All Dominick's Stores Closing (Chicago, Arlington Heights: 2014, hotel, to buy)

[Jesse69]

I hardly shopped Dominick's because my impression of it was that it was expensive. Being replaced by Mariano's is a good thing!

[Chicago60614]

Well there's 72 dominicks and 11 are becoming Mariano's so it's not a huge buyout. 4 others are becoming Jewel and 8 Whole Foods from the people I talk to at work (commercial real estate).

That leaves 50 stores that are going to close down and go out of business at the end of this month. The plan of attack by numerous other chains waiting in the wings is to wait until they go out of business and everyone is let go, then they can sublet out the remaining dominicks leases and reopen the stores without having to adhear to any of the union contracts or other contracts at the Dominick's currently open. I wasn't paying attention enough to understand the full details, but I know it's something with the union workforce at Dominicks as to why more grocers haven't bought out more stores to date. I'm not sure what's different about the Mariano's or Whole Foods stores that's not the same as these other 50 stores, cause I know they wouldn't accept the unions either.

So many of the 50 stores will be reopened, although some will certainly go dark for good, but the other companies are waiting until Dominick's "body is cold" before moving in. We own one up in Palatine and from what we hear no one is going to come into that store. Kinda blows that whole strip mall's pricing out of the water.

We couldn't just accept 50 grocery stores, large stores, closing like that in our region. They operate on razor thin margins, and the stores that were there with Dominick's still in full operations were there because it worked for most of them. SOMEONE will come in to fill that gap in grocery stores - it just might be a hard month for people in the metro area as far as crowds at the remaining grocers. It's going to be a huge month for the other grocers in Chicago. I think only the 4 newly Jewel stores are keeping everything open. The Marianos and Whole Foods buyouts will close for a month or two as they retool.

[ASOT]

Aside from a few Safeway products, I won't miss it. The one in northern Palatine is a dump. I hope Kroger buys up some of the stores, not just for their Food 4 Less chain as rumored...

[MannheimMadman]

I'm going to miss them. For the last couple of months, my wife and I have been shopping at Dominick's.

We did have a chance to shop at Mariano's for the first time and came away pleasantly surprised. The pricing was nowhere near as high as we thought it would be. My wife was a little disappointed that they don't carry the ready-pak salad bowls, but that's a minor annoyance. I think it was just upsetting that Dominick's carried 8 or so different varieties and was well stocked. Jewel only carries like 4 varieties and never has stock.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by MannheimMadman

I'm going to miss them. For the last couple of months, my wife and I have been shopping at Dominick's.

We did have a chance to shop at Mariano's for the first time and came away pleasantly surprised. The pricing was nowhere near as high as we thought it would be. My wife was a little disappointed that they don't carry the ready-pak salad bowls, but that's a minor annoyance. I think it was just upsetting that Dominick's carried 8 or so different varieties and was well stocked. Jewel only carries like 4 varieties and never has stock.

They seem to have actual humans staffing both their toll-free "Customer Experience Center" 1-866-279-6269 as well as their online response form -- Mariano's Contact Us.. Product quality / availability and other things (including employee praise and "Chairman Bob") are areas I have tested. They respond quickly.

[homebuyer13]

Anyone know what's happening with the store on Howard at Clark? Thanks!

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by chet everett

They seem to have actual humans staffing both their toll-free "Customer Experience Center" 1-866-279-6269 as well as their online response form -- Mariano's Contact Us.. Product quality / availability and other things (including employee praise and "Chairman Bob") are areas I have tested. They respond quickly.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to send them a note right now!

[edsg25]

does a list exist that tells the future status of all Dominick's stores: either what it going into them or whether no plans have been released????????????

[MassVt]

I'm curious about the one on Higgins on the Park Ridge/Chicago border, which was my go-to place for late night snacks on my way to a hotel...I hope that some other chain will use the space appropriately..

One should express concern for those employees who are being laid off without a chance to work in the "replacement" stores; not a good time to be without work...

[LittleMartha]

Isn't Jewel keeping the Dominick's employees in the stores it's acquiring? I heard that Mariano's, on the other hand, is making all employees reapply and compete with external applicants. That's crappy thinking that employees of several years are not going to be rehired. I liked that the Dominick's by me (Devon and Milwaukee) employed the developmentally disabled; I hope they will be able to keep their jobs.

Anyone know what will happen to the Devon and Milwaukee store?