Heinen's invades Glenview

Big grand opening today for Heinen’s second store in the Chicago area (first one was in Barrington) on Waukegan Road near Glenview Road. They opened at 10 am and there was a LOT of traffic. I came back around 1 pm and tho the traffic was down, the parking lot was still a compete zoo.

Inside the store, it did not seem that crowded. The store is big and beautiful of course. A big fresh flower section and an even bigger wine section are at the front with the produce. The produce is very nice but there were few things if any that you can’t get everywhere else. I did see pints of morel mushrooms for $25/pt. There were nice living lettuces which you don’t see everywhere. I also saw unusual fresh mushrooms: beech (enoki), maitake, pompom, royal trumpets in the $23/lb. price range and cheaper chanterelles and more typical varieties. Small very nice fresh figs were 98 cents each. These were the size you can find at Jerry’s reliably through fig season for $1.99/pt so I passed.

Heninen’s has their own branded meats which are marketed more aggressively than, say, Jewel does its house brand. Some of the products are similar to what you can get at Whole Foods like organic beef or even Costco like grass-fed beef or Jerry’s like different brands of Amish chicken. I did notice some very nice looking fresh turkey tenderloins, cutlets, thighs and drumsticks that I have not seen outside of a specialty meat market.

There is a huge prepared food section that is so much like Whole Foods. A big long salad bar by-the-pound. A large glass counter with the requisite trays of grilled vegetables, stuffed chicken breasts, poached salmon and all the usual that you would expect. Tall open-face coolers with plastic containers grab-and-go soups and stuff. A round counter with six kettles of hot soups. I was getting so dizzy from feeling that I was on Chicago Ave. in Evanston at the WF across from the Jewel, it was so exactly the same. Heinen’s olive bar is just like the one in that Jewel except Jewel’s is $8/lb and Heinen’s is $9/lb. Heinen’s has feta cheese-stuffed green olives but I like Jewel’s blue cheese-stuffed ones much better. They are an umami bomb that makes your whole mouth pucker.

Heinen’s has a big bakery with lots of nice coffee cakes and slabs of blueberry muffin breads in the $8 -$9 range. They have a big specialty cheese section. If however you are looking for plain old everyday Kraft shredded cheddar for your mac-n-cheese or Sargento’s sliced swiss for your Tuesday lunches, there is a very teeny tiny selection. In the dairy, there were eight or more fruit flavors of Lifeway kefir but no plain whole milk “original” Lifeway. They did have Traderpoint Creamery yogurt in the glass quart bottle for $7.

The fish counter was just beautiful and jammed with everything you could ever want except low prices. HUGE scampi, wild USA scallops, shrimp, cherrystone clams. Whole wild octopus $14/lb. USA grouper $20/lb. Canadian perch $13/lb. Wild Alaskan sockeye $20/lb. Swordfish $14/lb. Halibut $24/lb. Chilean sea bass $24/lb. Really gorgeous stuff. And I am not saying that the prices are higher than anywhere else. Just not within the weekday budget of most people.

There was no free stuff, no food samples or anything, not even any balloons ha ha! The loss-leaders were very uninspiring: Doz. Eggland’s Best large eggs $1.99. Gal of milk $1.99. Pillar Rock Red Sockeye $6.99/can which is not a sale price but the regular price, until they figure out that everyone else is selling it for $8 and $9 a can.

1020 Waukegan Road
Glenview, IL 60025
Phone: 847-657-9009

HI,

Thanks for the run down. There is a 'Heinen's coming soon' sign dangling from the old Dominick's facade at Waukegan and IL-22 in Bannockburn.

At least from your experience, there is no need to get there on opening day.

Regards,

Today was the opening day for Heinen's in Glenview on Waukegan Road in the old spot where Dominick's used to be. The store is clean and comparable to prices of Mariano's. One thing I noticed is every aisle there were many workers making sure the items were faced forward.

There are some good deals on the weekly sales ad including Whole Pineapples 2 for $2.50.

Sales AD: http://heinens.shoplocal.com/index.html ... re/2668216

Anyone else visit get a chance to visit the new Heinens and what are your thoughts?

