What's the story with Treasure Island?

I moved to Chicago about 5 years ago, and in that time I've passed by Treasure Island (particularly the one on Broadway & Cornelia) dozens of times. Most of those times, I saw people striking out front, and from the products listed across the front of the store, I was under the impression that it was an expensive, specialty grocery store I might hit up if I ever wanted some good quality marscapone or something else Dominicks/Jewel would likely not have. So, in five years, I never made it in.

Today I went, and I'm pretty darned impressed. They do have a lot of European and specialty foods, but they also have most of the basics I might ever need. To my surprise, the items I bought seemed to be more or less the same price as what I'd pay at my neighborhood Dominicks, and a few things were actually cheaper. Unlike what I'd get at my Dominick's, though, the goods were quality, the produce attractive and tasty, the small batch root beer I splurged on was amazing. So...what's the catch?

I was surprised it wasn't busier. Sunday afternoon at Whole Foods, and I'd spend half-an-hour trying to squeeze my tiny car into a parking spot and throwing elbows in the produce section for overpriced food that would likely go bad by the next morning. Trader Joes--I'd be climbing over people to get to anything, and while I love my little produce market, I'd end up having to go to Dominick's for my detergent and toilet paper anyway. So what am I missing about Treasure Island? And what's the story with that strike that seemed to go on forever? I haven't seen anyone striking in a while, and I read recently that Treasure Island is locally owned. So why shouldn't I go there all the time?

When I moved here, 20 years ago (yikes!), Treasure Island was THE grocery store, providing gourmet items as well as staples to Gold Coast blue hairs and Old Town Julia Child-reading, Frugal Gourmet-watching yuppies.

A few things have happened since then. First, the guy who was the serious buyer and the architect of its market position got squeezed out by the old school grocery-biz owners. Since then, Treasure Island has remained pretty much frozen in place; as far as I know it hasn't opened a new store since venturing into the urban reclamation wilds of Clybourn in the mid-80s, missing the expansion into new neighborhoods that Whole Foods has been right on top of (I'd check their website but... guess what, they don't have one); and selection hasn't kept up with new competitors like Whole Foods and Fox & Obel while other competitors like Jewel have reduced the gap between themselves and TI in gourmet and ethnic foods. I think it's still a good choice if it's conveniently located near you, but the couple of times a year I find myself there (usually because the kids have a doctors' appointment in the 666 building), I pretty much never see anything that makes me think "I gotta come here for that!"

I've heard there will be a new Treasure Island built in the Lakeshore East Park sometime in 2008.

I've had a similar experience with TI....when I first started going to the one on Broadway (a long time ago) I was THRILLED. The assortment of interesting ethnic products was a revelation. Since then, mainstream stores have caught up in their offerings and I also realize it's really more fun to travel into a "neighborhood" to find what I need.

That being said, once the new one opens downtown (since it is walking distance for me), I am sure I will start going there regularly again.

Every time we go to TI now, we say the same thing--"why don't we come here more often?"--but it hasn't become a habit for us the way it used to be. The Broadway and Clybourn locations used to be "our" supermarkets.

One weird thing, though. It seems like about five or seven years ago, when we entered the Clybourn store one time, the whole store seemed dim, like only half the overhead fluorescents were on. I think I remember looking up and discovering that this was exactly the case. I assumed at the time that this was some kind of temporary energy-saving measure because of Com Ed rates going up or some such thing (you make up stories to explain stuff to yourself), but every time we've been back since, it's the same. If it's energy-consciousness or an economy move, either way I think it's a tactical error, because you want a supermarket to be bright. (And whether it's Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Fox & Obel's, or the Jewel, all other grocers seem to have a consensus about the number of lumens that means.)

