KajmacJohnson wrote:How old is the location in River Forest on North Ave?

Oh boy, I just did some research and found out that this particular location dates back to the late 50s. My guess was actually late 60s/early 70s.

I actually grew up a few blocks from the one on Ridge ave in Rogers Park/West Ridge and while always pricey (even pre Safeway buy out) they were still a good place to get your groceries and sometimes the produce was not half bad. Something was lost in the translation when Safeway took over. Never the same after that. Although, I do prefer their liquor selection to Jewel's anyday because it seems bigger and the prices are actually more reasonable especially sales wise.

Hi- The Dominick's I go to at Dempster/Dodge in Evanston, had a really good wine clearance sale last week. I don't buy a lot of wine, and so I passed on it, but I believe it was 50% off, and they had at least four shopping carts full of it.

I agree that Dominick's went down after Safeway took them over. From what I've heard, the long term Dominick's employees hate working for Safeway, and they would love to have another grocer take over. I thought that Safeway had a buyer a few years ago, but I guess it fell through. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- The Dominick's I go to at Dempster/Dodge in Evanston, had a really good wine clearance sale last week. I don't buy a lot of wine, and so I passed on it, but I believe it was 50% off, and they had at least four shopping carts full of it.

I agree that Dominick's went down after Safeway took them over. From what I've heard, the long term Dominick's employees hate working for Safeway, and they would love to have another grocer take over. I thought that Safeway had a buyer a few years ago, but I guess it fell through. Hope this helps, Nancy

Yea, Safeway has been trying to sell off Dominick's for a while now with no success. They really ruined the chain and need a buyer with some knowledge of how to get back to the Dominick's of old if they want hope for a future.

They closed the Dominick's on Rt. 50 in Vernon Hills which was open last week.

Safeway had a chance to sell the entire chain to Roundy's a few years back but declined the offer.

Seeing how the Mariano's in the NW suburbs are packed night and day, Roundy no longer needs Dominicks to break into the Chicagoland market.

My question is how long can Dominick's hold on? They are cutting their prices and still are not competitive with the other markets in the area.

And Jewel may have some problems ahead with all the problems going on at SuperValu these days - 3-4 layoffs in the last 12 months.

Oh Dear Gosh. Roundy's is a very, very crappy chain. As I understand it from a few of the managers the plan was to make the books look better and then roll over the chain to someone like Kroger. That obviously failed. The pic-n-save part is just awful. Everyone calls him "chairman Boob" instead of the advertised "chairman Bob" You will notice something at the Marianos's chain - enough people to man the check outs. Try finding that at any pic-n-save. The hours of the so called "service counter" have been cut so far back that they well as not be manned. When a new "higher end" metro market had a grand opening by me, all of the checkout lanes were manned. I tried to make a joke to the woman checking me out by asking how long this was going to be the case. She didn't take it as a joke and replied "Two weeks and you will see the same lack of caring as Pic-n-save. we all go back to our home stores then". The private branded items are pushing out the name brands so they get a higher margin. Roundy's tried to find a buyer, but failed - the reason they went for the IPO to reduce debt. BTW - they also had to revise the IPO price downward. Stock seem to be doing OK now.
http://www.jsonline.com/business/roundy ... 26473.html
Chairman Boob was the former CEO of Dominicks. When they were being put up for sale to any available buyer, the comments in the newspaper were so horrid, that any buyer obviously had a head's up that there was a lot of lost goodwill and with the cash required to bring the stores back into the main stream made the purchase a losing proposition.

They are the closest place to me for grocery shopping. Due to the long lines and so-so quality I drive further to go to Sendiks or Woodmans.

This article from 2010 pretty much sums up their problems:
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/pr ... l?page=all

To finish off, an interesting read from the employees perspective:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Roundy ... 960_P2.htm

Hi- The coupon blog that I read had a link recently to a retailwire article. which mentioned that Dominick's associates have been informed that if a customer does not have a fresh values card, that they cannot get a discount. If you have forgotten your card, you can give the cashier your phone number, but they cannot scan a generic card, so you can still get the discounts.

At Jewel, if you tell them you forgot your card, then they will scan a generic card for you, but Dominick's cashiers are expressly told that they cannot do this. They want you to get a loyalty card, so they can collect data about your shopping history. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.retailwire.com/discussion/15 ... -discounts

One of my sisters who lives in New Orleans, refuses to get a loyalty card, because of privacy issues, and one of the stores she frequents there uses a loyalty card, and she just tells them that she does not have hers, and can they scan one for her. She would not go to Dominick's if they refused to scan their card for her.