Heinen's Glenview
1020 Waukegan Road
Glenview, IL
http://www.heinensglenview.com/
http://www.heinens.com/

I was there and there was not a space in the parking lot! I drove around for a very long time. Like the crowds I fight in Mariano's in Northfield, I can only think if all these people just supported Dominick's a bit more, they would still be in Chicago. There was nothing in the store that would make me come back to fight again for a parking space. I picked up New York strip steaks for 9.99 (5.00 off the regular price) and the meat was delicious. However, it was impossible to move thru the store for all the people just milling around, and the prices seemed higher across the board. At the front of the store I wondered who decided that layout? There is a staircase leading upstairs to the bathrooms and it had alot of employees walking up and down the stairs. The employees seemed agitated at this task, and their bottom halves were right at eye level - not a pretty sight, directly in front of you while you are standing, waiting to get checkrd out. The employees were not particularly nice in my opinion, certainly not compared to the attitude one encounters at Mariano's. There seemed to be alot of managerial types cruising around, effectively adding to the crowd. There appeared to be a cafe, to the side of the check-out but I could not figure out how to navigate over there once I had my groceries paid for.
To me the absolute worst was the Entrance/Exit. I do not understand who designs doors in what one hopes will be a high traffic store that do not have one door for exits, and one door for entering. I did go thru this area twice and it was a nightmare trying to go through, between all the managers attempting to welcome people and the customers trying to get oriented, it was a mess.

I suspect much of the cars in the parking lot were employees and visiting administrative people from the company which in my opinion is a blunder. If one has to fight to park to get in a store, it does not leave one itching to get back. Personally, they would have been better off taking some of the employees who were standing around inside adding to the traffic and getting them outside to direct traffic an helping people move in and out of spaces.
I suspect they underestimated the total need for space while trying to fit this store in that particular lot. That may be why they had to build up for restrooms and why the exits and entrances seemed very cramped in. All of this can be attributed to first day curiosity and excitement to be sure, however there was really nothing inside the store that would make me go shop there over all the other choices (new and established) in our area.

A theory was floated at family dinner last night that Wednesday was a "soft opening" and that the Grand opening would be over the weekend and would be bigger and more spactacular. But a phone call to Heinen's this morning we learned that this is not the case. The Wednesday opening was the opening.

I remember how at the Grand opening days (multiple days) the Meijer's on Golf Rd. gave coupons for $5 in free groceries and really nice cloth shopping bags that are still holding up! ha ha I know what is important! Free stuff! ha ha --Joy

I forgot to mention, they did give out a reusable Heinen's bag IF you purchased something.

I did not get one! waa waa

jilter wrote:...I can only think if all these people just supported Dominick's a bit more, they would still be in Chicago.

If Safeway had been more in tune to the needs and expectations of their Chicago customers instead of forcing their corporate grocery mandate on us, they would have gotten that support. Their demise should be a loud lesson to any big corporation seeking to do a takeover of a locally focused business.

Buddy

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:

jilter wrote:...I can only think if all these people just supported Dominick's a bit more, they would still be in Chicago.

If Safeway had been more in tune to the needs and expectations of their Chicago customers instead of forcing their corporate grocery mandate on us, they would have gotten that support. Their demise should be a loud lesson to any big corporation seeking to do a takeover of a locally focused business.

Buddy

Perhaps, but people familiarity breeds contempt and people generally are interested in anything new.

For me, Heinen's in Bannockburn will once again be another chance to find a grocery story that has a nice prepared food/soups bar including great fried chicken. All of the stores in the Chicago area I have tried for fried chicken have been a miss. But I've had some excellent chicken when I was in Arkansas from a store called Harps (pretty sure that was it) so I know some stores can make it happen. Maybe Heinen's will.

Wasn't there an article in the Tribune a week or two ago that rated Jewel's fried chicken very highly?

Ram4 wrote:

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:

jilter wrote:...I can only think if all these people just supported Dominick's a bit more, they would still be in Chicago.

If Safeway had been more in tune to the needs and expectations of their Chicago customers instead of forcing their corporate grocery mandate on us, they would have gotten that support. Their demise should be a loud lesson to any big corporation seeking to do a takeover of a locally focused business.

Buddy

Perhaps, but people familiarity breeds contempt and people generally are interested in anything new.

For me, Heinen's in Bannockburn will once again be another chance to find a grocery story that has a nice prepared food/soups bar including great fried chicken. All of the stores in the Chicago area I have tried for fried chicken have been a miss. But I've had some excellent chicken when I was in Arkansas from a store called Harps (pretty sure that was it) so I know some stores can make it happen. Maybe Heinen's will.

