Frankly, it would never even occur to me to look for miso at Dominick's. That may be because we are fortunate to live near to Argyle Street and its markets and Golden Pacific, but still, we will often forego Asian products at Dominick's even when they have what we're looking for; often the brands aren't the best (e.g., coconut milk) or the selection is poor or they simply don't have what we need. But I wouldn't skip Dominick's simply because they don't carry miso.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Frankly, it would never even occur to me to look for miso at Dominick's. That may be because we are fortunate to live near to Argyle Street and its markets and Golden Pacific, but still, we will often forego Asian products at Dominick's even when they have what we're looking for; often the brands aren't the best (e.g., coconut milk) or the selection is poor or they simply don't have what we need. But I wouldn't skip Dominick's simply because they don't carry miso.

Normally I wouldn't either, but he had finished our shopping at Peoria Packing and Stanley's Fruit Market and all we needed still were English muffins and miso. The Dominick's was basically on the way and I figured they would have both.

It took a while to find the receipts, but it's been something like seven years since I set foot in a Dominick's...I live about six blocks from the Church/Chicago Whole Foods, and that's where I get my produce, fish, poultry, and meat (when I do indulge in any, for cooking at home). I hate the prices, but the only way the Food Combine is gonna give us access to good, unscrewed-up food is if we vote with our pocketbooks. Even Dominick's will come around -- I do hope -- if the crap-of-the-week isn't selling.

This is what passes for a $3 egg salad sandwich.


A pox on thee, Dominick's!

So, it's convenient, (I can drive right past the one in Morton Grove on my way home)
but last Friday I stopped in to buy some hamburgers to cook that night, and there were None!

I mean REALLY????

What kind of a GROCERY STORE has NO HAMBURGERS????

Oh they had frozen ones, but I just wanted like a nice raw juicy hamburger I didn't have to make up myself,
like the nice pub burger I eventually purchased at Jewel.
That is like the 3rd time in 6 weeks I have not been able to obtain something relatively simple at a Dominick's.

I AM DONE!

Just had the most irritating experience buying groceries. When it came time to pay, I needed change to reimburse my girlfriend for my 1/2. I pulled out my money to give to the cashier and she refused it and told me I had to go to customer service as she already put my girlfriends card through (in spite of me telling her beforehand). Co. policy.

Jazzfood wrote:Just had the most irritating experience buying groceries. When it came time to pay, I needed change to reimburse my girlfriend for my 1/2. I pulled out my money to give to the cashier and she refused it and told me I had to go to customer service as she already put my girlfriends card through (in spite of me telling her beforehand). Co. policy.

In her defense, many cashiers are not allowed to open a register in order to make change. You could have opted to pay for part in cash, but it would have to be before she ran the card. If she heard and understood what you wanted, she should have offered and explained that but I am guessing she didn't get it at all. It's just kind of a complicated thing to ask someone in that kind of position.

That said, I hate Dominicks too. I went to check out at one recently, around 10PM, and not only couldn't see a cashier but couldn't see an employee anywhere nearby. There were a couple of other customers looking around like WTF? It was almost scary, like maybe everyone was being held hostage in a back room or something. Finally we started yoo-hooing and this woman came along all grumpy like, "Hold on, I'm coming." Really seemed to be business as usual there.

It wasn't after the fact. The register was open. I was wanting to give her my 1/2 in cash. She closed it and told me I'd have to go to customer service.

Oh, I read it as you just wanting change to give to your girlfriend, not to pay for part of it. Yeah, she could almost certainly have done that as long as she knew in time.

In today's Chicago Tribune is an article by the Problem Solver about a 26-year Dominick's employee (male) who was suspended for wearing earrings on the job. http://trib.in/n5yZYu has the details.

Pet peeve: the term "reverse sexism". If it's discrimination based on sex, it's sexism. That term is universal.

That said, this is shitty. Good thing the guy has a union to back him up. I just wish this sort of thing was unusual or uncommon.

He's too old to be wearing earrings.

Just another member of the "look at me" element of our society if you ask me.

MincyBits wrote:Pet peeve: the term "reverse sexism". If it's discrimination based on sex, it's sexism. That term is universal.

Totally agree with that. Actually using the term reverse sexism seems sexist on its own.

That totally sucs, but are we completely sure thats what he got fired for? That seems a little unusual.

YourPalWill wrote:He's too old to be wearing earrings.

Just another member of the "look at me" element of our society if you ask me.

Really? It could just as easily be said that anyone that drives a car that costs more than $30k is screaming, "look at me!" He has a piercing; get over it.

Am I the only one who read far enough into the article to discover this ridiculous tidbit:

"Last year, his company gave him small heart-shaped earrings to commemorate his 25 years with the chain, he said. He was wearing those earrings when he was suspended (underline, mine)."

Is it any wonder that this once proud, locally owned company is going downhill? Once again, Safeway proves they have no idea how to relate either to their customers or their employees. On the other hand, every owner of a thriving, local independent grocery should be grateful for the ineptitude of Safeway's California owners.

Keep your eyes open for more Mariano's courtesy of Roundy's and the coming introduction of high end Cleveland grocer, Heinen's, arriving in Barrington, with more to come in the near future.

