Note the "enriched" designation. Technically, not a lie.

C'mon guys, you are not being fair.

That wasn't a roll. That was Dominick's "grow your own penicillan" kit, their response to WalMart's $4 prescription plan.

DMChicago wrote:No excuse for that but is that some type of "reduced for clearance" bin? A bit of variety in that photo.

No, I noticed that looking at the photo afterward too. It was the far right end of the bread aisle. I have no idea how the chocolate ended up there. The Stovetop Stuffing must have been from the next shelf section over.

Mmmmm .... bleu bagels

The Jewel at Ashland and Wellington has done yet another remodel, this time a dumbass one. They've put any packaged-good product that can conceivably be categorized as "healthy" into the last couple of aisles in the store (nearest the produce) and given these aisles their own healthy-organic-sounding name and graphically-different signage--as if to create Whole Foods Island floating in Jewel Ocean. I can see the thinking. But it's dumb, because:

1) It forces to customer the read Jewel's mind as to which packaged-good items are "healthy" and which aren't. The distinctions are quite arbitrary in many cases and the decision could have gone, defensibly, either way. Which means that whatever particular product I'm looking for, I now have to look in two different places in the store to find it, unless through pure dumb luck I guess right the first time.

2) It communicates (with an underline) that if this Whole Food Island is now where all the healthy food is kept, the whole rest of the store must be a carcinogenic-cardiovascular wasteland.

3) By trying, pathetically, to play WF's game instead of its own, Jewel is playing a game it can't win.

riddlemay wrote:By trying, pathetically, to play WF's game instead of its own, Jewel is playing a game it can't win.

So true!!

riddlemay wrote:They've put any packaged-good product that can conceivably be categorized as "healthy" into the last couple of aisles in the store

They did this at the Jewel in my neighborhood, too. This drives me crazy!! For months I thought they had stopped carrying my favorite whole grain pasta (removing yet another reason to shop there) and just last week I rediscovered my pasta in the organic ghetto. grrrr.

Now that the latest rehab of the Ashland/Wellington Jewel is complete, I can say something about it beyond kvetching about those meshuga "Wild Harvest" aisles. Namely, that the store actually is (that ghetto excepted) a pleasanter place to shop. Aisles seem wider, there's considerably more space to maneuver between the front ends of the aisles and the checkout lanes, the produce section seems better laid out, signage is clearer, floors and lighting cheerier, etc. And paradoxically, despite there being more open space, the selection (at least of the food items I was shopping for) seemed more extensive.

If they ever come to their senses and realize the so-called "healthy" potato chips belong where the rest of the damned potato chips are, they'll have something.

For those who loathe Dominick's, an article in the current Skyline says that Roundy's wants to build a store a few doors west of Clark on Diversey (where currently sits The Vacant Building Formerly Known as Pier One).

I just read on the Trib website that Dominick's is reopening the Rogers Park store near Damen and Pratt. Although I'm not a big fan of Dominick's, I think that location was vital to many seniors in the immediate neighborhood.

Namely, that the store actually is (that ghetto excepted) a pleasanter place to shop.

I don't know how it happens, but that store is easily the best argument for Jewel in town. Instead of opening a series of Whole Pseudos on Clybourn, they should just copy this Jewel there.

The GP wrote:I just read on the Trib website that Dominick's is reopening the Rogers Park store near Damen and Pratt. Although I'm not a big fan of Dominick's, I think that location was vital to many seniors in the immediate neighborhood.

OMG! While it was always a Bad Times Store, having been without a proper grocery within walking distance I will take its surly employees, crap produce and unflattering lighting over nothing at all.

I will miss popping solitary wheelies in the smooth, carless parking lot, though.

The only grocery store on my way home from work is a Dominicks and I find this so frustrating. It's the one on Dundee and Sanders and they never have any kosher products (we keep kosher in our kitchen so I can't cook with non kosher ingredients). So frustrating! Plus, their produce quality is just...eh.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:

The GP wrote:I just read on the Trib website that Dominick's is reopening the Rogers Park store near Damen and Pratt. Although I'm not a big fan of Dominick's, I think that location was vital to many seniors in the immediate neighborhood.

OMG! While it was always a Bad Times Store, having been without a proper grocery within walking distance I will take its surly employees, crap produce and unflattering lighting over nothing at all.

I will miss popping solitary wheelies in the smooth, carless parking lot, though.

The local paper, The News-Star, reports that this will be a Dominick's "lifestyle format" store, opening in mid-2009:
http://chicagojournal.com/Main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=142&ArticleID=6059.
This store is 5 minutes from my house, so I am glad some sort of full-service grocery store is opening. The alderman insisted publicly that Dominick's would not allow another grocery to open on that property. It's interesting to me that Dominick's is going to an apparently more "upscale" sort of store in that location after letting what had been a nice store over a decade ago run into the ground.

