Grand Mart opening March 8 in Niles

We got a flyer in the mail today about Grand Mart opening March 8 in the old Cub Foods store in Niles. This is in the same shopping center as Walmart. FYI, Saturdays and Sundays are madhouses in this shopping center on the best of days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mart

Grand Mart International Food
5740 W. Touhy Ave
Niles
847.647.6300

If anyone is travelling, Super H mart is about a 10-minute drive, so you could check out both in a single trip.

Wow the Korean supermarkets are really going toe to toe here. Good for our side!

Regards,

The wikipedia page also mentions this location:

Chicago, located at North and Cicero Avenues (Opened Feb 15, 2007)

Anyone know if that's opened up yet?

-gtgirl

Awesome. H-Mart + Costco in Niles has already become our standard grocery outing - as well as lunch at times at Himalayan or Rama Thai since it's in the vicinity. Can't wait to add Grand Mart to the mix - I wonder if they have as nice a website w/ weekly ads like H-mart.

gtgirl wrote:Chicago, located at North and Cicero Avenues (Opened Feb 15, 2007)l

Anyone know if that's opened up yet?

Gtgirl,

The North and Cicero Grand Mart is open for business, and has been for about a month. I can't speak to the Niles location, and according to the business card I took they have a total of 8-locations, but the North/Cicero store is equal parts Hispanic and Asian, with a slight skew toward Hispanic.

It seems a nice enough store, very large, they took over a Cub Foods location, clean, well stocked reasonable prices but unlike H-Mart there is no destination draw.

Aisle #13 pretty much sums up the store.


Enjoy,
Gary

Grand Mart
4821 W North Ave
Chicago, IL 60639
773-252-9300

I've been to the one in Melrose Park a few times already. It still has a lot of stuff left over from the Cub Foods sale. The produce isn't as fresh and abundant as Hmart. The fish service here isn't comparable to Hmart. Ugh the list can go on. Hmart wins hands down. I'll be more than happy to drive out to Hmart from Chicago any day!

*Don't know what the exact address is, but it's right next door to Bally Total Fitness in Melrose Park.

Jay K wrote:H-Mart + Costco in Niles has already become our standard grocery outing - as well as lunch at times at Himalayan or Rama Thai since it's in the vicinity.

If you are coming from the south and want Thai, it might be convenient for you to try The Elephant. It's fairly close to the Grand Mart on Touhy, and not as far as you would think from H Mart. To get to H Mart from The Elephant, just take Devon west to Caldwell north, cross over Touhy, then take Howard west to Waukegan north.

I found out the hard way that The Elephant is closed on Sunday though.

Made a quick stop at the Melrose Park Grand Mart in the old Cub Foods location at 9th Ave and North today and while it's no H-Mart by a long shot, especially wrt fish and meat, they are fully stocked in Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Mexican food products.

Name a sauce, condiment, or noodle and you'll likely find it there. They've also got a good selection of Swad spices, which I find to be uniformly excellent, as well as a nice selection of dried chilis. There's also a whole aisle filled with rices, beans and pulses...

What a treat to have a store that doesn't require my negotiating 40 minutes of crosstown traffic just to get some sticky rice or or dried shrimp or rice noodles or rice papers.

Grand Mart won't keep me away from Argyle or Mitsuwa or H-Mart, but it's good to know that ingredients not usually available in our typical supermarkets are a now a little closer to home.

Realizing that today is March 8, and since I've recently become addicted to Onigiri, I headed off to GrandMart in search of ume and pickled radishes.

You're right, it's no H-Mart; it still has the aura of Cub Foods about it, with a bit of Supermercado Morelia thrown in for good measure. There was quite a mix of food samples being offered: bulgogi, quesadillas, kimchi, cookies, chorizo, and pizza. I particularly enjoyed this endcap: mexican candy in front of packaged deli meats
The other endcap contained pickled chicharrones and pig's feet.

The seafood is cheap, (big shrimp for $5.99/lb) and the iced fresh fish seemed bright and clean; I also like that you can see the guys cutting it and that area is spotless. However, my beloved giant squids were stacked, semifreddo, and looked the worse for wear; I don't know if this will be a go-to place for seafood.
I loved this gigantic catfish:


Thin-sliced beef ribeye is $2.99/lb and you can get it in small packages. There is a small lunchonette, which unfortunately doesn't have pictures or a translated menu yet - nor do they take credit cards. The food looked very good.

