Mrs. Green's

Mrs. Green's opened up only just yesterday (as I understand it) at Lincoln and Webster, and already it's announced a second location in the former Fox & Obel. (See F&O and Openings Closing threads.) Ambitious!

It's probably too soon for anyone to have experiences to post concerning this organic grocery store, but then again maybe not. If you do, here is a place for them.

I'll post my own "marketing niche" perception based entirely on drive-bys of the Lincoln Park location. I think the place will have to be truly exceptional to succeed. Unless it is, the target market for this chain will continue to go to Whole Foods instead. Just like Mrs. Green's, Whole Foods has organic produce, and a whole lot more besides with its significantly greater square footage and (usually) ample free parking. Perhaps Mrs. Green's will step up to the challenge--but challenge it will be.

^^^^^^. Agreed.

I went today. Nice people, but it reminds me of Oak Street Market in Evanston back in the day. I'm still not shopping at WFM but if I did I see almost no reason to come here, barring convenience.
The produce looked better than Plum Market's but I would just keep going to Treasure Island and Stanley's instead of this place. Plum Market has high end balsamic, a great cheese counter, + a lot of organic/healthy things.

I don't know what they are going to do in the old F & O space.

I paid my first visit today. (The missus had been there twice before.) I really liked it and hope they make it.

My first impression was simply how much bigger the store is than anyone can realize from looking at it from the outside. I mean, bigger by like a factor of 10. It put me in mind of those cartoons I used to see as a kid, where you come upon some tent in the middle of the Sahara which inside turns out to be as big as a sultan's palace.

It's probably as big as some Whole Foods; my impression is that it's actually bigger than the WF at Ashland and School.

The shelves are well-stocked (very well-stocked) with all kinds of appealing products. Some specialty items that we had hoped to find at WF earlier in the day--but didn't--were present in abundance at Mrs. Green's. There's a nice bakery and a nice prepared foods counter. (It occurs to me now I didn't see a fresh meat or fresh fish counter, but I wasn't looking for one.) And the store, as pairs said, is full of nice people who work there.

Go, go!

Was at Mrs. Green's again today. Mrs. Green's continues to do an amazing job of keeping its miles of shelves (I have no idea how to measure their shelves, but it's a lot) fully stocked with interesting foodstuffs. And Mrs. Green's has wonderful staff, about three-quarters of whom (at least) seem to be inner-city young folks, if I'm not generalizing their locale too much from the fact that they're African-American. They are all super-nice, good at their jobs, and eager to please.

And Mrs. Green's continues to have not enough customers. This store deserves to make it, and I'm concerned. Maybe I shouldn't be. A), I'm not an investor, and B), for all I know they're somehow making money hand over fist. But I am concerned. So go there.

Mrs. Green's
555 W. Webster
Chicago 60614
773 756 1610
8 AM to 10 PM everyday, according to website

(Edited, at the suggestion of another poster, to add the address and phone number, in the event the intersection of Lincoln and Webster contained in the original post is not sufficient.)

Is it still moving into F&O? I thought I heard recently that it would become a Whole Foods, but I haven't heard anything solid on either rumor.

Pie Lady wrote:Is it still moving into F&O? I thought I heard recently that it would become a Whole Foods, but I haven't heard anything solid on either rumor.

Mrs. Green's Signs Lease For Fox & Obel Space In Streetervlle

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/1 ... 97842.html

It may do better in the Streeterville location than in the Lincoln Park one. Obviously they think they will!

But just to add one more point of information that may induce someone to give the Lincoln Park location a visit: Free Parking. This is in addition to the ample street parking on their block of Lincoln Ave., which may be the last street parking on any major thoroughfare in the city where you don't have to pay to park. But, just in case there are no street spaces, Mrs. Green's own underground parking garage, the entrance of which is on Webster, is free for customers.

Hi- You don't have to spend $25 there to get free parking? Both of the couponing blogs that I post at, did a plug for Mrs. Green's this last weekend. They both got compensated for it. Apparently the store is having a spring celebration this Thursday March 27, and they are offering coupons for the store. They are offering a $5 off of produce with a $30 purchase, a $5 off of deli, a $5 off of dairy, and a $5 off of one other category. I assume you only have to purchase $30 worth of groceries in order to use all of the coupons. I don't know why they decided to advertise on these two sites, because nobody that visits these sites lives in Lincoln Park. Most of the people who visit the couponing sites live in the suburbs. Here is the link to the information about the spring festival which is posted on Jill Cataldo's site.

http://www.jillcataldo.com/mrs_greens_n ... et_chicago

I know that a lot more people here live in Lincoln Park, and hopefully they will visit the store this Thursday. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Over at Jill Cataldo's couponing blog, she is giving away a $25 gift card to Mrs. Green. You have to be a member of the site in order to enter the drawing. It will be interesting to see how many people over there enter the drawing, because she has very few members that live in that section of Chicago. Here is the link to the post on her site about the drawing.

http://www.jillcataldo.com/giveaway_mrs ... t_giftcard

Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Over on Jill Cataldo's website, she had a drawing for a $25 gift certificate for Mrs. Green's. You have to post that you are interested in it, and then a week later she picks a winner, and sends them an email that they have 48 hours to send her their name and address, and if she does not hear from them, she moves onto someone else. Apparently the first person did not get back to her, and so she moved on to me. Only 20 people entered the contest. Most of the people that post on her website, don't live close to Chicago, and aren't into natural foods anyway.