It is policies like this at Dominick's that turns customers off. There still continues to be problems with expired foods at Dominick's, and there are twice as many Jewel stores as there are Dominick's too in the Chicago area. The only reason I do the majority of my shopping at Dominick's is because of the JfU program. If they ever discontinued that program, I would go back to Jewel. Hope this helps, Nancy

jlawrence01 wrote:They closed the Dominick's on Rt. 50 in Vernon Hills which was open last week.

Safeway had a chance to sell the entire chain to Roundy's a few years back but declined the offer.

Seeing how the Mariano's in the NW suburbs are packed night and day, Roundy no longer needs Dominicks to break into the Chicagoland market.

My question is how long can Dominick's hold on? They are cutting their prices and still are not competitive with the other markets in the area.

And Jewel may have some problems ahead with all the problems going on at SuperValu these days - 3-4 layoffs in the last 12 months.

I don't know how much longer Dominick's can hang on. If the competition keeps beating them I would say not much longer. My parents are loyal shoppers and they go to the Lincolnwood store every week and have been for about two decades but other than some of the newer locations surviving in places like Lincolnwood I really don't see much of a need for the more outdated stores like the one in River Forest. I am surprised that with the remodeling of some of the older locations (Foster/Lincoln comes to mind) they have not touched this one at all. I wouldn't be surprised if this location ended up closing abruptly soon as well.

Jewel is not that much better but hands down they are way busier than Dominick's.

This is an interesting thread. I sometimes go to the Dominick's in Bannockburn for an item or two (where are all the customers?). I just don't like their overall selection and I hear that from other people. I normally go to the Jewel in Highland Park which is always crowded and is open until midnight. Dominicks in Bannockburn is a ghost town by 7:00 or 8:00. I like Sunset Foods in HP too, which I grew up with since I was 7. They always had great service (empty the cart for you, put the bags in the car) and they really try to carry lots of off brands which makes finding new items fun. You can find tons of small label things for BBQ sauce or popcorn or snacks, even Bell and Evans chicken that you usually find at Whole Foods. The only drawback is that it's a tight store, but it gives it a small town charm. I admit I am more of a restaurant guy than a grocery shopper at this point in life, so I don't shop that much.

I also remember the infamous Byerly's that was in Highland Park in 1996-97. They closed after a year and sold to Dominick's which was a strange move considering there was a Dominick's about 2 miles away in Bannockburn. That Dominick's location didn't last long either. Even though Mariano's is rumored to be coming to Bannockburn (they should just take over that Dominick's altogether), I don't know if I'd shop there that much more than Jewel or Sunset. I wouldn't mind having the option though.

These huge supermarkets are so different than what I had in Skokie in the 70's. The little Osco-less Jewel on Dempster and Karlov that was around the corner from our house, and Happy Foods on Crawford which was really a throwback kind of place.

Roundy's must be doing something right.

According to your article, they have a 55% market share in Milwaukee despite expansions by Walmart and Woodman's.

And the Mariano's that I have been to are as crowded on the weekends as stores are at Christmas time. I would shop there more often but I don't get into Cook County all that often (and the prices are higher than I am used to paying, but less than Jewel and Dominicks).

Roundy's is losing market share like crazy. Sendiks is expanding, Woodmans is expanding, Walmart, etc. When Kohl's went under Pic-n-save had a severe lock on the area. What you are seeing now is the fact that many chains are moving in due to the high costs of pic-n-save and the poor quality of service, As stated in my earlier post - the "Chairman Boob" places named after him are showcases - not any indication of the standard store (140 vs two?). If they could not get a buyer for the chain, and HAD to do an IPO, what does that say?
The article from 2010 references says it all (paraphrasing) Why pay pic-n-save prices for their lack of service when you can pay the same prices at Sendiks for far better service. To this day it is true. Another interesting change is that the Pig has given up company owned stores to the Fox (brothers?). The Pig was not known for better prices, it was known for service (no lines like pic-n-save trying to check out). The Fox famile has brought in some quality products that do undermine Roundy;s.

Seriously - ask a Milwaukee shopper what they think of what has happened to the chain since Chairman Boob took over and you will get a very negative opinion. Now that they know that the sale of the place has gone against them, they have to improve to stay on top. With the debt load and Chairman Boob, it will be interesting to watch.

Ram4 wrote:I also remember the infamous Byerly's that was in Highland Park in 1996-97.

I loved Byerly's. I shopped at the one in Schaumburg, which is also now a Dominick's.

exvaxman wrote:Roundy's is losing market share like crazy. Sendiks is expanding, Woodmans is expanding, Walmart, etc.

I sure hope Woodman's opens more stores. It's the best grocery store in the Milwaukee area. (Although I'm incapable of getting out of there in less than an hour and a half.)

