Urban Fresh

Has anyone been? I just received my coupons in the mail yesterday. It looks as if you may have to get a special value type rewards card. I drove by this weekend, and it looks as if it is open.

Urban Fresh by Jewel
1910 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL
(old Sunflower Market space)

It is in fact open. Walked by it yesterday. I will give it a shot but I must say the "by Jewel" subtitle/tagline is a complete turnoff... from a marketing perspective wouldn't they do better just leaving that off? Seems to me people who would shop there would be looking to an alternative to jewel. Anyways - ill check it out tonight.

I've been, it's a Jewel. They have a few extra token "healthy organic-y" things sprinkled in, and a big area of prepared foods, and the cases look pretty wheelchair friendly. But it's more like any other Jewel than anything else.

I was surprised how decent the Jewel just down Ashland from Whole Foods has gotten in that regard. Certainly a lot more of my Whole Foods-only brands than they used to have. Despite that, yeah, the "By Jewel" says "Yes, you'll find Rudy's Bakery breads, but don't worry, lots of green bananas and canteloupes you could shoot hoops with, too!"

I stopped in last Friday but left without buying anything. There wasn't anything wrong with the store, I guess I was just expecting something different. They had a few of the items I buy regularly, like Fage yogurt, but the price was actually more than I'd paid recently at Treasure Island. And the flavor and size options were fewer. I know that's just one example but nothing stood out enough to make me want to return.

Went last night. The above posters are definitely correct. The produce is decent, there is more organic than you'd see in a normal jewel but the prices are basically the same as whole foods while the product is inferior. Most noticeable was the meat department, which looked pretty bad.

I don't see this store lasting very long. Can't Imagine many people would want to go there over WF, TJ, TI, or Dominics which are all really close. One other thing of note was they had no normal checkout lines, only self-checkout.

One other thing of note was they had no normal checkout lines, only self-checkout.

Okay! No need to ever go there for me, then.

Thanks for taking one for the team everybody. I was just hoping it could be the place I could pick up the few specific grocery items I need that I can't get at Trader Joe's, such as low sugar yogurt, bran buds, name brand stuff. Being able to pull into the parking lot and not fight the crowd has always been the only selling point to me. I went to Sunflower, but never ended up buying much of anything. Did anyone check out the wine and cheese section? The self checkout is a real dud.

Wine and cheese selection was.... I'll call it uninspired. They did have a couple local beers tho.

Wheattoast wrote:One other thing of note was they had no normal checkout lines, only self-checkout.

I was there the 3rd day they were open and definitely didn't do a self checkout, for what it's worth. My Groceries were scanned and bagged as per usual.

My impression was more or less the same as everyone else's. I think the bottom line is that they're trying to do two things: 1) provide a "higher end" shopping experience more like Whole Foods, but 2) still provide all the standard non-fussy commercial pantry items you get at Jewel or wherever. The problem is that, in trying to do both things well, they end up just doing an overall mediocre job. The place simply isn't big enough to carry a broad enough selection of both those things.

I agree with the other poster that the cheese selection was "uninspired." Ditto with the selection of olive oils, which I needed when I was there and turned my nose up at. They also had a fairly short supply and choice of canned beans. I went in there looking for Goya black beans (my brand of choice) which the Jewel on Ashland always carries, but this place didn't.

The one thing I was heartened to see was that in the meat section there was a relatively large selection of pre-packaged lamb--something you don't usually see at mega-marts. I don't eat enough lamb to make that little tid-bit worth the trip, but thought it was interesting.

Last note is that I ended up talking to the Assistant Manager (I asked a staff member where something was located and it wound up being him) and ended up talking to him for a few minutes about the place. If I remember correctly, I think the guy's name was Tito. He basically told me Jewel was dying to make this place work for them and that he had carte blanche to order "anything" his customers wanted.

He pressed me a bit about what I wanted to see there and how to make it better. As I didn't expect to be back I demurred on any specific requests.

I visited the store last Saturday and was told by one of the woman passing out samples that this was the first location for Urban Fresh. She said the concept is to make each location a grocery store that caters to what the people in that particular neighborhood want. She said if this one is successful they will roll the concept out to other areas of the city.

I'm just wondering what will go in that space next?

When I was there they were handing out samples of *cough* Rolling Rock... Not so sure what that's all about.

MrBarossa wrote:\My impression was more or less the same as everyone else's. I think the bottom line is that they're trying to do two things: 1) provide a "higher end" shopping experience more like Whole Foods, but 2) still provide all the standard non-fussy commercial pantry items you get at Jewel or wherever. The problem is that, in trying to do both things well, they end up just doing an overall mediocre job.

Wow. . . that shopping experience sounds eerily similar to some other store . . that closed recently . . . what was its name? Oh! Sunflower Market!

I went to see it for myself and ended up really liking the store. It is perfect for the after Trader Joe's shop. It had all the name brands of things I want, paper towels, laundry soap etc . I wanted some Tostitos whole grain chips, they didn't have them, and the assistant manager said they would be there the next time I came in. I know it's like a Jewel, but it's convenient for me. I was in and out of there in fifteen minutes. However, there were not many customers in there. The check out area did have live humans, although the space is pretty small. The poster above says why would you go there instead of WF, three reasons for me, the parking lot, price and name brand products WF does not carry(dannon light and fit yogurt ,off the top of my head). I also like the small Jewel key card, that is Urban Fresh and Jewel combined, so I didn't need room for another preferred card.

So, while it's not anything special, it's going to be very convenient for me.

" I also like the small Jewel key card, that is Urban Fresh and Jewel combined, so I didn't need room for another preferred card. "

Three or four years ago, the Wall Street Journal did an article on preferred cards. They made up a standard, complete shopping list that was designed to include as many "specials" as possible.

They then bought - or at least priced - the complete list in two stores in each of five or six cities across the country. One store in each city offered preferred cards, the other didn't.

In EVERY city, the whole list was more expensive in the preferred card store than in the non-card store, regardless of the "deals" offered for some items based on the card. So, if they earn your shopping loyalty with the card, you're getting s*****d.

This didn't last long:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... 9012.story

Trying new things - and paying your hard-earned money for the experiment - is a good thing, not bad . . . for a business to undertake. Supervalu/Jewel has been trying various different marketing concepts . . . and not all have failed. The expansion of the Kosher food section - in the Evanston (Howard St.) Jewel - has been successful, from the look of it (the concept was launched pre-ownership of Jewel by Supervalu, though - but expanded under Supervalu). Sorry to hear this particular - Urban Fresh - concept couldn't be adapted for the marketplace and I hope the company continues to focus efforts on localizing their stores. Thanks for the update.

I just got a $5 off Jewel coupon with a letter saying Urban Fresh was closing. This is a loss for me, because it was so handy to run into this place after Trader Joe's and get some name brand stuff that TJ's didn't carry. Plus they had Bohemia beer that even Sam's Wine across the street didn't carry.