Not sure I'm following your response. If you've inferred that I'm speaking out against Heinen's, I can assure you that is not the case. I've been familiar and associated with their Cleveland stores for a good 15 years or more and am very excited to have them entering this market. My comments were directed specifically at the horrible management decisions made by Safeway.

If you just wanted to talk about grocery store Fried Chicken, that's fine, but I'm not sure how my comments relate to that subject or why they were necessary to your post. In any case, good luck finding that Fried Chicken. Heinen's is especially well respected in the Cleveland market for their quality meat selection and excellent prepared foods, so there's a good chance you'll find what your after.

Buddy

Did anyone notice the beer taps at the glenview store? I have heard that they usually have a couple of microbrews on tap in their stores to sample, or drink while shopping, or you can fill up a growler and take it with you. I went to the Barrington store once and did not notice them. It may be a local permitting issue.

-Will

Shopped the new Heinen's in Glenview late yesterday. No traffic or parking issues and there were Glenview police at the Waukegan Road entrance and exit helping control traffic.
I was offered that nice reusable Heinen's bag if I signed up for their "Tasteful Rewards" program.
I found employees extremely friendly and helpful. At the "meat" counter I decide to purchase a veggie burger and the counterman handed me my wrapped item with a smile, thanking me for my purchase, introducing himself by name and adding, when I did not reply with my own name, "I will remember your face when you return and we hope you will continue to shop Heinen's.
At the dairy case I was dismayed to discover they were out of 2% milk gallons for their special price of $1.99. I was told I could get a rain check from the cashier. Guess I must have not looked especially pleased to hear that because the same employee tracked me down in the next aisle a few minutes later, held up two half gallon containers of the 2% milk and said if it would be acceptable to me, "we will sell you the two half gallons together for our special sale price price of $1.99 so you won't have to bother with a rain check.
There were at least half a dozen more employees who inquired as to whether they could help me locate something when they found me standing and looking at some displays, mentally checking and comparing prices. Another half dozen just greeted me as I passed through the aisles. There were a LOT of employees on the floor at 6:00 last night.
I checked out the "Cafe" and discovered it is only tables and chairs where customers can bring prepared products purchased in the store to consume on site, like at some Whole Foods.
Yes, some prices were higher than elsewhere but the meat, fish and produce were lovely. People were friendly and helpful and the veggie burger was delicious, fresh tasting and well seasoned.

B2B wrote:There were at least half a dozen more employees who inquired as to whether they could help me locate something when they found me standing and looking at some displays, mentally checking and comparing prices. Another half dozen just greeted me as I passed through the aisles.

Wait, do these people know they're in Illinois?

They actually might be the start up crew, imported, at least temporarily, from Cleveland. It's astonishing to see the difference in attitude between service workers outside Chicago and those of our local brothers and sisters. Heinen's in northeast Ohio is focused on fast, friendly service without exception. Fingers crossed they can export that high standard to their stores here.

Buddy

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:They actually might be the start up crew, imported, at least temporarily, from Cleveland. It's astonishing to see the difference in attitude between service workers outside Chicago and those of our local brothers and sisters. Heinen's in northeast Ohio is focused on fast, friendly service without exception. Fingers crossed they can export that high standard to their stores here.

Buddy

HI,

They've been in Barrington for a while, I wonder if anyone can comment on their service now that some time has passed.

Regards,

Thank you C2. I’ve been wanting to comment on the Barrington Heinen’s since first reading the OP’s comments.

I’ve been shopping at the Barrington Heinen’s for about one year and I find it excellent on many levels, including service. Yes, it is pricy, and I tend to shop there for specialty or sale items announced by their emails. But in short, in terms of breadth of selection and quality, it is difficult to find better meat, fish, dairy, produce, deli, prepared or packaged foods. Plus, their wine selection is broad and they offer deep discounts on a rolling basis.

The question at hand, however, is service. I would rate it above par from the beginning, and continuing thru my most recent visit earlier last weekend. Yes, there was a flourish of attention at the beginning of their run here, but that settled into a very pleasant, consistent shopping experience and all queries have been given full, enthusiastic attention.