Does anyone know when the Streeterville location is going to open up? That would be more convenient for me than the original location. I looked on their website before I signed up for the contest a few weeks ago, and there was no mention of the new location. Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- Over on Jill Cataldo's website, she had a drawing for a $25 gift certificate for Mrs. Green's. You have to post that you are interested in it, and then a week later she picks a winner, and sends them an email that they have 48 hours to send her their name and address, and if she does not hear from them, she moves onto someone else. Apparently the first person did not get back to her, and so she moved on to me. Only 20 people entered the contest. Most of the people that post on her website, don't live close to Chicago, and aren't into natural foods anyway.

Does anyone know when the Streeterville location is going to open up? That would be more convenient for me than the original location. I looked on their website before I signed up for the contest a few weeks ago, and there was no mention of the new location. Thanks, Nancy

You should go to the original location. Edzo's is around the corner.

Dave148 wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Is it still moving into F&O? I thought I heard recently that it would become a Whole Foods, but I haven't heard anything solid on either rumor.

Mrs. Green's Signs Lease For Fox & Obel Space In Streetervlle

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/1 ... 97842.html

Streeterville residents will have to wait even longer for a neighborhood grocery store to open now that Mrs. Green's Natural Market, set to replace the now-shuttered Fox & Obel, has indefinitely delayed its opening.

"The project's been put on hold for a while," said Ray Jones, grocery manager at Mrs. Green's Lincoln Park store. "There's been some changes in management, but the plan is still happening. It's just on hold."

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140731 ... -continues

A grocery chain focused on organic and natural products is pulling the plug on a store it planned for the former Fox & Obel grocery space in Streeterville.

In a statement, Mrs. Green's Natural Market pointed to unspecified “timing and logistical obstacles” in explaining why it won't move ahead with a store at 401-465 E. Illinois St., in the River East Plaza building.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... obel-site#

Mrs. Green's will be closing on July 19th for renovations.

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

Or google "Lincoln Park grocery store closes for renovation, lays off staff" to get behind paywall.

To state the obvious, this doesn't sound good.

Nice shop, never ever busy.

One of the things I regret most about Mrs. Green's going away (or, best-case scenario, majorly downsizing) is they obviously made a very conscious effort to hire young minorities. The store seemed almost exclusively staffed by this demographic, who need the work. I never had an encounter there that was other than pleasant and helpful.

Everything is 50% off (except wine and liquor, which seem to have been relocated in any event). Pretty picked over, but decent opportunity to stock up on some pantry staples.

Hi- Hopefully their Hubbard Woods/Winnetka location is still opening up this fall. One of the couponing sites that I visit was giving away a $25 gift certificate for their store, and I won the drawing, since most of the people that visit Jill's site are out way in the suburbs, but I have not had a chance to use the GC yet. I never get to that neighborhood when the store is open, and so I am going to wait until the Hubbard Woods store opens in October. I get up to Winnetka at least once a month. I don't know how well the Winnetka store will do though when it is trying to compete against Mariano's though. Thanks, Nancy

. . .And just like that, Mrs. Green's is gone. Crain's has the details, but here's the meat of the story: "Mrs. Green's Winnetka store, which opened in January after a $2.5 million construction effort, will close Oct. 16, the company confirmed."

It seems like they failed to differentiate themselves and didn't have a clue as to how to try. Mariano's is "Jewel only light years better." Whole Foods is "healthy, high-quality." Trader Joe's is "interesting foodstuffs priced right that I'm not gonna find anywhere else." (Note that I'm not necessarily talking reality, but the unique mental real estate each of these chains successfully occupies in the market.)

While Mrs. Green's was "I don't know, kind of like Whole Foods only with less parking?"

I visited the soon-to-shutter Mrs. Green's in Hubbard Woods yesterday, and picked up an assortment of things - aged provolone, a bottle of Fabio Viviani's white wine, a packet of La Quercia pancetta, small pots of both black and white Urbani truffle butter, enough organic bulk oregano to completely fill a Trader Joe's spice jar, a bag of frozen organic Brussels sprouts, and a 2-pack of organic pie crust dough. The 50% off clearance-price tariff for everything: $29.82, including tax. The oregano worked out to be roughly fifteen cents (!).

I may stop by one more time for some more pancetta, and some cheese and wine - they had quite an assortment of both left. And some more white truffle butter, too. I whipped up a ten-minute dinner last night by plopping a dollop into a pot of hot drained linguini, along with a handful of Pecorino Romano. Really good eats. I felt like Ina Garten.

BTW, the projected closing date is next Sunday, October 16th. Wonder if it will revert to being a Packard showroom?

Mr's. Green's Natural Market
925 Green Bay Rd, Winnetka, IL 60093