weinstein5 wrote:The Jewel typically does not ave chicken livers on display - you might have to ask the butchers for them - I know they are at Hungarian Kosher on Oakton -

That is interesting - I have not had any issue with the service at that store -

Interesting. We've always been able to get chicken livers at the HP Jewel, even though we don't shop there very often. Maybe we've had to ask for them. I don't remember.

As for Mariano's, as I posted above, the service was great and friendly. It was the inventory and quality of some goods that left something to be desired. No grocery store is so great that I could ever shop there exclusively but I'd take Garden Fresh/Northbrook over Mariano's/Nothfield any day of the week.

=R=

When I was at self checkout at the Chicago Avenue Jewel last night, there was a gontleman checking out next to me, and all her had was a weeks worth of Banquet tv dinners, which they sell for a dollar, and some bottles of water. Obviously he does not do any cooking. I have more refined tastes than he does apparently.

NFriday wrote:I have more refined tastes than he does apparently.

But Nancy, couldn't it just be that he's working with a different budget than you are?

Katie wrote:

NFriday wrote:I have more refined tastes than he does apparently.

But Nancy, couldn't it just be that he's working with a different budget than you are?

If my father had outlived my mother that would likely have been him in line. Not so much for budgetary constraints (although he was very frugal) but because his cooking skills extended to making (undrinkable) coffee, tea, toast, overboiled eggs and TV dinners.

Hi- Actually I did not spend that much money this week. I spent $14.50 at the farmer's market, , and I spent $7.34 at Jewel, and I will get back $1.19 from Saving Star, and a quarter back for purchasing bananas at Jewel from checkbook 51, and I was able to use my Jewel gift card which I got when I filled a prescription two weeks ago. The promo is still going on until the end of the year. All total I am out $15.47 for the week, and I did not have any coupons to use. If I was signed up with Ibotta, this shopping app. I probably could have gotten a quarter back from them for the gallon of milk I purchased last night. Since the beginning of the year, I have accumulated more than $4,000 in medical bills, and so I have been really careful with my money. I am going to have to shell out another $55 tomorrow, and I have not received the bill for the CAT scan I just had, and yes I have insurance, but it is confusing with Obamacare as to what they will cover and what they won't.

If you know how to shop and cook like I do, you should not be forced to eat Banquet TV dinners. I remember when I was a kid though, when all they had available was Banquet, Swanson and Stouffers. On occasion we would eat Swanson tv dinners, and on rare occasion Banquet, because there was nothing better out there. Now you can get some half way decent frozen dinners such as Amy's. Thanks, Nancy

Just visited a Mariano's for the second time. I think the stores are beautiful, and I love that you can get your generic paper goods and everything else -- along with more branded items. I also think that prices on, say, Annie's cheddar bunny snacks are better than they are at Whole Foods (which I really tend not to frequent) or Standard Market, where I go all the time. What I don't care for with Mariano's -- and this is a big gripe of mine-- is that the prepared or fresh foods appear to have a lot of additives thrown in, making them unlike the more truly homemade items that I see at Standard Market. I guess I feel like Mariano's has an aura of "everything is better here" but then when I inspect the ingredient list on some of the prepared foods, it strikes me as a glorified Jewel -- even though I realize it's far nicer than that. I should add that my real grocery shopping dream would be to have a place where the prepared foods are on par in terms of selection and quality with Zabar's in New York, but I realize that I'm dreaming.

Am I missing something about Mariano's? Are there certain prepared foods that are truly great?

For those who know, how do they compare to Wegman's?

leek wrote:For those who know, how do they compare to Wegman's?

Similar but IMHO Wegman's is better - this might due to Wegman's is more eceprienced -

ronnie_suburban wrote:I was a bit disappointed on a recent visit to the Northfield/Willow Rd store. On a Saturday afternoon at 5 pm, they were out of celery and I learned that they do not even carry chicken livers, which seems very odd for grocery store that wants to be a contender.

I can't imagine about the celery (did someone go in and buy all of it???) but on Sunday the Ashland/Webster store had Purdue chicken livers next to the Purdue chicken packs. I didn't ask at the butcher area about livers since they were easy to find out on the fridge shelves.

They didn't have Lamb shanks, which they did when they first opened. I asked, and the guy said "I only sold maybe one, so I didn't re-order" (and I think that one may have been me) but he ordered some for me that will be in later this week. They are maybe more of a winter thing, but I had a taste for them, so...

They did have rabbit, and elk and alligator meat at one of the fridge/freezer end cap units, as well as fresh (not currently frozen) duck.

