Jewel at Belmont/Laramie

Anyone know what happened? Just a few years ago when I lived in the neighborhood, they were building a brand new Jewel there, then it opened...and now I drove by the other day & its closed down! That just seems odd!

Project was started when Jewel was owned by Albertsons but not opened until after Jewel was acquired by SuperValu. The idea was to have a good selection of Mexican and Polish foods to fit the neighborhood. Unfortunately, sales were poor resulting in closed store.

One problem that couldn't have been foreseen when the project was approved was A&G going from a little fruit and vegetable market on Central a bit north of Belmont to a large store in the 5600 block of Belmont with much wider selection of produce and meat with higher quality and lower prices than any Jewel I have ever been in. The selection of Polish packaged foods is also quite good but not as large as at Avenue in the 6800 block of Belmont. A&G opened about the same time as the rebuilt Jewel. Coffin nailed to the west.

Then there is Gene's Sausage, which has been there for decades, just a bit west of the ill-fated Jewel.

Less than a mile east is a Tony's Finer Foods (4600 Belmont) that also runs circles around any Jewel I have been in for produce and meat as well as having a pretty good selection of Mexican packaged foods. Coffin was already nailed on the east.

Then there was Cermak Produce at Cicero and Diversey for more competition for the Mexican market. Morelia Supermarket had not opened yet but would have made the competitive situation worse.

This store was doomed by competition when it opened.

Wow. Yeah you are right. I used to frequent Tony's & Gene's all the time when I lived over there. And A&G later on. I think A&G is what did them in.

You'd think that someone would have realized that before it was built.