I should mention that we by no means do the bulk of our food shopping at Heinen’s. We in this area have become spoilt by the recent (past 5 - 7 year) proliferation of food shopping options. Within 20 minutes we can access any of the following: The Fresh Market, Mariano’s, Garden Fresh Market, Joe Caputo’s, Sunset Foods, Aldi, Joseph’s (Crystal Lake), Costco, Orchid Prime Meats (Lake Zurich), Whole Foods, Tres Amiga’s (Wauconda), Gordon Food Service, two WalMart Super Centers and four Jewels.

We shop regularly at Heinen’s for specific items. Here are some we most enjoy.

Fish - specifically, when on sale. Last Saturday they held a one-day sale on Yellow Fin Tuna flown in overnight from Boston, at $5 off normal price (final cost $16/lb IIRC). I cooked a hand-cut 2” thick steak sous vide to 108°F then seared over charcoal. Simply amazing. Last season at a similar sale we bought 6 hand-cut swordfish steaks, froze and individually vacuum sealed, and enjoyed them thru the winter. (I’m a great fan of Boston Fish Market, but they are an hour each way w/o traffic)

Meat - ground fresh daily beef, veal and pork combo for meatloaf. Aged NY strip steaks. Beef short ribs.

Heinen’s ‘Vanilla Bean’ ice cream (now a must have item in our home).

Basques 100% hardwood sugar maple charcoal, 17.6 lbs, product of Canada. Has the most wonderful mildly sweet aroma of any charcoal I’ve ever used. I load up when on sale at $13/bag.

Fresh herbs, when in season from local providers.

Colteryahn Dairy Buttermilk - it tastes and has the texture of the buttermilk our family drank in the 1950’s (Mother was a Nebraska farm girl). I was so surprised and pleased to find this. We make salad dressings and cook with it as well.

There is one glaring downside - driving out of the parking lot on to Rt 59 northbound. Heinen’s provides a police officer during rush hour, but at all other times, due to the insane traffic on that stretch of road, exiting is a risky move.

I guess we can say that in the past year Heinen’s has become a welcome regular stop in our shopping routine.

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:

Ram4 wrote:

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:If Safeway had been more in tune to the needs and expectations of their Chicago customers instead of forcing their corporate grocery mandate on us, they would have gotten that support. Their demise should be a loud lesson to any big corporation seeking to do a takeover of a locally focused business.

Buddy

Perhaps, but people familiarity breeds contempt and people generally are interested in anything new.

For me, Heinen's in Bannockburn will once again be another chance to find a grocery story that has a nice prepared food/soups bar including great fried chicken. All of the stores in the Chicago area I have tried for fried chicken have been a miss. But I've had some excellent chicken when I was in Arkansas from a store called Harps (pretty sure that was it) so I know some stores can make it happen. Maybe Heinen's will.

Not sure I'm following your response. If you've inferred that I'm speaking out against Heinen's, I can assure you that is not the case. I've been familiar and associated with their Cleveland stores for a good 15 years or more and am very excited to have them entering this market. My comments were directed specifically at the horrible management decisions made by Safeway.
Buddy

No, I know exactly what you meant. My comment was totally directed at Safeway and how clueless they were.

Zipped in and out yesterday (picked up some beer for a barbecue - tiny selection but they had some good ones). Nothing that made me want to go out of my way. Sticking with my current rotation of Mariano's and Fresh Farms. They did have some convenience items that appealed to the lazy part of me, Melissa's peeled and refrigerated shallots and also cippolines. Not that it's hard to peel a shallot, but the lazy part of me was drawn to them.

Heinen's is selling (and roasting, if you can get there today) Hatch Chiles by the pound or by the case. They've got three varieties; mild, hot and extra hot.

Hi,

Stopped by Heinen's outpost in Bannockburn today, ostensibly to buy milk at $2.29 per gallon. I always look for the latest sell-by dates, they were August 30 and September 1. Since I was making yogurt and need some for cereal, I bought September 1.

They have a loyalty card system, which they were pushing. Since I could get the sale prices without one, I skipped it for now.

Regards,

I made it to the Bannockburn Heinen's a week ago on Sunday around 6:00. Staff felt like Sunset Foods (taking my cart to the available register), but then they abandoned me so I had to empty the cart. Sunset 1 Heinen's 0.

