New Trader Joe's??

I heard today from someone who works in my building in Forest Park that someone she knows has a dad or FIL who talks to the construction guys working on the condo project on Madison St. in Forest Park. According to her, a Trader Joe's and Starbucks are going into the ground floor of that space. No info on the Trader Joe website about opening locations. Anyone else hear this?

Marmish,

I have not heard anything about a Trader Joe's going in there, and although it's possible, of course, that kind of information would definitely be news in this neighborhood. Some months ago, there was a plan to put a Trader Joe's into a building to be constructed around Harlem and Ontario -- this plan was defeated by typically zealous "last one in pull up the drawbridge" Oak Parkers. That said, I hope the rumor is correct.

Hammond

You're all welcome to come enjoy our neighborhood Trader's Joe's at Lincoln and Grace. Plenty of three-buck-Chuck and a really good Czech beer for $5.99/6 pack.

February 10 is singles night. Too bad (on so many levels) I have to be in Fond du Lac that night.

Generally TJ's has a "coming soon" announcement on their website AFTER they have inked a lease ...

Twice they have advertised that they'd be opening a place in Algonquin but it still has not occurred ...

The Trader Joe's was part of the project at Ontario and Harlem. This project got nixed 'cause of building height, but I saw a few weeks ago in one of the village papers that the project was back on. So, if a TJ does come to Oak Park, I think it will be at/around Ontario and Harlem, not Madison.

Rob

I have heard that the Starbucks is a definite for that building. It will be on the Eastern end of the building along Madison St.

Well, with the Starbucks confirmed, I can only hope that the TJ rumor is true. Thanks icfan.

We all know that Trader Joe's is owned by the same company that operates the Aldi food stores.

airfairs wrote:We all know that Trader Joe's is owned by the same company that operates the Aldi food stores.

What's your point?

They started knocking down that small apt. building at Harlem and Ontario that was adjacent to the garage and the Borders this week. I also haven't heard any other Forest Park gossip about the Madison St. location.

I undestand that is still may happen at Harlem/Ontarion. I agree with a fellow patron getting their haircut at the same time as I was at Joseph Dells in OP - "I don't care what they do with the condos there as long as there is a Trader Joe's".
From OP, you can get to TJ's in LaGrange in about 15 minutes if you don't hit traffic...
LO

To add an additional rumor:

I've happily turned my folks* on to TJs. I'm in town for my Spring Break (Heh, if you wanna call this Spring) and my mother remarked that TJs was considering downtown Park Ridge for a store. Apparently, the liquor square footage laws are a bit of an issue but the city is working to clear the way for Joe and his subordinate Traders. Currently, the nearest store is the Glenview location.


*And Thai, and Mexican, and Middle Eastern.

Knowledge is power. If we were not interested in knowing as much as we can about restaurants, food suppliers, etc, why would we be on this BB

airfairs wrote:Knowledge is power. If we were not interested in knowing as much as we can about restaurants, food suppliers, etc, why would we be on this BB

We all seek knowledge--but information without relevancy is clutter. So when you say, "We all know that Trader Joe's is owned by the same company that operates the Aldi stores" you beg the question that was succinctly asked by Marmish.

edited for spelling error

airfairs wrote:Knowledge is power. If we were not interested in knowing as much as we can about restaurants, food suppliers, etc, why would we be on this BB

Welcome Airfairs!

Sorry for the bumpy start. Though I might have treated your information as a factoid. I think our friends here want to know more about the connection and what you expected to convey.

Aldi for many years was known to me as Aldi-discount-stores from their ad slogan. About 12 years ago, I had friends visiting from Holland whom I shared the new year with. We were on Montrose Avenue by Lutz's, when we passed the Aldi there. Rolf exclaimed, "Wow, I didn't know Aldi was in the United States! What do you think of that store?" I described them as somewhat warehouse style economy grocery stores. Granted I have never been in one, but I gleaned this from reading articles and from friends who did shop Aldis.

My friends described Aldi's in Europe like we would have described Jewel or Dominick's in their prime competitive mode. Clearly, Aldi in Europe was a higher end store than the examples I had seen in the Chicago area.

Acquisitioning Trader Joes certainly is in harmony with their general business plan. I fall into the take-it-or-leave-it camp when it comes to Trader Joes. I shop there rarely and if it disapeered would not be missed. I'm benign.

So if you feel Trader Joes is likely to go downhill or uphill with its being acquired by Aldi. Well, opine away and we'll see what does eventually happen.

Anyway, my mind collects factoids like nobody's brother, so I do appreciate the information.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:So if you feel Trader Joes is likely to go downhill or uphill with its being acquired by Aldi. Well, opine away and we'll see what does eventually happen.

Anyway, my mind collects factoids like nobody's brother, so I do appreciate the information

Cathy,

One more little factoid for you. Trader Joe's has been owned by Aldi since 1979.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hi,

You learn something every day. Though a quick google sends the acquisition back to 1977.

Thank you

I kept my mouth shut for a while.

A few months ago on CH, I posted a three page analysis of the busines models of the various markets in this area.

Then I said that there were two places that did not fit a mold - TJ's and Aldi's. At the time, I did not know that they had common ownership. There are MANY similarities between the stores other than the products they sell and their target market.

These include:

1) They both operate on the lowest overhead model - lower than even WalMart, IMO. Heck, look at the trucks they deliver the goods in.

2) They sell mostly prvate label goods. That means that they do NOT share in the marketing costs of the manufacturers (8-10% in some cases).