Buddy

Two things...

Read the entire article (in the paper this morning)

#1 the guy has not been fired (yet) he has been suspended without pay

#2 one manager does not like males with earrings, let us not blame the WHOLE company......

per my conversation with a Dominicks employee, this is another example of Safeway management running roughshod over the longtime Dominicks folks.

In my childhood, Safeway was the crappy, depressing, Hard Times Store that was to be avoided unless Raley's was on fire. So, so sad that it followed me here.

Dominick's employee allowed back to work - http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... wrap-82511

Dominick's has been a household name for my parents for quite a long time. I grew up very near the Damen and Ridge location and we would go there fairly often and I liked it very much. Housebranded items were always good (every Thanksgiving we looked forward to the Dominick's branded turkey) and the bakery was always fresh, the people that worked there were super nice and friendly. Flash forward to Safeway acquiring the chain. Nothing seemed the same after that. Everything is just so overpriced compared to all other grocery stores and they got rid of a lot of what once made them good. My parents still go Dominick's for their staples I think because they are so used to it though my dad always complains about price (he can afford to shop there on a weekly basis unlike most ordinary folks). I sometimes still go with them to the location on McCormick in Lincolnwood or when there is a good sale on something I may hop over myself and get the item but I never actually do groceries there and when the whole out of date mess broke out several months ago I was not surprised for some weird reason though I don't believe I'd ever experienced buying anything out of date. Despite all this I must say customer service in the Lincolnwood store is always pretty friendly and helpful.

Hi- I used to hate Dominick's after Safeway took them over. It seemed like they were more expensive than Jewel, and their produce was usually awful. It seems like the last couple of years the quality of the produce has improved, although it still is not great. 7 months out of the year, I buy very little produce in the stores anyway, because I shop at the Evanston Farmer's market. About the only thing I have bought this summer in the brick and morter stores is lemons, that I usually buy at Whole Foods. Lemons are almost always cheaper at Whole Foods than they are at Dominick's or Jewel, and the quality is better.

I have been shopping at Dominick's more lately though, because of their F4L program and their deal match. If you sign up for their food for less program on their website, you can get some wonderful deals. Your deals are customized according to what your shopping history is. For instance, right now I can get Tropicana Pure Premium for $2.29, and Dominick's milk for $1.99 a gallon. I usually save at least 40% on my bill. They also have coupons on their website, that you can load onto your shopping card.

They have also recently rolled out their deal match program, which you can also sign up for on their website. Deal Match matches prices for some of the items that are on sale at Jewel and Target. Yoou have to sign up for that online to be eligible for it. At least once a week I get emails from Dominick's telling me that they are more coupons available, or that they have more J4U offers to sign up for. One of the nice things about this program is that you don't have to cut out the super coupons anymore that you see in the Dominick's flyers. You can just go to the website, and have the super coupon applied to your FV card. I think they implemented these two programs to try and increase their market share.

I still go to Jewel occasionally to hit a good sale, and Whole Foods to get some bulk stuff and oeanut butter and cheese, but I have been going to Dominick's more lately than the other stores combined. Hope this helps, Nancy

I agree, Nancy; I like the website deals too. Your post reminded me to do my weekly check and print out my list.

I can't stand the nearest Dominick's (Route 60 in Vernon Hills), but I enjoy visiting the one in Mundelein (Route 176) and the two in Buffalo Grove (Half Day and Lake-Cook). Did I say that already? Probably. It's just that one Dominick's that I loathe.

Other things I thoroughly loathe are the weekly flyer from Jewel and Jewel's annoying new sales combo gimmicks. Buy 6 get 1 free must buy 12. Buy any 10 from this group for $10, there's only one of the 10 things in the group I'd want to spend a dollar on. Sale prices on this page are good all week, these on this other page only Friday Saturday Sunday, these others only Monday and Wednesday, these others Friday only. Perhaps that all belongs in an "I've joined the 'I loathe Jewel' crowd" rant. My point is, I much prefer where Dominick's has gone with using the website to make discounts available to its cardholders.

Hi- I forgot about the dozen free eggs you get when you sign up for J3U on the Dominick's website. Dominick's is also doing a deal match on Kellogg's Cereal. If you buy 6 boxes of kellogg's cereal, you get it for $1.88 each, and you also get a coupon for a free gallon of milk at Dominick's. You have to purchase raisin bran or one other cereal, to get the coupon at the register. Kellogg's also has an offer right now through the end of the year, where for each 10 proofs of purchase from select Kellogg's cereal you send in, you get a $10 gas card. You can do this 5 times, and there is no register receipt required. You can use your raisin bran proofs of purchase for that, along with a bunch of other Kellogg's cereal.

When Jewel has a 10 for $10 sale, you do not have to buy 10. You can just buy 1 if you want to. I know the ad is kind of misleading.