The wine area was nice, they let you drink wine or beer while shopping. Since I don't drink, this has no meaning to me. Liked the oil and vinegar area. We bought some Greek Olive Oil which tastes great. The meat and deli area looked promising, even with their claim that they offer made in house Italian Beef. The soup area was almost empty which shocked me. It was still dinner time, and the place had a decent amount of customers. But they close the whole place down around 8:30, so no soup for me! I did buy a couple breasts of their fried chicken. The chicken was broasted, and very moist and tender. A little bland though. Prices did seem a little on the higher side overall in the store. I'll go back to check it out when I have more time.

I've been checking out the BB store.
Sushi Wednesday (4.99 select varieties of maki - differs weekly:)
I wouldn't hesitate to try again. I actually went back last Wednesday to check selection. All varieties that day had fake crab. Previous week was spicy tuna with avocado, and worth every penny. The tuna was a very decent product. Hopefully, every week's selection has fish just as fresh. Fake crab is a deal breaker for me tho. Personal thing. Just can't do it.

Tried their choc chip cookies on opening day which were very sale priced. They LOOKED really good, but had no salt in them that I could detect. And if I say something needs salt, you can bet that most would consider it pretty bland. I generally prefer less salty things. Perhaps it was a "new store snafu."

I do enjoy their fried chicken. Less salty than most, great flavor for me.

Tried their single serve "Chicken Vindaloo." Totally edible, but I wouldn't get it again. Just kinda made me want something better, so what's the point?

I also tried their Chicken Paprikash. I'm no paprikash expert by any means, but I kinda liked it. It was near the too salty range for me, but for a single serve take and nuke option, I think I'd get it again. What sparked my interest is that they sell tubs of it in 16 and 32 oz containers with fancy "look at this stuff" labels. Apparently, they are "proud" of this paprikash stuff, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. I dug it.

Prices can seem high for regular items, but they have some sale prices that are right in line with sale prices of other stores in the area.

I have a 16 oz container of their baba ghannouj in the fridge just waiting to bolster up a middle eastern takeout dinner this week. Hopefully it's decent. The ingredient list had no chick peas (aka filler) listed. I'm crossing my fingers that it's better than the Whole Foods "Chef Earl's" product.

Their soup/salad bar is quite impressive. Lots of choices.

ETA: Update - the baba ghanouj was tragically bad.

Went back again yesterday.
Grabbed a full price maki tray - spicy tuna. Wouldn't hesitate to get it again. 4.99 sushi Wednesdays will be a regular lunch stop if they keep their fish this fresh. Got a few wings, and saw some new things:

Giant, single pack, soft bake, real deal looking cookies. The label was "Circus Cookies," they looked like they were made in the store, and had a few diff varieties. I went with choc chip again. Same deal. Undersalted. Must be their recipe and that's fine. They look SOOOOOOOO good tho.

Anyone do anything with the poke/poki bar? Seems expensive, and kinda haphazard when I've gone.

I have tried the poke bar at Bannockburn, and I liked it. I think it is 16.99/lb, but you can basically get nothing but fish in which case it is really pretty reasonable. If you load it up with seaweed, it is not such a great deal. i like the flavor, though it is not at all spicy. Most of the poke I have had in Hawaii has had a decent amount of jalapeno in it. I bring it home and add some hot sesame oil and it is very good. I have only had the tuna (usually 2 kinds offered but not a lot of flavor difference the time I tried it) and the salmon. I havent tried the calamari/shrimp one, which looks cooked.

-Will

Hi- I was in Glenview today, and so I decided to check out Heinen's, and the new Mariano's. I was underwhelmed by Heinens. Yes. customer service was wonderful, but I thought most of the stuff in there was too expensive. I saw some Plainville turkey drumsticks for $3.99 a pound, and they were $2.99 a pound at Mariano's. Mariano's had at least four times as many customers. Heinen's did have some Amish chicken sausage that I believe was $4.59 a pound that did look tempting. They are supposed to have lots of veggies that come from Amish farms, but I only saw one thing that was Amish. All the rest of the veggies were from California.

Well, it is November in IL so not a lot of veggies being harvested at the moment.

Hi- Actually it could just be that it has been a lot colder this month than usual. In my garden other years I have had brussel sprouts, swiss chard, kale and collards this time of year, and you can pick spinach in November most years.

funny, I thought you were referring to this year my bad

Gee, I thought her point was that--based on past experience--there are typically a variety of items that are harvestable in Illinois (or nearby) this time of year and that she was surprised that she didn't see any evidence of any of them.