EvA wrote:The local paper, The News-Star, reports that this will be a Dominick's "lifestyle format" store, opening in mid-2009:
http://chicagojournal.com/Main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=142&ArticleID=6059.
This store is 5 minutes from my house, so I am glad some sort of full-service grocery store is opening. The alderman insisted publicly that Dominick's would not allow another grocery to open on that property. It's interesting to me that Dominick's is going to an apparently more "upscale" sort of store in that location after letting what had been a nice store over a decade ago run into the ground.

Hopefully they will address the layout issues the store had in the past. Every trip there inevitably I had to ask someone where to find something. Pop Tarts next to the crackers? Novel!

But even that wouldn't bother me so much now. Lacking a proper grocery store in the neighborhood is a serious impediment to my baking. If I forget to pick up chocolate chips, vanilla, or other such basics at Strack & Van Til, forget it, there's none to be found on Devon.

chewonthat wrote:The only grocery store on my way home from work is a Dominicks and I find this so frustrating. It's the one on Dundee and Sanders and they never have any kosher products (we keep kosher in our kitchen so I can't cook with non kosher ingredients). So frustrating! Plus, their produce quality is just...eh.

What's your route? Maybe we can point you at something not too far out of your way.

Really OT, but I always get a kick out of Sanders rd. changing to Saunders rd. as soon as you get into Lake County. Makes Lake seem a little snobby, in a humerous sort of way.

chewonthat wrote:The only grocery store on my way home from work is a Dominicks and I find this so frustrating. It's the one on Dundee and Sanders and they never have any kosher products (we keep kosher in our kitchen so I can't cook with non kosher ingredients). So frustrating! Plus, their produce quality is just...eh.

Produce quality?
How bout the PRICES???
Can't help out on the Kosher front, but you will find decent produce prices about 1/2 mile west on the SW corner of Milwaukee/Dundee at that European mkt. Reminds me of Bobaks kinda. In season produce has been really well priced there. Dominick's for produce? Not a chance. Too expensive. The European mkt might have some kosher things for you as well, I'm just not sure.

The new (five-week old) Jewel at Milwaukee and Kinzie is ginormous. Bigger than the merely enormous Whole Foodses on Peterson and Canal. Bigger than anything I've ever seen. It could take you hours to go through it all. It's enough to make you believe we're not in a Global Economic Depression.

On the competitor front, Garden Fresh (which has a fistul of outlets now) has introduced a buyer loyalty card. You can opt out of customized coupons (I didn't, we'll see how much I hate it), and it will have unspecified members-only discounts. Currently, they're offering a discount equal to your sales tax -- which I think is 2.25% on food.

Is this the beginning of them becoming eeeeeevil? I hope not, I still like the place, even if they don't have a decent selection of bakery items in the Mt Prospect store.

I wrote:The new (five-week old) Jewel at Milwaukee and Kinzie is ginormous. Bigger than the merely enormous Whole Foodses on Peterson and Canal. Bigger than anything I've ever seen. It could take you hours to go through it all. It's enough to make you believe we're not in a Global Economic Depression.

You know, I was in my "own" Jewel today (Ashland-Wellington), and I wonder if the Milwaukee-Kinzie one is actually bigger. I think the difference may be just that the same square footage is laid out "vertically" rather than "horizontally." I.e., instead of having many aisles, it has fewer--but each of those aisles is a mile long! It's amazing how having aisles that are a mile long can create a sense of immensity.

I still think I saw some items in that store that I don't see in mine--but that could be illusion, too.

riddlemay wrote:For those who loathe Dominick's, an article in the current Skyline says that Roundy's wants to build a store a few doors west of Clark on Diversey (where currently sits The Vacant Building Formerly Known as Pier One).

Roundy's has leased the first space (80,000 square feet) in the new Clybourn development at the old YMCA at 1515 N. Halsted.

Here is the story.

I'm not sure which one of their stores they would be opening but from what I remember Copp's was nothing special and I doubt the rest of their ventures are either.

Between the Clybourn space and the Diversey space, Roundy's seems bent on establishing a Chicago presence. There's a sign on the Diversey Barnes & Noble that it's closing at the end of the year (to make way, along with the former Pier One space).

Are there degrees of nightmare? If so, Clark/Diversey/Broadway is going to be an even worse traffic one.

Even though it wasn't discussed publicly, Roundy's was one of the original suitors for Dominick's back 2002, before Safeway eventually bought them and according to Crain's, they've also expressed interest in buying the chain should Safeway decide to shed it:

Steven R. Strahler, ChicagoBusiness.com wrote:“If Dominick’s were for sale, Roundy’s would have an interest in acquiring it,” says Willis Stein co-founder Avy Stein. A Dominick’s spokeswoman declined to comment on sale prospects. A spokeswoman for Dominick’s owner Safeway Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif., declined to comment.