Some other random stuff I thought was cute:


Anpanman bento


Since the trip is about the same for me, I'll stick with H-Mart unless I'm garden shopping at Meineke's across the street. If you live nearby, I'd definitely check it out - especially today, since if you buy $100 worth of groceries, you can take home a CASE of radishes or cabbage (my $60 purchase netted me a nice plastic bowl and a calendar)

I visited Grand Mart in Niles Today and its basically Cub Foods with a korean slant. The one thing I found funny (wish I had my camera) was at the litle foodcourt area they still had a sign right in front of cashier station saying "Cub Foods new crispy chicken"

I stopped at Grand Mart on Touhy in Niles on the way home from downtown today, and I found it to be fun and interesting, but as others have said, it doesn't seem to be the kind of destination place H-Mart is. But if you're shopping for more than one cuisine, you're set at Grand, because they have Indian, Eastern European, American, pan-Asian, and Hispanic all in one place. There is more Chinese stuff than at most other Asian grocers (including Sichuan peppercorns, which someone was searching for recently). I can find more Eastern European at Fresh Farms, more Hispanic at Carniceria Jimenez, and more Korean at H-Mart, but it can save time having everything in one place, if saving time is a priority. (Though, for Asian stuff, they're not very far from having everything, just not mountains of it, like at H-Mart.)

The store is spotlessly clean, and everyone is enthusiastic, friendly, and helpful. The clerks I talked to would walk all the way through the store with me and even open packages to show me that what I requested was inside. I loved the little ladies doing the sampling (dumplings, scallion pancakes, Korean pancakes with kimchee, Mrs. May's nut crunches) -- they're so sweet and so eager to communicate their belief in the virtures of whatever they're cooking and handing out.

The little restaurant -- apparently a branch of a restaurant somewhere else -- has good Korean food, though one generally doesn't expect to be paying $8 to $12 for a grocery store lunch. But the food was better and the servings were more generous than the Korean booth in the H-Mart food court. Also, it appeared to be a family operation, and the interplay between everyone cooking, as well as everyone's friendliness, was a pleasure.

I will say that one thing that might make it a good choice at times is that it's not insanely busy, like H-Mart. I didn't bump into anyone, get stuck in an aisle, or wait in line to check out -- and this is a Saturday afternoon.

So while I agree that it lacks some of the "I've left the country" visual appeal of H-Mart, and seems a bit "Cub like," it has many virtues and should not be avoided.

We made our standard Niles Costco & H-mart run today and visited Grand Mart in btwn the two; Have to say we weren't expecting much given the prior posts, and it was pretty much the lackluster visit we'd expected. We only went b/c we'd heard some of the seafood is discounted after 5:00pm - didn't seem to be the case. Everything looks a lot cleaner and better packaged at H-mart, and that'll be where we'll continue to shop. As previously mentioned, the prices are about the same (or more expensive - ie: produce) and the variety significantly less. H-mart around dinnertime is significantly less "shoulder-to-shoulder," and that is especially the case on weekdays. I don't mind the bustle - just means more turnover for the fresh produce and packaged meats. Also, unlike at Costco, H-mart does a great job of having open & manned lanes to manage the large waves of people at checkout. I seldom wait for very long. I think the "border" that H-mart has for the dining area and the market is a good idea. I think a lot of the patrons at Grand Mart felt self-conscious with everybody looking at their meals while people passed by. Everything from their construction (ugly unfinished storefront - areas where the old signs were can still be seen), afterthought of a dine-in area and packaging of in-house meats, poultry & seafood makes Grand Mart look all the more like a slapdash version of H-mart. Great location for them, but I don't think they'll be able to compete with H-mart; The Niles location, in the very least, may be a short run.

I didn't get the feeling Grand Mart was really trying to compete with H-Mart. Completely different concepts. H-Mart is a great Korean grocery store with some other Asian stuff thrown in, but mostly Japanese, not really much Chinese. Grand Mart has Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Bulgarian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and moer. It's apples to oranages. I agree that H-Mart definitely rules in the produce section. But I don't get the "cleaner" comment -- everything was immaculate at Grand Mart when I was there, which was apparently just hours before your visit.