I have been told that at many Jewel stores they do have chicken livers, but they are not a big seller, and so they keep them in the freezer, which means you have to ask for them, and you have to go there when the meat department actually has somebody there. I was at the Jewel in Skokie on Skokie Blvd. yesterday, because they have cherries on sale for $1.49 a pound through tomorrow, and so I bought two pounds worth. The cherries I bought a few weeks ago at Whole Foods for $1.99 a pound were way better. It is going to take me a while to finish these cherries. The WF cherries were gone in five days.

rehorn wrote:I guess I feel like Mariano's has an aura of "everything is better here" but then when I inspect the ingredient list on some of the prepared foods, it strikes me as a glorified Jewel -- even though I realize it's far nicer than that.

They're more of a "better value" than "better" overall. I wouldn't expect them to be all of Whole Foods at a bargain price. They have excellent value on certain products. Flowers are generally unbeatable. Produce is better than average at a fair price. Ditto meats. Fish is spotty. Baked goods are pretty good. Some of it is deceiving because they offer a wide spectrum of cakes which are mostly the same cake with different fondant patterns.

Here's an example. A friend went to WF for pricing on a carry-out catering package. Mariano's did the same thing for a lot less and, for the most part, I doubt any guest would have been able to tell the difference.

Been shopping at Marianos in Western Springs and have been very disapointed with the produce. Just happened to be driving west on Ogden ave just past Cass and noticed a Caputos opened recently. What a great store. One of the cleanest and most well stocked stores I have ever been in. The produce was typical for a Caputos,fresh, well stocked and reasonable prices.

jerryg wrote:One of the cleanest and most well stocked stores I have ever been in.

It certainly helps that it's only been open about a month.

Apparently, there's no truth to the rumor that the Northfield store will be adding a drive-thru.

=R=

Hi- I hope her driving days are over.

Mariano's Fresh Market snapped up yet another former Dominick's to open a store in Naperville.

The fast-growing grocery chain signed a lease to open a grocery in a former Dominick's in the Fox Run Square shopping center at 1212 S. Naper Blvd. in the western suburb, a Mariano's spokesman confirmed in an email.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ille-store

Dave148 wrote:

Mariano's Fresh Market snapped up yet another former Dominick's to open a store in Naperville.

The fast-growing grocery chain signed a lease to open a grocery in a former Dominick's in the Fox Run Square shopping center at 1212 S. Naper Blvd. in the western suburb, a Mariano's spokesman confirmed in an email.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ille-store

It would make sense that out of the three former Dominick's locations in Naperville Mariano's chose this location. It's the furthest from their recently opened store in Aurora and they probably didn't to cannibalize sales between the two stores.

Made my second visit to the Ashland/Elston Mariano's, and I gotta say--what's up with this chain and the parking lots they design? Here we have a store built from scratch on a property that was a clean slate, giving Mariano's the opportunity to make their surface parking lot anything they wanted it to be, yet they perversely designed another accident-waiting-to-happen experience...with parking spaces too narrow for anything but a compact or subcompact to fit and open its doors comfortably, or to pull in or out of without risking scrapes. (I don't drive a compact or subcompact.)

There is the blessing of having the choice to use instead the roof-deck garage structure, which solves these problems. Here, the spaces are demarcated with the proper amount of width, so it's clear Mariano's knows what they should be doing--they just don't tend to do it. Exiting this structure involves its own hazard, though, as cars drive every which way lateral to the garage exit as one is making one's way from the garage back into the bi-directional surface lot. (Designing one-way traffic through the lanes of the lot? That's for sissies.)

janeyb wrote:Anyone have the scoop on this Dominick's location?

1300 S. Naper Blvd
Naperville, Illinois 60540

Dave148 wrote:

Mariano's Fresh Market snapped up yet another former Dominick's to open a store in Naperville.

The fast-growing grocery chain signed a lease to open a grocery in a former Dominick's in the Fox Run Square shopping center at 1212 S. Naper Blvd. in the western suburb, a Mariano's spokesman confirmed in an email.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ille-store

Thank you Dave! This Mariano's will be in my neck of the woods. Based on LTHers reports, it will be a welcome addition.

Finally visited the Northfield Mariano's today, lured by the $3.50/half gallon fresh-squeezed OJ (!). Nice store, great proximity to the Edens, dandy meat/produce selection, and a very well-stocked bakery.

The thing that was off-putting was a biggie: the staff. Really poor customer service, which surprised me, particularly given the evident overstaffing on the sales floor. Questions and requests were met with eye rolls, and one surly cashier was overheard asking a customer to go back to the produce section and pick up another yellow bell pepper with a sticker on it (not me - I would have left my items on the conveyor belt, delivered some choice words, and left, were I that unfortunate customer). A group of seven teenaged baggers were hanging around just inside the entrance, blocking the cart access, and snickering. Surprising, and puzzling, given the stores with which they are competing in the high-end Northfield/Winnetka/Wilmette/Glenview market: The Grand Food Center, Treasure Island, and Fresh Market, with Whole Foods, Sunset, and Trader Joe's lurking nearby.

