REJOICE! Dominick's Grocery Store Is Returning To Chicago. (Kinda)
Chicago Tribune - Dom’s Kitchen & Market, the downsized grocery store launched last year by Bob Mariano and scions of the former Dominick’s grocery chain, plans to open its second location in Old Town this fall.
A foray into the suburbs is on the shopping list for later this year.
“It was always our intent to get the first store open, and then to start a cadence of opening up subsequent stores pretty rapidly,” said Jay Owen, executive chairman and co-founder of Dom’s Kitchen & Market.
The new store at 1233 N. Wells St. will supplant Plum Market, a Michigan-based specialty grocer that opened its only Chicago location in Old Town in 2013. Dom’s Kitchen & Market has signed a 15-year lease on the 27,000-square-foot space.
Owen, a great-grandson of Dominick’s founder Dominick DiMatteo, is partners in the new venture with longtime Chicago grocery executives Mariano and Don Fitzgerald, who previously helped guide both Dominick’s and Mariano’s.
Dom’s Kitchen & Market has raised $25 million in seed funding from a number of venture capital firms, including Chicago-based Cleveland Avenue, which is run by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson. Although it was initially conceived as a neighborhood urban market, Dom’s is scouting locations in the north and west suburbs to open a third store by the end of the year, Owen said.
Hit the fuckin music!
Chicagoans know why this is such amazing news.
People outside here are probably thinking "who the fuck cares about a grocery store chain?"
To those hardos, let me tell you something. Dominicks fucked. It fucked hard.
It was the perfect mid-level grocery store chain for the country's third-largest metropolitan. Tons of locations spread throughout the city, in virtually every neighborhood. Giant parking lots and parking garages. Great layouts. CLEAN. Tons of product and brand options. Decent prices. Valued customer gas discounts. Pleasant customer service. I could go on and on.
But Dominick sold out. He was bought out like ten years ago now (I think) and all of their stores were split between a new spinoff, "Mariano's", and Whole Foods.
Whole Foods was eventually bought by overlord Bezos and ran into the ground. What was once an overpriced haven for locally sourced products you paid out the ass for, but could trust, has morphed into an even more overly priced haven for no-named, vague brands. Was fewer options. And a dog shit salad bar. (But you can scan your prime card!)
Mariano's never really did it for me.
They had good intentions- big selection of prepared foods, large cheese section, large deli sandwich station, pizza ovens, etc. But the stores are a shit show, it's hard to find what you're looking for. The layouts are scattered. Shelves are a mess. And the staff isn't the greatest or friendliest. (In my opinion)
In the interim since Dominick's left, Jewel has just further solidified their status as king of the mountain. It's really not even a competition anymore. I walked into the Jewel on Kinzie and Des Plaines a couple weeks ago and was blown away. Jewel has definitely stepped their game up big time.
But there's hope on the horizon with this news.
Dominick's is back baby! (Sorta)
The chain plans to add another four or five stores in the city and suburbs next year, Owen said.
Expanding to the suburbs reflects what Owen said are the increasing challenges facing retailers in the city during the ongoing disruption of the pandemic, including dining restrictions, less active commercial districts and the fear of rising crime.
Store traffic at the Lincoln Park location declines “pretty dramatically” at night, Owen said.
“All we can attribute that to is that people are not feeling safe, and they don’t really venture out in the evening,” Owen said.
Guys, guys, guys.
Crime is becoming such a regular part of life around here we're conditioned to it at this point. You choose to live in Chicago, pay these taxes, not have your vote count, or count thrice, drink the lead water, etc.; you're also signing up to potentially lose your life if you get out of bed on any given day. It's called living on the edge baby.
Also, let's not forget that you guys stood up to the fucking king of kings, his Airness, and didn't blink.
That's right, Michael Jordan sued the shit out of Dominick's back in 2015 because they used his image and likeness in an ad
Dominicks lost the case, but Jordan donated the $8.9 million dollar settlement to his and local Chicago charities because he's the greatest.
I digress here but the point is if you can take on Mike, then a little gang violence is nothing to fret about.
Welcome back Dominick's, Chicago missed you. Can't wait til you open your store across the street from us on Wells, I'll be a regular customer.