I don't view Grand Mart as in any way competing with H-Mart, and I certainly don't see it as an either/or situation. There were a ton of things at Grand Mart that they didn't have at H-Mart, and vice versa. I appreciated being able to get tostadas, yerba buena, lemon grass, jalapenos, Chinese celery, and cashews with one stop, as I had a rough week and didn't feel like spending hours shopping.

I see it as apples and oranges. Grand Mart can't replace H-Mart, but it's fun to add yet another, different resource to the vast and growing mix in suburbia.

HI,

I have been to Grand Mart now on two occasions. It seems to be an enterprise whose launch into the Chicago market is done on a shoe-string budget. While many a small business has begun with more hope than cash in the bank. Grand Mart's expansion into Chicago is very ambitious undertaking for a Virginia-based company founded in 2002.

I was never in a Cub Foods while it was still a thriving enterprise. A visit to Grand Mart, with all the traces of Cub Foods, is like some cultural revolution banishment: where you can strip away the name but not people's memories!

I can understand recycling signage, which worked well here:



A little inventiveness could have made this slogan seem like it belonged to Grand Mart. Just dropping Cubs and leaving the Foods is 10 steps backwards:



Somehow the signage just reflects the prior tenants tastes and does not create much of an identity for Grand Mart, except for suggesting they are under-capitalized:



While this is a medium sized enterprise, it has many characteristics of a Ma and Pa Grocery Store. There was handwritten signage on poster board advising they will not accept:

- Checks
- American Express cards (I know, they have a higher commission than MC and Visa)
- LINK and WIC cards

While these might be accepted in the future, I wouldn't be surprised if they have no plans to accomodate these issues. My guestimate remains they are trimming pennies on the dollar by saving themselves processing fees and the hassle of collecting money from the State of Illinois. Usually there is a trade-off when there are less services translating to lower prices, which people can jive to. I don't see anything special about the prices to suggest savings are being passed onto the customer.

Maybe they are borrowing concepts from Aldi's though still attempting to be a full service grocery store. I'm more or less just thinking out loud about what may or may not be going on here. I would be very interested in jlawrence01's take on the place whenever he finds time to visit.

I will stick to what I know better: food.

Last Saturday evening, I meandered my way over to Grand Mart ostensibly to check out their in-store dining options. I found Rainbow Korean Restaurant, with a Viriginia phone number on the menu, on the south-east wall beyond the cashiers. This eating establishment doesn't have the range of choices as H-Mart. Rather it is comparable to the food stall at Chicago Food Corp. with more generous seating.



All the menu items seem to have a corresponding image over the very long counter. I was winding down from a tightly packed day, so I took the safe route of ordering Bulgoki (sic).



I knew I could not expect kissed with flames bulgogi, though cooked on a griddle would be on par with the offerings of H-mart and Chicago Food Corp. Arriving on a hot plate, like fajita's, did do a fine job of keeping it warm until consumed. The panchan was very limited, though compensated by a generous portion.

Reading the menu, I found several items worthy of a return visit: Dolsot Bibim Bop, which is in a stone casserole allowing the rice to crisp at $8.99. This seemed very much like Jaeyook Bokeum: Bibim Bab served in hot stone bowl $7.99. These two offerings seemed to be the very same dish, though I wonder what you do or do not get for a mere $1.

Another item peaked my interest was Kal Kook Soo: homemade noodles with clam in sour soup at $4.99. My friend Helen makes sour soup from a Mama Sita tamarind soup packet. While Helen usually makes hers with pork, I was interested in trying a clam version. I returned for lunch today just to try this soup:



While it was soup and there were noodles present, it otherwise did not live up to its name of sour soup with clam. My first disappointment was the broth was simply not sour. In addition, the broth was pasty colored and seemed to be the same liquid the noodles were cooked in. While this may be the intended style, I am used to Asian noodle soups where the noodles are cooked separately, then introduced to the broth in the final assembly. This method keeps the broth relatively clear. To further reinforce this may be the noodle cooking broth, there was a thin layer of starch starting to create a skin on the surface. There was simply no evidence of clams, though there was one shrimp with head-on, several tiny shrimp, various squid parts and tiny mussels. I was pretty sure they measured a scant amount of frozen seafood medley, though why claim there are clams? Not surprisingly, the noodles were overcooked, gummy and forced me to do something I rarely do: leave food uneaten.