They really need to step it up, as people up here aren't going to continue to put up with overcoming the godawful never-ending construction on Willow to shop there, assuming that this level of service is commonplace at this location. Keep the piano music, and give me a helpful staff. I'll stick with The Grand and TI, thanks.

Hi- I've only been to the Northfield store twice, but I did not experience any problems with surly employees. I did not ask a lot of questions though. The first time I went there it was on a Saturday afternoon, and there were so many free samples, that I finally had to tell myself that I had had enough. A friend of mine is a jazz drummer, and lives in the Western suburbs. He was talking to a jazz pianist that he knows a few months ago, and the pianist told him that he was doing some gigs at Mariano's. Bill had no idea that they had a piano there. Apparently it is one of his better paying gigs, and they told him that he could work as many shifts are he wanted to. I wished they would have put a Mariano's in the old Dominick's location on Green Bay, but somebody that used to work there told me that they turned down the location because it did not have enough parking.

I wonder when they will ever finish that project on Willow. It seems like it has been going on for over a year. I drive to the new Walmart on Touhy in Skokie, and they had one lane shut down at McCormick and Oakton, and I ended up going down Oakton to Crawford, and they had half of Crawford torn up. When Mariano's opens up at Touhy and McCormick, the traffic in that area is going to be awful.

On our last visit to the Ashland/Elston Mariano's, I didn't encounter any surly employees, but did encounter a surprisingly clueless one. I was in the produce section and couldn't locate fresh sage, so I asked one of the young staffers who was in the vicinity. She was flummoxed by the idea that sage might be in the produce section, rather than in a jar labeled McCormick in the spice aisle. Fortunately another employee in earshot jumped in and answered the question.

Could be Mariano's is expanding too fast and consequently needing to hire too fast.

Hi Peg- You should submit a post on Mariano's facebook page about your shopping experience there, and why you are not going back. Maybe they will get in touch with you and try to make amends, and maybe even give you a gift certificate to the store to get you back in. I have heard good things about how they have handled negative facebook posts. If you were to post on Jewel's facebook page nothing would happen. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Somebody just posted on one of the couponing sites that I visit, that they went to the Mariano's Shorewood store today, and had a positive CS experience. Mariano's has Kalona organic milk on sale for $4 a half gallon, and there was a $2 off a half gallon coupon on the Kalona site which is no longer available. The problem is that the Shorewood store quit carrying it because it only had a week to go before it expired by the time it was delivered to the store, and they had to throw out the majority of it. I don't know why they just did not mark it down 50%. Anyway Don went in that particular store today, and talked to the dairy manager, and was told that they were not going to bring back the milk, but he told him that he could pick any other half gallon of organic milk that they offered, and he would sell it to him for $4, and he would let him use the $2 off coupon, and so he got two half gallons of Horizon for $2 a piece. Hope this helps, Nancy

riddlemay wrote:On our last visit to the Ashland/Elston Mariano's, I didn't encounter any surly employees, but did encounter a surprisingly clueless one. I was in the produce section and couldn't locate fresh sage, so I asked one of the young staffers who was in the vicinity. She was flummoxed by the idea that sage might be in the produce section, rather than in a jar labeled McCormick in the spice aisle. Fortunately another employee in earshot jumped in and answered the question.

Could be Mariano's is expanding too fast and consequently needing to hire too fast.

I've had vastly different experiences at two different Mariano's recently. I like to have all my purchases put in my backpack. I load the belt with the heaviest, bulkiest items first (milk, sugar), working my way down to the smaller lighter, more fragile(spices, bread) purchases. I'll throw a frozen pizza in with the heavier items and ask them to place it against the back of my backpack to cushion my bag. So I've got a system worked out, OK?

At the store on Chicago & Damen I briefly explained and asked that my items be put in the pack in the order I put them on the belt. I got a cheery "Of course!" and the packer did a great job. After swiping my customer card the cashier said "Thank you, Sean! Have a great day."

A couple of days later, same routine at my usual store on Western & Roscoe. I never get a greeting here. The packer put the first item aside and started to sort through the other items coming down the belt. I said "Never mind, I'll do it myself." The packer refused to make eye contact with me from then on. I've had other problems at this store, but I've gone on long enough for now. It just seems odd that my experience was so vastly different between the two stores. I wish Chicago & Damen was my regular store.

Ive shopped at the Shorewood location a few times. between them, Caputos, Whole Foods or even Hmart a little further north into Naperville via 59 they are nice to have in the mix.

I have gotten some decent pork from them(non enhanced), crab legs on sale, salmon, and Bell and Evans chicken.

