Mrs. Green's is coming to Chicago

The Chicago Tribune reports that Mrs. Green's, the New York-based natural and organic food store, plans to take another stab at the Chicago marketplace, opening the first of what it hopes will be six stores there just months after it closed the one store it had in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The Tribune writes that Mrs. Green's hopes that "a new downsized store — think mini-Whole Foods — will resonate with upscale suburbanites."

"We're the anti-Mariano's," CEO Pat Brown tells the Tribune. "Mariano's are great stores. But sometimes you want convenience, you want to get to know the people you are buying your products from."

The story notes that Brown was not at Mrs. Green's when it opened its first Chicago store. "It's very difficult to get a second chance," he tells the Tribune. "But we're going to get one here, and we've got to make sure that we do it right."

http://www.morningnewsbeat.com/

One store already opened on Green Bay road in the Hubbard Woods section of Winnetka. Mini-Whole Foods is the perfect description. If you like Whole Foods, you'll like this as a quick place to stop in. If you don't like Whole Foods, you'll likely not like this place.

The description of "mini-Whole Foods" is interesting to me, because "mini" is one thing the Lincoln Park location was not. We liked it, and wished it success, but from the outset it seemed to me that the sheer amount of square footage it had was going to doom it unless they could fill that square footage with about four times the number of customers. I didn't take a tape measure to it, but the store seemed bigger than the Whole Foods on Ashland and School. Maybe the "mini" approach, by keeping real estate costs down, will work for them.

The Mrs. Green's on Webster was 20,000 sq. ft. (per the Tribune article on the Winnetka store opening). Per some other internet sources, seems the Whole Foods at Ashland and School is 31,500 sq. ft.

Matt wrote:The Mrs. Green's on Webster was 20,000 sq. ft. (per the Tribune article on the Winnetka store opening). Per some other internet sources, seems the Whole Foods at Ashland and School is 31,500 sq. ft.

Interesting. Subjectively, they seemed comparable. (In fact, if anything, I would have given a slight edge in size to Mrs. Green's.) I wonder if there are different ways of measuring. Like, whether or not to include the check-out lanes, in-store eating areas, etc., and whether the comparison is apples-to-apples on that score. I continue to think that the portion of real estate devoted in each store to "place where you buy foodstuffs to bring home" was comparable. But of course I could have been fooled by architectural legerdemain.

In any case, the 12,000 sq. ft. of the Winnetka store is definitely smaller.

Stopped Thursday. No great experience.
Bought a few prepared items for supper. Lamb meatballs. So salty, threw down the disposal. Short ribs. OK on the outside, no flavor inside. Chuck roast, tender but chewy inside. Slow cooked pork was passable. Wasted $ 23.00. Better off going to Mickey D's foe a 1/4 lbr. $ 20.00 less & better tasting.
Won't go back.
Best of these "high end" spots, Plum Market, Old Town.
I will say Sunset with their CERTIFIED Black Angus beef is the best around.

Wally Wade

Mrs. Green's sent a really classy-looking flyer in the paper the other day that had a big grilled steak sliced on the front page. Here is some other info:

Senior Wednesday -- additional 10% off age 62 and older, "discounted items excluded"

They offer a "Daily Deal" M-F, one item on deep discount.
For example, Monday, Oberweis half-gallon milk $2.99 (save $2).
Tuesday, local Illinois 85% Lean grass-fed ground beef $4.99/lb (save $4/lb). etc.

Mrs. Green's
925 Green Bay Road
Winnetka IL 60093
open daily 7:00am-9:00pm.
847-716-9064

Stopped by the Green Bay Rd. Mrs. Green's this afternoon to check it out and to pick up a couple of habanero peppers that we needed for a recipe. I'm glad we called ahead to make sure they had 'em before heading over.



Miniature Whole Foods is an apt description of this store. They have a strong focus on hot and cold prepared foods, and a broad assortment of local, small batch and specialty-type items. The meat and fish counters and produce section have small, but nice collections of nothing special.

Overall, a nice little store I'm sure I'd visit again if I lived in the neighborhood.

--Rich

The Grand, it ain't. Pass.