On a brighter note, I did like the steamed mandu with beef filling. When the manager observed I was taking pictures, he emphasized the dumplings were homemade. It may be true, though I have my doubts. Unlike H-Mart where you can see freshly made dumplings in trays ready to cook, I saw nothing to support this here.



When preparing to leave, the cashier inquired if I liked their soup. I simply said it was so-so. She pressed me for an explanation probably to support her notion I likely did not understand the food offered. I simply stated, "The soup wasn't sour and their were no clams present." She began to explain it was simply the cooking style. I countered, "If there are no clams in the soup, then why call it clam soup. I saw different varieties of seafood instead. You will save yourself problems by calling it what it is: seafood noodle soup, though don't call it sour because it wasn't." She smiled while I caught some quick conversations in Korean, which seemed stimulated by my comments.

While I might not have been overwhelmed by my selection, there were plenty of empty plates returned to suggest others were quite happy.



I do wonder if this dining area is really called Rainbow Korean Restaurant or are they simply recycling menus. My receipt referred to it as Seabyuk Maeul, Tel: 773/991-5362, which may be Rainbow Korean or just about anything else in Korean.

I will return to try the Dolsot Bibim Bup (sic), I will wait on the Dak Tuikim: fried chicken at $13.99. I did inquire what made it special to justify the high price to learn it isn't being offered yet. I want to see someone else's order to see what it entails before dropping the big bucks, relatively speaking.

Another day, another meal ...

Regards,

I will try to get there in the coming weeks. IMHO, I am surprised at the variety of independent groceries that we have have seen sprout up in the carcasses of the old Cub and Eagle stores in the past three years.

I will give Grand Mart some credit. So many of the independents spend a lot of capital refurbishing the stores to get the ideal layout which delays opening for 6-8 months (and raises their break-even point). Grand Mart looks like they just rearranged the shelves and stocked it immediately for a quicker reopening.

(In all fairness, some of the old stores had real issues (including asbestos remediation) that had to be dealt with.

Just visited the Grand Mart location in Bedford Park - and was EVEN MORE disappointed than the visit to Niles... good lord... What a waste of gas... I thought I'd drop in only b/c I hadn't been to the Bedford Park Costco in a while... thought I'd drop in to see how that Grand Mart might be a touch different. Just so I wouldn't leave empty-handed, I bought a scallion and a bag of snow peas... sigh... I left the Bedford Park location w/ only a rotisserie chicken (they don't do the seafood roadshow there?); I guess I won't be making that run ever again w/ the Niles H-Mart/Costco run available. Until something else better comes along...

P.S. Although it's a choice between the lesser of two evils, the Niles foodcourt looks MUCH better than the Bedford Park foodcourt - food that Korean people would actually eat. Bedford Park foodcourt looks like a homemade Panda Express complete w/ steam trays.

P.P.S. My pet peeve includes the hairy chickens... can't they bother to de-feather all the chicken skin? The bait & switch - chicken feet were labeled frog legs. Frozen scallops being sold in the frozen seafood section were clearly manufactured faux-scallops (I hope nobody was fooled... real scallops shouldn't have a lollipop swirl striation-type grain to them). Oh, ONE plus - the only thing cheaper here than at H-Mart were the oxtails - $3.99/lb.

Hmm, weird, I didn't even SEE the food court when we tried out Grand Mart!

Does H-Mart have a Japanese section? When we were at Grand Mart, I found something I'd been looking for for a long time: furikake. Which is a salty mixture of white & black sesame seeds and seaweed. I sprinkle it on rice before cooking it in the rice cooker, and it adds a nice touch.

Reading this Grand Mart thread makes me realize how long it's been since I've been to H-Mart, so Jimthebeerguy and I are trying to come up with plenty of excuses to go.

Saint Pizza wrote:Does H-Mart have a Japanese section? When we were at Grand Mart, I found something I'd been looking for for a long time: furikake. Which is a salty mixture of white & black sesame seeds and seaweed. I sprinkle it on rice before cooking it in the rice cooker, and it adds a nice touch.

I got this at H-Mart; as I recall, they had several other varieties.



Probably not "authentic," but I've used it with fresh tuna to make poke.

I've also found Furikake in both places - H-Mart has many brands and varieties hiding on an endcap in a not terribly logical place; I think it was the aisle that has honey, near the refrigerated aisle towards the center. One nice thing about Grand Mart is that the aisles are mostly broken down by ethnicity; I haven't figured out the logic of H-Mart yet.