I lived near the Bway/Cornelia location for 10 years. It took me about 3 years of living in the burbs to call Sunset Sunset and not TI. LOL

I too experienced TI as a kind of wonderland when I first found it some 20+ years ago. I had never seen all those cheese and oils. They carried Wolferman's monster english muffins, which seemed way cool to me, as well asClarendon Hills butter which was made relatively locally and came wrapped in paper, suggesting all sorts of artisinal goodness.
There's also some colorful history surrounding TI which, alas, I'm rather fuzzy on, but someone else may know more. There was a long period when the various partners were all actively suing each other for control of the business. I don't know if it was one black sheep, or multiple factions or what. But for quite a while, there was always about to be some court judgment that potentially threatened its existence.
I believe that the suit had something to do with the use (or diversion) of assets to finance the late lamented Gold Star Sardine Bar, which for a while had a stream of great jazz/caberet performers performing in a room that sat about 6 people. Apparently the business model didn't work and so there was a great deal of intra-owner tsuris about the money involved. Again, I can't recall if they all owned the bar, or just one of them or what. (I believe that all this drama was actually the subject of one of those classic, epic Reader cover stories at one point.)
As to all the pickets out front, that too, I believe was covered by the reader. As best I recall, TI is/was (?) a non-union shop and the union wanted in. According to at least one version, the employees actually received packages as good or better than the union did for its members elsewhere, and many/most were pretty happy. The pcketers (and I in no way vouch for this version or my memory of it) were, at least largely, union members who did not actually work at the store.
Needless to say, I'm sure there is a passionately felt other side to this, but that's what I rememeber.

mrbarolo wrote:(I believe that all this drama was actually the subject of one of those classic, epic Reader cover stories at one point.)

Here's a copy of The Battle for Treasure Island from the author's website.

Why did TI go downhill?

Bob Greene. He killed it.

(That said, I go there fairly often since Mrs. AS like the olive bar, I like the serrano ham and they have D'Matos bread. You can get a fresh duck there. I am not a huge fan of the produce, but nowhere is perfect. Darn better than Dominicks, tho.)

Yes, TI was the "go to" store when I first visited the one on Broadway in about 1969. I didn't shop at other supermarkets at the time - or for nearly the next decade, just TI. It's demise, if one wishes to call the company's fall from grace with many shoppers, was due, if I'm recalling correctly, to a family feud amongst the brothers who owned/operated it (or some such other family squabble).

The fight seemed to last for years, and in the interim competitors moved-in and convinced unhappy TI customers to go elsewhere. Whatever current success it enjoys is probably due, almost entirely, to it's stores being in a good location where shoppers find it more convenient to shop there than elsewhere. Location, location, location.

There was a time when some shoppers would cross the city to get to a TI. No longer (well, I don't think many people would do that).

About the occasional picketing: stop and ask one of the picketers if they work for TI, or ever had . . . and I’m confident you’ll get the response, “No.” If they get in your way, just ask them to step aside, or gently nudge them if they get in your way . . . because they’re likely hired to try to force store employees to do something they don’t want to do. If I did encounter a group of employees picketing the supermarket who'd actually worked for the company, I'd shop elsewhere until the dispute was settled.

I remember a different Reader story about the ownership struggles, actually. Although that one's interesting too.

Bill wrote:About the occasional picketing: stop and ask one of the picketers if they work for TI, or ever had . . . and I’m confident you’ll get the response, “No.”

You will find that the overwhelming majority of UFCW picketing is conducted by NON-UNION employees who are paid ~$6/ hour with NO benefits.

In her past position, my wife ran a temp agency that provided the rent a picketers in another city when they were picketing both Kmart and WalMart daily.

Re my recollection about the Clybourn store dimness and only half the overhead lights being on: We were just there an hour or so ago, and all the lights were on. It probably still wasn't as bright as the current "industry standard," but bright enough.

Re labor troubles, etc.: I had encounters with three different employees, and all seemed happy in their work. A man in the wine section went the extra mile to approach me and ask me what I was looking for, directed me to it, and pointed out what was on sale.

Also: We like Birds Eye frozen Butternut Squash. The Jewel hasn't carried it for quite some time, and has intimated, when we've asked, that Birds Eye doesn't sell it anymore. Wrong. TI had plenty of it.

Once again, we said, "why don't we come here more often," but this time, I think we may do something about it.