All Dominick's Stores Closing (Chicago, Northbrook: sales, buying, income)

[Chicago87]

Will anyone be missing this grocery store chain? The one that is located by me is being brought by Mariano's.

I actually enjoy shopping there. Their steak and fresh fish is very reasonably priced. I can get Choice ribeye for $6.99 a pound. They also have fresh flowers and roses for $9.99 to $19.99. That comes in handy when you need to pick up flowers for a chick.

[NARFALICIOUS]

Hmmm....They just opened a Mariano's next to Toys R Us on N. Western a few years ago. Seems like Mariano's is getting bigger but I've never been to one. According to the Tribune, 11 will become Marianos.

[marothisu]

My friend told me they were having a massive sale on alcohol today, and today only. Like 50-60% off. I hope it was just his Dominick's. I wouldn't mind picking up a heavily discounted bottle of wine soon.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by NARFALICIOUS

Hmmm....They just opened a Mariano's next to Toys R Us on N. Western a few years ago. Seems like Mariano's is getting bigger but I've never been to one. According to the Tribune, 11 will become Marianos.

The former CEO of Dominick's is the guy who started Mariano's L-O-L. Talk about a kick in the teeth..pretty awesome though.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by Chicago87

Will anyone be missing this grocery store chain?

Not me, because I rarely shopped there. Too far from where I live.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

My friend told me they were having a massive sale on alcohol today, and today only. Like 50-60% off. I hope it was just his Dominick's. I wouldn't mind picking up a heavily discounted bottle of wine soon.

It seems to be them all. I went to mine on Sunday and it was packed with people and there was NOTHING left in the shelves except old frozen items, liquor, and fresh produce. It looked like a natural disaster had occurred. It was a bit depressing.

[chet everett]

The strategy of Dominicks under the old family ownership and the leadership or Bob Mariano was to try to sell more high margin items like ready-to-eat meals, fancy salad bar items and specialty foods. The pennywise/ pound foolish leadership that took over when the chain was bought by Safeway started by cutting staff and trying to get the remaining crew to deliver a high level of service. They shifted away from the higher margin items, replaced a lot of local suppliers with the Safeway system replacements and then faced brutal price competition. Not to mention that Safway very likely massively overpaid for the whole Dominick's chain...

I honestly feel awful for the older cashiers, dept managers and store operations folks that worked out of Oak Brook or the Northlake distribution center. Even if Mariano's needs some of these folks the loss of seniority and likely cut in benefits will make things hard for folks without any good options.

I hope that the locations that Mariano's is buying will be profitable but the increased pressures from the relatively booming locals like Pete's, Caputo's and various mid-sized members of Centrella along with the national and discounters really will make things tough...

In general the history of other "retail liquidations" going all the way back to businesses like Korvettes, Zayre, Venture, Eagle, A&P and other chains that went bust / left the market has been much harder on lower income areas. In nicer areas the retail space tends to get renovated / re-rented to other businesses that continue to generate sales tax that is important to local businesses while in the areas that most need these low skill jobs and revenue too often the big retail space ends up as a warehouse or some kind of storefront church...

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by marothisu

My friend told me they were having a massive sale on alcohol today, and today only. Like 50-60% off. I hope it was just his Dominick's. I wouldn't mind picking up a heavily discounted bottle of wine soon.

I don't know if it was just yesterday, but I believe it was all of the stores being closed. I know someone who is getting married this weekend, and she loaded up on beer and wine at 7am yesterday for her reception.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by marothisu

My friend told me they were having a massive sale on alcohol today, and today only. Like 50-60% off. I hope it was just his Dominick's. I wouldn't mind picking up a heavily discounted bottle of wine soon.

Almost all the alcohol was sold in under an hour. By 9 AM yesterday a friend of mine said that the one on Chicago Ave. only had things like Campari and bitters left (I had him get me some Campari and Aperol).

All of the Mariano's I've been to have been decent, and very busy. As long as they keep the selection and service at the current levels I'm sure they'll do fine for quite awhile.

[marothisu]

That's funny and not surprising. My friend showed me pictures of his Dominick's from Northbrook. Almost all the wine was out and the only beer left was ****ty beer like Bud Light Lime.