A Roundy’s-Dominick’s combination has been talked about before. Not only has Roundy’s set its sights on the Chicago market, with plans to open a dozen or more stores here, Roundy’s Chairman and CEO Robert Mariano is a former chief of Dominick’s.

Roundy's owner signals interest in Dominick's

It would definitely be interesting to see how the 2 entities would compete, should Roundy's decide to take them on head to head. Still, though, it sounds like the goal of acquiring Dominick's has more to do with increasing Roundy's value for a more immediate sale.

Bottom line: Dominick's sucks and it was Safeway that killed them.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Bottom line: Dominick's sucks and it was Safeway that killed them.

So, so, so sadly true.

Given there's no one-stop shopping spot for me in Oak Park, I do find myself going to Dominick's every once and a while for things I can't get elsewhere. For example, they have Lucerne brand lactose-free whole milk (for my daughter) which is apparently always on sale. For that matter, all their Lucerne milks are hormone-free (unlike at Jewel, last I checked), and they have an OK brand of organics (again, unlike Jewel). We also get our cat food there. Other than that, it's hit or miss, but as far as produce goes it beats Trader Joe's, and if it's no Caputo's, in winter everything in Chicago pretty much stinks, anyway.

Closest to one-stop shopping for me in the Oak Park area is Super Tony's in Riverside at Harlem and 25th. Produce is glorious, and baked good selection is really strong, with house-baked bolillos and tortillas delivered hot and fresh from several factories multiple times a day. Paper products, a small pharmacy section, cleaning supplies, good prices, four kinds of prosciutto under $10/lb, imported Polish jelly cookies, cheap marinated or un-marinated Mexican steak, pork, and lamb cuts at the butcher, etc.

However, pretty weak on Asian cooking supplies, nuts, bulk goods, trash and freezer bags, and cereals, no photo station deals, odd booze selection (though they do have Budweiser Chelada in both lime and tomato), and the deli lines get pretty ugly.

I usually end up alternating weeks between the Roosevelt Market Jewel, Trader Joe's, and Super Tony's, with stops at CVS or Walgreen's in between. I use Dominck's only for cold medicine, rotisserie chicken, King's Hawaiian rolls, Primo Taglio meats (when on ridiculous sale), and cereal. I won't go near their produce or frequently out-dated international condiments and dairy products (though the non-lactose selection is worth reconsideration, thanks for the tip).

Santander wrote:I usually end up alternating weeks between the Roosevelt Market Jewel, Trader Joe's, and Super Tony's, with stops at CVS or Walgreen's in between.

I must ask, what draws you into Jewel?

Jewel (and the only one I hit is the Roosevelt Market) has a well laid-out parking lot, Red Box video rental, reasonable liquor section, and the best deals on garbage and storage bags, chips, and conventional condiments. They occasionally have very good deals on chicken, pork tenderloins, and turkey breast roasts, and carry Kasia's Pierogies, often several packs for $5, and Muir Glen Organic Fire-Roasted tomatoes, which are the basis for Bayless's jarred salsas and many of his recipes in his shows. They're my occasional stock-up location (and three blocks from my house) for this type of longer shelf-life item. Not my place for serious shopping.

My ideal would be something like Whole Foods at half the cost with more diversity of home supplies (bags, cleaning supplies, basic hardware, cookware). Until we're there, I think it has to be a cocktail for me of TJ's, Tony's, South Loop Whole Foods, and Hyde Park Produce Mart (which I neglected to mention above, but I do stop there a lot on the way home for fresh spices like dill, rosemary, basil, and sage, citrus fruit, refrigerated pasta, and house-made guac/salsa).

I try to avoid Jewel for all the above reasons, but end up there periodically for staples as mentioned above. I buy very little produce or meat from there, but the deli is OK for lunchbox-level stuff.

So where did I shop this weekend? I hadn't had a pilgrimage to H-Mart lately (I managed to avoid going there for my holiday party, and regretted what I ended up paying elsewhere for a few produce items), and I've been wanting to make Beef Rendang, and angolotti from the French Laundry cookbook (an xmas gift). So H-Mart had a nice chuck roast, galangal, onions (5lb bag of medium-sized onions for $1.49 was probably the find of the day), lemongrass, sweet potato.. but no prosciutto, no fava beans, no creme fraiche. No daun pandan or daun salam leaves, but they're listed as "optional" in the rendang.

And on my way out of there, I realized I'd forgotten coconut milk. So I stopped into Assi plaza... and grabbed a bag of beef and veg dumplings they were sampling, and a couple other things I forget what they were.

But I still wanted to do the fava angolotti. So yesterday morning I dropped MrsF at her mom's house (she, her 3 sisters and mother were going to see Jersey boys and thankfully I wasn't invited), and stopped into Shop n Save in Des Plaines. Favas, yes, prosciutto, yes... still no creme fraiche, I'll make my own, seeing as I don't intend to eat the agnolotti until New Years eve.

But I wouldn't have bought any of those things in a Dom or Jewel.