At Mitsuwa, I had a delicious Onigiri that said it contained bonito skin. Any idea if H-Mart or Grand Mart carries bonito skin? I have no idea if it's a fresh or dried item. I did find katsuobushi at H-Mart, but I don't think it's the same thing.

Saint Pizza wrote:I sprinkle it on rice before cooking it in the rice cooker, and it adds a nice touch.

Mhays wrote:At Mitsuwa, I had a delicious Onigiri that said it contained bonito skin.

HAD to be a mis-translation... a "wild sheep" chase otherwise...








Aside: bonus pts for naming the author ___________________

(I'm recusing myself from bonus points since my info was googled) Preseumably it was fried salmon skin then?

Speaking of google, Bonitos, or skipjack tunas, have longitudinally extensible skin

Came down from Wisconsin last Saturday and arrived at 8am, obviously too early. My initial impression of the leafy green vegatables was not good as all were wilted. A little pile of bean sprouts was left which I did not purchase. there were a few other things in fresh produce that we did purchase and as we were going to another part of the store, the bean sprout bag was filled uo with very good looking sprouts which I did get. Maybe they refurbish the other greens as the day goes along but I didn't have time to wait. Went to the fresh fish counters and they were just starting to set up but what we saw was generally fresh and an excellent value. Took home some beautiful large fresh squid and Spanish mackeral. The meat selection was excellent and we took home beef for korean BBQ, veal tongue and chicken hearts.
The selection of Korean products was outstanding and we were able to find our favorite hot bean paste. We purchased a case (20 packages)of a Nong Shim at $9.99 which was selling at $0.79 a package at out local store.
Found just about every Korean ingrediant one could wish for and by the time I was through about 2/3 of the store, i was in sensory overload as I look at everything.
Purchased the freshest blue crabs I have ever seen in the midwest. Had to be real carefull not get pinched while splitting them at home for stir frying.
Beautifl selection of Kim chee in the bag and salted crab, anchovy and shrimp in hotel trays that they package for you. everyone in the store was helpful and friendly.
Found real Chinese wine, not the salted stuff for cooking and they had some nice US Sake selections not seen even at Mitsuwa.
Between this H Mart and Mitsuwa, I can get just about everything I need except for some of the fresh sea food at China Mart.
Loaded up two large coolers in the Volvo XC wagon and just about every other available space with dry goods. Well worth the trip.
In the future i plan to combine my Mitsuwa and H-Mart forays but will need another large cooler!-Dick

Jay K - oops, didn't know I was doing that wrong!

Michelle - Thanks to your directions, I found the furikake at H-mart!

budrichard - did you batter the crab or just stir fry them straight? did you eat them whole or is there something you're supposed to pick off first? I had deep-fried soft shell crab a Sticky Rice once. OMG delicious!!

Dick - did you go to H-mart or Grandmart? If H-mart, they do indeed replenish their produce stocks pretty swiftly when depleted. What do you do with chicken hearts? Chicken-fry 'em like gizzards? Or make cat food?

These were hard shell blue crabs which are split and woked thai style. Soft shell crabs must have the apron and gills removed, and a slice just behind the eyes removes the brain.
H-Mart not Grandmart.
Chicken hearts are stir fried.
I think the the employees start work when the store opens and the produce from the previous day is left out to wilt.-Dick

It looks like the Niles branch (at least--don't know about the others) may be closing--I dropped by this weekend to find a (mostly storewide) buy two, get one free sale; shelves were already getting bare. This would be a good time to stock up on staples like noodles and tea, as well as checking out what's left in their housewares department. Too bad--I really liked this store. True, it's no Super H-Mart, but it had about half of what Super H-Mart had for about 20% of the grief....

As carrienation noted above, this place looks like it is on the way out.

Yesterday was my first time there and while half the shelves were empty it was still an almost overwhelming mix of this and that.

Most goods are still buy 2 get 1 free, while all alcohol is 30% off. This included some very generously priced 12 packs of Newcastle Brown Ale at $8.99, which comes out to $6.29.

It was a bit troubling to see many refrigerated/frozen items past the sell by date by up to a month.

Grand Mart on Touhy is closed. It does have the ever popular hand-written "Closed for Remodeling" sign on the door.

I wonder how the Asian mart that is going to open at Dempster and Milwaukee is going to fare!