Shorewood store seems small - way to much space devoted to prepared foods imho - . Im pretty much done getting produce at the Shorewood store - just doesnt stand up to Caputos a couple miles away. Staff is always nice - never have to wait to check out.

bean wrote:
I've had vastly different experiences at two different Mariano's recently. I like to have all my purchases put in my backpack. I load the belt with the heaviest, bulkiest items first (milk, sugar), working my way down to the smaller lighter, more fragile(spices, bread) purchases. I'll throw a frozen pizza in with the heavier items and ask them to place it against the back of my backpack to cushion my bag. So I've got a system worked out, OK?

At the store on Chicago & Damen I briefly explained and asked that my items be put in the pack in the order I put them on the belt. I got a cheery "Of course!" and the packer did a great job. After swiping my customer card the cashier said "Thank you, Sean! Have a great day."

A couple of days later, same routine at my usual store on Western & Roscoe. I never get a greeting here. The packer put the first item aside and started to sort through the other items coming down the belt. I said "Never mind, I'll do it myself." The packer refused to make eye contact with me from then on. I've had other problems at this store, but I've gone on long enough for now. It just seems odd that my experience was so vastly different between the two stores. I wish Chicago & Damen was my regular store.

I don't know about the Roscoe store, but I've experienced similar bagging issues at the Webster/Ashland store. I do what you do, put things onto the cart in the order I want them bagged (heavier things first, all the cold things together, bananas last, etc) and will sometimes have one cloth bag and a backpack. The Chicago & Damen store is so small, maybe people get fewer things there regularly? Or they are more used to people who bring their own bags? It seems like that might be the root of my problems. I give them 6 bags, but the bagger takes it as a personal challenge to get everything into one bag. Or they make one bag really heavy and one bag really light instead of balancing it out. They look at my cloth bag, and hold it up gingerly as if it's dripping acid, not sure which end to open. Or they take a really long time, even if I'm using uncomplicated TJ's bags that sit flat. Maybe they are just happier at the less busy store? I don't get to the Chicago/Damen one on weekends, and I mostly get to the Webster/Ashland one on weekends only.

Hi- I've had problems with Jewel and formerly with Dominick's where you would give them a large cloth bag which should have been large enough to fit all my purchases, and they only fill it half way up, and then they put the rest of my groceries in two plastic bags or more if they decide to double bag them. I thought Jewel was going to do away with double bagging as much as possible. When I purchase a gallon of milk, I would prefer that they left it out of the bag because it is easier to carry, and plus I hate the waste. Sometimes they double bag my milk before I have a chance to say anything, and every store other than Whole Foods seems to do this. Whole Foods is the one store where when you give them a cloth bag, they will try to fit as much in there as humanly possible.

bean wrote:

riddlemay wrote:On our last visit to the Ashland/Elston Mariano's, I didn't encounter any surly employees, but did encounter a surprisingly clueless one. I was in the produce section and couldn't locate fresh sage, so I asked one of the young staffers who was in the vicinity. She was flummoxed by the idea that sage might be in the produce section, rather than in a jar labeled McCormick in the spice aisle. Fortunately another employee in earshot jumped in and answered the question.

Could be Mariano's is expanding too fast and consequently needing to hire too fast.

I've had vastly different experiences at two different Mariano's recently. I like to have all my purchases put in my backpack. I load the belt with the heaviest, bulkiest items first (milk, sugar), working my way down to the smaller lighter, more fragile(spices, bread) purchases. I'll throw a frozen pizza in with the heavier items and ask them to place it against the back of my backpack to cushion my bag. So I've got a system worked out, OK?

At the store on Chicago & Damen I briefly explained and asked that my items be put in the pack in the order I put them on the belt. I got a cheery "Of course!" and the packer did a great job. After swiping my customer card the cashier said "Thank you, Sean! Have a great day."

A couple of days later, same routine at my usual store on Western & Roscoe. I never get a greeting here. The packer put the first item aside and started to sort through the other items coming down the belt. I said "Never mind, I'll do it myself." The packer refused to make eye contact with me from then on. I've had other problems at this store, but I've gone on long enough for now. It just seems odd that my experience was so vastly different between the two stores. I wish Chicago & Damen was my regular store.

To the packer you must ask - "Why are you even working here?"

Hi- I have only been to Mariano's a total of three times, but they don't have self checkout at all do they? I suspect they don't, but when I am at Jewel, unless I am buying a lot of groceries, I like to go to self checkout so I can bag my groceries myself. Jewel is supposed to get rid of their self checkout lanes eventually, but I am not sure when. I was at the Jewel on Chicago Avenue this afternoon, and this store got the distinction a few months ago of having the lowest customer service scores in survey completed by customers in that particular region. Now when I go in there, there are all kinds of employees asking me if I need help. They never used to do that before.