't a bad store. I miss some of the amenities that are provided at their bigger stores(for myself, mostly the lack of a walk-in beer cooler for sure, and why I prefer to travel to the Ravenswood Mariano's on Lawrence), but they basically kept the Foster and Sheridan store layout almost the same from the Dominick's days. They did add a few things, such as a smoothie counter(near the Vero coffee cafe, now in the ex-Starbucks space inside the store) to it. The new Foster and Sheridan Mariano's does work in a pinch, if I don't feel like traveling slightly further to the Ravenswood location(and as I live inbetween both locations).

Several former Dominick's locations are opening as Jewel-Oscos later today...

http://wgntv.com/2014/06/23/jewel-osco- ... s-tuesday/

The empty Dominick's at Dempster & Dodge in Evanston will reopen as a Valli's Produce. The store will be 12,000 sq. ft. larger than the Dominick's, taking space from another empty storefront next door.
http://evanston.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/evanston-plaza-getting-new-grocery-store?ncid=newsltuspatc00000003

Hi-I thought I would never see anybody take over the Dempster/Dodge location. That location did not do as much business as the Green Bay Dominick's did. When I would go in there, I would always find some 50% off buys in dairy, that were marked down because they were ready to expire in three days or less. Occasionally I would find Oberweis milk, which I love, but can't afford on a regular basis, 50% off. When I went in the Green Bay Dominick's I only saw deals like that on occasion. Evanston Plaza was dead even before Dominick's moved out. The only other business I ever went to there was Frank's when they were open, and they moved out at least 5 years ago. I think Valli is a good fit. I would have loved a Mariano's, but that is not the right location. The Green Bay store would have been an ideal location for Mariano's, but I was told that they turned it down because there was not enough parking. Whole Foods is finally gutting out that location. I see two dumpsters parked in front of the store.

It sounds like it is going to be a while before Valli moves in. I assume that the present owners of Evanston Plaza are coming up with the money for the expansion of Valli into the former clothing store? Does anybody here shop at any of the other Valli Produce locations? What do you think of them? Does anybody have any idea when Cermak Fresh Produce is opening up at the former Lincolnwood Dominick's location? Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Does anybody here shop at any of the other Valli Produce locations? What do you think of them?

I've shopped at the Arlington Heights store, but not as frequently as I used to -- it's mainly a "I haven't found it anywhere else, this looks like a good chance" kind of place for me.

When I've been there, prices are generally good (not bargain basement, but all reasonable), and it's a fun store to just wander the aisles, including middle-eastern, Indian, Asian, etc. Organizing by ethnic group can mean there's twelve places to find pickles, but sometimes the hunt is the fun part.

The meat counter has always been friendly, and only let me down once (I needed lamb shanks, and all the ones they had were cut into chunks). Good selection of offal/off cuts, but not as wacky as you'll find at, say, H-Mart. Produce has a nice variety of east and west fruits and veg.

I found Dominick's! I walked into a Safeway in Steamboat Springs, Colorado last week and I immediately noticed a lot of things that were similar. Then of course I remembered Safeway owned them. Then I walked out - I didn't like Dominick's in recent years.

Ram4 wrote:I found Dominick's! I walked into a Safeway in Steamboat Springs, Colorado last week and I immediately noticed a lot of things that were similar. Then of course I remembered Safeway owned them. Then I walked out - I didn't like Dominick's in recent years.

When we went to a Safeway in Sedona, AZ, we were very pleased with the quality, price point and service in the wine department. It was recommended to us by locals over other wine shops in town.

Ram4 wrote:I found Dominick's! I walked into a Safeway in Steamboat Springs, Colorado last week and I immediately noticed a lot of things that were similar. Then of course I remembered Safeway owned them. Then I walked out - I didn't like Dominick's in recent years.

I have to agree with you. I have been in several Safeway stores in AZ and they have been all bad, and not as clean as the Dominick's stores. I am also surprised how empty they are compared with the local Fry's (Krogers) stores in the area.

Dominick's had pretty decent bagels. The two times that I have had them at Safeway stores, the bagel has been undercooked.

Cermak Fresh Market's newest grocery store will open Tuesday on Ridge Avenue, owner Mike Bousis said.

"We feel there is a big void in the neighborhood for grocery," Bousis said, standing among the aisles inside the store sandwiched between Ridge and Damen avenues.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20141211 ... ng-tuesday

6623 N. Damen Ave

Just off of Ridge. W of Clark St. S of Pratt.

773 584 6120

Drove by this on Wednesday night. Hadn't known it was there.

Probably a dumb question, but here goes. Are the various supermarkets that have "Fresh Market" in the name all connected to one another? (Only they have a different word in front of "Fresh Market"?) And, part deux, why is this one called the Cermak Fresh Market?

Fresh Markets typically emphasize produce and fresh meats and use that name to distinguish themselves from major chain supermarkets.

Cermak has varied in their labeling as Cermak Produce and Cermak Fresh Market. The store in the 4234 N Kedzie has both names on different signs. In any case Cermak Produce number 1 is at 4605 West Cermak Road. Note that numbers 2, 3 and 4 are franchised.

http://www.cermakfresh.com/

So, for example, Pete's Fresh Market, Cermak Fresh Market, and A&G Fresh Market (to name only three) are all somehow connected? Or no? (Because "fresh market" is a non-copyrightable term anyone can use?)

But none of them are related to the Garden Fresh Market chain; pretty sure of that.

Hi- "Fresh Market" is not a copyrighted term. Anybody can use that term.