I just read an article about Woodman's last week - they open one store a year at best. Financials drive everything. The next one may be in Sun Prarie if they do not get the land they want in (Oconomowoc?)
I was at Woodman's last saturday in the Falls and saw huge lines. I went into the manager's office and asked that he take a look. All of a sudden lots more check out stations were manned. There is a drink that I give to my wife called "nero sleep". It helps her sleep and has ingredients that stop leg cramps. $1.89 at Woodmans. $2.38 everywhere else (pic-n-lose, the Pig, etc).

Old news, but the Dominick's in Carpentersville closed late last year: http://couriernews.suntimes.com/business/8448533-420/dominicks-closing-carpentersville-store.html

Funny how the article cites Walmart as a competitor, I just don't see that. This store was practically kitty-corner to Woodman's and in my view when Joe Caputo and Son's opened their super store in Lake in the Hills, it was the death of Dominicks. I or my wife would go to Dominick's or their one-time main competitor Jewel once in a blue moon when things like 12-packs of Pepsi or Coke were on sale. That's about it. The Dominick's store in particular was always empty.

Dominick's could not compete on price, service, quality, or selection. Personally, I think they might just be in an end-game scenario - hold onto what they can and make money while they can. I don't see a sudden rebirth of the chain.

Neighbor Mike wrote:Old news, but the Dominick's in Carpentersville closed late last year: http://couriernews.suntimes.com/business/8448533-420/dominicks-closing-carpentersville-store.html

Funny how the article cites Walmart as a competitor, I just don't see that. This store was practically kitty-corner to Woodman's and in my view when Joe Caputo and Son's opened their super store in Lake in the Hills, it was the death of Dominicks. I or my wife would go to Dominick's or their one-time main competitor Jewel once in a blue moon when things like 12-packs of Pepsi or Coke were on sale. That's about it. The Dominick's store in particular was always empty. .

The Walmart closest to the Carpentersville was a non-grocery store. Personally, I think that Meijers offered them more competition than Walmart OR Target.

Personally, I would not be surprised if the Jewel store at Randall and Algonquin did not close soon. It is an older store with absolutely no ambiance.

Dominick's seems to be trying a bit harder lately, at least at some stores. I was at the Northfield store yesterday, which is a smallish but very nice store with lots of ready-to-eat prepared food stations and a good layout. Produce and meat looked good. Prices don't compare to the independents but they're better than they were, and much of the stuff they had on sale were decent bargains. I bought London broil for $2.99/lb and Canada Dry ginger ale for $10/four 12-packs.

Moreover, they've now launched phone and online apps where you can load extra savings onto your Dominick's card. (I know, I know, it enables them to track your purchases.) Those deals included Oscar Mayer bacon at $2.99/lb. and Fresh Express Salad Blends for 88 cents a bag. They also now have a price-matching program where they'll give you the same prices as advertised by Jewel and Target.

So it's worth watching the ads (or the app) and picking up sale items. I'm sure they mean them as loss leaders, but I bought exactly one thing that wasn't on sale.

I haven't bought bread, meat or produce at Dominick's for years, but for everything else (pop,milk snacks, peanut butter, frozen foods etc), it is the cheapest store in the immediate area. The selection is not as nearly as good as pre-Safeway days (many brands I used to buy, are no longer available). I also don't like how generic the Safeway stores are. Dominicks managers used to be able to stock their stores based on the tastes of the neighborhood. There even used to be a Kosher Dominick's on Kedzie and Pratt, that actually lost money, but Dominick's thought it was important to serve that community. As soon as Safeway took over, they closed the store. I hate that I can't tell the difference from my local Dominick's and the Safeway my mother shops at in Arizona (even the layouts are similar).

That said, I recently discovered the Dominick's website (mentioned upstream), you can put coupons and other deals under your values card number, then they automatically apply the savings when you buy the products (no need to print out actual coupons). It even allows stacking of the online coupons with various other weekly deals and then allows you to combine them with printed coupons from other sources. I tried this and got some amazing bargains (a few items were free or had negative prices). I have never really used coupons, but this has me rethinking my avoidance of Dominick's. I will still buy my bread, sausages, produce and cheese at ethnic stores and produce markets. I can't understand why anybody would buy produce at my local Dominick's when the Rogers Park Fruit Market is 1/2 block away, has a much better selection and charges about 40% as much.

I find it interesting that in SF, Safeway has a near-monopoly on the mass-market grocery business. Granted, it's WW corporate HQ is in Oakland, but if you don't want to shop at Whole Foods, or don't belong to CostCo, you're pretty much hosed. I assume that there used to be Alpha Beta stores at some point, and there are two FoodsCo store (a warehouse version of Ralph's, a SoCal chain) but we have seemingly endless alternatives here compared to San Francisco. Very odd!