I visit Jill Caltado's website at least once a week, aznd she does a deals of the week for all the chains in the Chicago area, including CVS and Walgreen's. There are all kinds of Catalina deals you can do at Dominicks and Jewel, where if you spend $30 on a large group of items, you get a coupon for $10 on your next shopping order. Lots of times they are centered around a particular company, such as Proctor and Gamble. The $30 purchase is before you deduct for coupons, and is usually the regular price for the item. You can purchase Tide which is normally$10 on sale for $7, and use a dollar coupon, and get it for $6. The regular price of $10 is factored into the $30 purchase requirement, and so all you have to do is purchase 3 bottles of Tide for the total price of $18, and get a checkout coupon for $10 off your next shopping trip. Jill does Supercouponing workshops at libraries and other places in the Chicago area, and most of them are free. Her workshop schedule is on her website.

http://www.jillcataldo.com/dealsoftheweek101011

Hope this helps, Nancy

Just to add my $0.02... A couple months ago I was looking for some beef back ribs. (I like the way they cook up on my Weber. ) I didn't see them on the shelf so I asked the guy behind the meat counter and he brought out a pair of racks in cryovac pack. When I opened them up to prepare them, I found they had been trimmed so carefully that there were gaps between some of the bones. There wasn't a lot of meat on those bones. I'm glad I overbought planning for leftovers. (There weren't any.)

I did complain to their customer service and they told me to bring the meat back with the receipt. I hadn't saved the bones. I need to find a better place to find beef back ribs. It's not Dominicks.

Hi- The only meat I have bought at Dominick's lately is the salmon burgers and some chicken sausage. I won't buy storebrand or Tyson or Perdue chicken there. On the rare occasion I buy chicken breasts, I buy them at Whole Foods. Right now thanks to their J4U program, I can get 80% lean ground beef for $1.48, which is a lot cheaper than Aldi's, but I rarely buy red meet, and so I passed on that. Hope this helps, Nancy

HankB wrote:Just to add my $0.02... A couple months ago I was looking for some beef back ribs. (I like the way they cook up on my Weber. ) I didn't see them on the shelf so I asked the guy behind the meat counter and he brought out a pair of racks in cryovac pack. When I opened them up to prepare them, I found they had been trimmed so carefully that there were gaps between some of the bones. There wasn't a lot of meat on those bones. I'm glad I overbought planning for leftovers. (There weren't any.)

That's been my experience at several stores lately including Peoria and Caputo's in Elmwood Park. The thing I don't get is that these stores have cross-cut Korean style short ribs with plenty of meat on them, but trying to get beef back ribs witheven a little meat seems impossible.

zoid wrote:

HankB wrote:Just to add my $0.02... A couple months ago I was looking for some beef back ribs. (I like the way they cook up on my Weber. ) I didn't see them on the shelf so I asked the guy behind the meat counter and he brought out a pair of racks in cryovac pack. When I opened them up to prepare them, I found they had been trimmed so carefully that there were gaps between some of the bones. There wasn't a lot of meat on those bones. I'm glad I overbought planning for leftovers. (There weren't any.)

That's been my experience at several stores lately including Peoria and Caputo's in Elmwood Park. The thing I don't get is that these stores have cross-cut Korean style short ribs with plenty of meat on them, but trying to get beef back ribs witheven a little meat seems impossible.

Zoid,

Korean style short ribs (flanken) are exactly that - short ribs

Beef ribs are separated from the "prime rib".

Two totally different cuts. Short ribs have meat on them. When the rib eyes are separated from the rib bones, most meat cutters want to maximize profit by selling the product as boneless rib eye steaks or roasts, rather as rib bones.

How old is the location in River Forest on North Ave? I swear it is like walking into a time warp and not a very good one. Just tiny with not much of a selection and the poor store has a look of mustiness. No, it doesn't smell musty it just looks it. I am surprised this one is still open considering the competition from Caputo's in Elmwood Park, Trader Joe's in Oak Park, Meijor's and Tony's in Melrose Park and all the other smaller fruit markets in between. Went in there last week looking for a sale item (they were out, surprise, surprise) and for a very late Friday afternoon there was hardly many customers. Had to go to the Clybourne location to get what I needed.

Growing up in Schaumburg, pre-Woodfield when we moved in (72/Higgins was DIRT by our house, now six lanes concrete) Dominicks was one of the two local grocery stores. When I moved back to the midwest, I took my wife down to show her where I grew up. One of the places I stopped into was the Dominics. Amazing how it had changed for the worse. I found it dirty, lower quality produce, etc.
This was even before Safeway bought them out! They were off of my list from then on.
I wish that Jewel had kept with their Wisconsin expansion - the store by me was wonderful and had a great fish counter.

Hi- I don't buy a lot of produce at Dominick's. I think this winter all I have bought have been from Clementines, a few bags of baby carrots, a head of cabbage, strawberries, and some bananas, when I had them on my J4U. Right now I can get them for 49 cents. I also drink a lot of orange juice when I can get it for under $3 a carton.

I don't get excited about Dominick's produce department, although it is better than it was 10 years ago. When the farmer's market is open, I rarely buy any peoduce at Dominick's or Jewel. With all this crazy hot weather we had in March, one of the farmers at the winter market in Evanston had spinach, asparagus green onions and leaf lettuce for sale, as well as leeks, apples and potatoes from last years crop. Hope this helps, Nancy