3) They have a very small staff. Aldi's have 2 managers and 3-4 cashiers and that is all.

4) They operate with very limited SKUs.

5) They turn their inventories every 2-4 days. Aldi's turns their inventory faster than TJs. I would bet you that they one of the highest sales per square footage.

6) They tend to have one of the higher stock-outs in the industry. Both stores never have everything in stock.

Personally, I like Aldi's a lot as their prices are 40-50% cheaper than Hewel and Dominick's and the quality is generally similar.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

You learn something every day. Though a quick google sends the acquisition back to 1977.

Cathy,

Hoover's says '79

Not that that makes much of a difference, at least to me.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

I defer to your sources. It is German, which I thought may be the case but wasn't precisely sure.

jlawrence,

Your observations are very interesting. A tightly run ship from your description.

Thanks!

A tightly run, extremely anti-union ship. Not that the UFCW is a particularly effective or dangerous-to-management union anyway.

Among other things, Aldi forces people like General Mills and others to manufacture the aldi house brand at a very low price. The corn flakes in the aldi box are identical to Kelloggs, for example.

There are two Aldis, Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, each owned by an Albrecht brother. The brother who owns Sud is worth something on the order of $23 billion. The other is worth somewhere around $3bn. They're very secretive and don't release any financial information if they can avoid it. Since they have no shareholders, they don't have to do anything really.

I believe the $23bn brother owns Aldi USA/TJs.

I like trader joe's, and I tolerate Aldi. I don't really like any of the chain grocery stores - dominick's, aldi, jewel, and such - just because they generally offer either a miserable selection or have horrible prices, or both.

Anyway, a trader joe's in oak park would be welcome.


edited to fix nord/sud

Yes, ever since I discovered the relationship between Aldi's and Trader Joe's I have felt that they were basically the same store aimed at different demographics-- identify one market, strip your selection down to exactly their staples and nothing more, and make it yourself to keep costs down. Hey, works for me as a very typical TJ's customer.

As I understand it a big part of Aldi's appeal is also that everything is pre-approved by food stamps, welfare, whoever.* So no embarassment in the checkout line when the clerk has to tell you that you can't have Quaker Oats oatmeal, you have to go get the generic brand. Essentially, it's all generic brands. Avoiding yet another soulcrushing encounter with the fact of your reliance upon the state has got to be a major motivator for that crowd (he said, as someone who once applied for unemployment and quickly vowed never, in any way, to be forced to depend on the state for my bread and butter ever again).

* Well, not things like the occasional computer sales they have, I'm sure.

I am not a great Aldi's fan - although the new Crystal Lake manager has improved the customer service of the operation considerably. The staff no longer THROWS my two items into the basket as they had.

However, when I can get a dozen eggs for $0.89 and saltines for 0.89 when the Woodstock Jewel charges $1.99 and $2.29 for the same items, why not shop there.

For the record, at least in my neck of the woods, Aldi's customer base is NOT large welfare folks. When I lived in St Louis, most of the welfare types preferred to shop at the local Schnuck's. Generally, unless it has changed recently, the only requirement for food stamps is that it be used for food. I think you are referring to the WIC program which has a very detailed list of items that you can buy (as it should as it is more of a nutrition program).

I guess my age is showing, and that I have a good memory. The Aldi food's, were closed down in the midwest, by the FDA, way back in the summer of 1987.

The sanitary conditions, and rat infestation were so bad, the warehouses were closed for some time. Tonnes of food were destroyed. Several stores were also inspected, and also closed. (Check the Chicago Tribune's archives.)

I know that all this happened years ago, but once I get something in my head, it is difficult to shake it off.

So for that reason, and the fact that Aldi does not offer a lot of choices, I do think less of them, than Jewel/Dominicks.

Hi Airfairs,

I did as you suggested and found an article by John Kass from 1987 on the rat infestations and warehouse issues. For your edification, we get a bit antsy about those claims unless they can be verified. In the future, rather than directing us to check the archives, perhaps link to archived summary for anyone to quickly check. If it were unsubstantiated, then we ask posters to edit out those statements.

Though warehouses were closed, it appears the markets themselves stayed open:

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotrib ... 1110133497

I just checked this link, it brings you to a keyword search with 'aldi infestations' already present, just hit search to collect 4 article summaries. Please note you must be registered with the Chicago Tribune to access these.

Regards,

We were at the LaGrange TJ's and asked them if they new the status of a new store in Oak Park. They said they want to open a store in Oak Park, but its still in the rumor phase. The earliest it would happen, according to them, was end of 2006.
LO

Update on the Aldi/TJs owning brothers...

The new Forbes billionaire list just came out, and both brothers made the top 20:

8. Karl Albrecht Germany 18.5 (supermarkets)

20. Theo Albrecht Germany 15.5 (supermarkets)


looks like theo's been catching up on Karl.

Looks like it's somewhat more official now...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0503110245mar11,1,6822322.story?coll=chi-business-hed (registration required).

Holly of Uptown wrote:Looks like it's somewhat more official now...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0503110245mar11,1,6822322.story?coll=chi-business-hed (registration required).

Holly,
Thanks for the link. I would have missed it in the Trib. For those who aren't registered, here's a snippet...

The $47 million project on what is now a parking lot on the southeast corner of Harlem Avenue and Ontario Street was approved 5-2 by the board this week. Merrillville, Ind.-based developer Whiteco Residential will build 200 apartment units in a 14-story building, about 14,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space anchored by a much-coveted Trader Joe's specialty grocery and six town homes along Ontario Street.