Ever since Dominick's started their J4U program, I have been shopping there a lot more than Jewel. I love that program, and the fact that you can add coupons onto your fresh values card, without clipping them. It only takes about 5 minutes to add all the deals you want to your card, and occasionally they give me free items. Some of the specials are personalized for you too. For instance a few times, I've gotten bananas for 38 cents a pound. and last week I got a fresh green beans kit, which is valued at $3.99 for free. Milk is usually $1.97 a gallon. Every time I shop at Dominick's, I usually save at least 50%, and a few times I saved over 90%. When you sign up for the program, you get a free dozen eggs. I still go to Jewel on occasion, and in the summer time I buy all of the produce at the Evanston farmer's market. Even when the farmer's market is not open, I tend to not buy a lot of produce at Dominick's. Their produce is better than it was when Safeway first took them over. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- As I have mentioned here before, I love Dominick's J4U program, where you can apply coupons to your fresh values card. This weeks you can get 4 12 oz. bottles of pop for free at Dominick's. I will probably get that only because it is free, and the pop will keep until next summer. I rarely drink pop in the winter time, because I would rather consume a hot beverage such as coffee, herb tea, or hot chocolate. I just wish that they would have offered free fruit or veggies instead. I on occasion get a coupon for a free item applied to the fresh values card, but I can only think of two occasions where I got something that was at least semi healthy. One time I got a free container of organic cinnamon, and another time I got a free box of veggie pasta. As far as I know, Dominick's has never given out free produce. Most of the stuff they give away for free is heavily processed stuff, such as a free breakfast sandwich from their deli. Some of the stuff I partake of, and the majority of it I do not.

I just wish Dominick's would occasionally give away a free bag of carrots. Maybe that would not draw customers into the store though? It kills me that it is way cheaper to buy pop than it is to buy orange juice. That is one of the reasons people give for not eating healthier. Junk food is often cheaper than healthy food, and that is not right. There also are very few coupons for healthy food. Thanks, Nancy

sundevilpeg wrote:I find it interesting that in SF, Safeway has a near-monopoly on the mass-market grocery business. Granted, it's WW corporate HQ is in Oakland, but if you don't want to shop at Whole Foods, or don't belong to CostCo, you're pretty much hosed. I assume that there used to be Alpha Beta stores at some point, and there are two FoodsCo store (a warehouse version of Ralph's, a SoCal chain) but we have seemingly endless alternatives here compared to San Francisco. Very odd!

When I lived in the Bay Area, Andronico's was a favorite store of mine. They have five locations in the area; one in SF. Large independent stores, such as Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market, were very popular in the East Bay. Safeway was the place you went if you didn't know better.

When I lived in the Bay Area, Andronico's was a favorite store of mine. They have five locations in the area; one in SF.

Problem is that the only SF location is in the Inner Sunset 'hood, which is way, way off the beaten path of most SF residents. Great if you live in the immediate area, but otherwise not too practical for something as basic as grocery shopping.

Hi- I was just informed yesterday that Dominick's is dropping their deal match program. Apparently it was just a trial program strictly for the Chicago area. The J4U program is still going to remain in place. The reason Dominick's gave for discontinuing it is so they can offer every day lower prices. That is the reason given by Jewel for discontinuing their gas rewards program.

http://www.suntimes.com/23076425-761/do ... -2014.html


According to this news article, Dominick's is closing for good. it only took Safeway 15 years to destroy this long-time Chicago grocer.

According to Crain's, some of the stores have already been sold.

Too bad. It would be a shame to see people lose more jobs.

beelewis wrote:Too bad. It would be a shame to see people lose more jobs.

Mariano's is expanding -- and hiring, as is Target (and Wal-Mart).

Living between the new Dominick's on Sheridan/Foster and the Jewel at Broadway/Berwyn, my choice was usually Dominick's if I had to pick. That Jewel is so small and crowded. I'll be interested to see what happens with the different Dominick's locations.

Hi= Unfortunately I could not read most of Crain's article, but from what I have read so far, Safeway has already sold some of the 71 stores, and they are actively looking for buyers for the rest of the stores. If they are planning on closing the stores in early 2014 though. this only gives them three months to find buyers for the rest of the stores. It sounds like Safeway as a whole made money this year, but Dominick's lost $16.7 million in the last quarter. I am just curious how the new Jewel is doing? Has anybody heard?

I know Dominick's got rid of the deal match program recently, and their $5 Friday program, which you used to be able to extend through Sunday on J4U, is only good on Friday now.

It would be nice if Meijer's bought some of the stores. I happen to like Meijer's but the closest one to me takes me at least 25 minutes to drive to.

Walmart did in Dominick's, but I can't see myself doing most of my shopping there. The closest Walmart is a 20=25 minute drive from where I live in Evanston. I don't care for Walmart anyway.

To paraphrase Dick Nixon, we wont have Dominick's to kick around any more. Could Jewel be next?

I'm willing to wager that Mariano's makes a deal for some of the former Dominick's locations, and that, my friends, would be poetic justice.