Mayor Announces Task Force to address with Dominick Store Closures

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, December 18, 2013


In response to the recent announcement that Dominick’s will close all of its 72 stores located throughout Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a City task force is in place to find operators for the closed stores to ensure that affected citizens continue to have access to food and fresh produce and to address the economic impact and jobs lost due to the closures.

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Milwaukee-Based Roundy’s, Mariano’s parent company, purchased 11 of the closed Dominick’s stores. Jewel-Osco purchased four of the stores.

“I have worked very hard during my term to make sure that every Chicagoan has access to grocery stores and other sources that can offer fresh produce and goods at affordable prices,” said Emanuel. “Based on our track record, I am confident we will find operators for stores in every market where there are not sufficient alternatives."

With representation from the City Council, labor, city departments, other agencies and industry experts, the task force is chaired by Deputy Mayor Steve Koch, to assist in marketing vacant Dominick’s stores, in order to ensure smooth transitions of those stores that have been purchased by other grocers and to aggressively market those that are still unaccounted for.  

The task force will also seek public input from neighborhoods most affected by the shutdown and work with Safeway, Dominick’s parent company, and the local store owners to help identify potential new users, and will also utilize consultants with contacts in the retail industry to assist.

Safeway Inc., announced in Nov. it was pulling out of the Chicago area market by the end of the year. 

In a Dec. 16 Crain’s Chicago Business report, Safeway CEO Robert Edwards said the decision to leave Chicago was the result of "a strategic assessment" intended to "increase sales and enhance profitability."

The supermarket chain is down to 76 locations today from 130 at its peak in the late 1990s, with a gross less than $400,000 on average, far short of the $450,000 a week needed to be profitable, according to the Crain’s report.

Four of the Dominick’s stores were purchased by Jewel-Osco while Milwaukee-Based Roundy’s, Mariano’s parent company, purchased 11 of the Dominick stores in a $36 million cash and lease assumption transaction; only two of the 11 stores are in Citizen Newspaper’s coverage area at 3145 S. Ashland Ave. and 2021 W. Chicago Ave.

“This acquisition is transformational in terms of Mariano’s expansion plans in the Chicago metropolitan area, allowing us to open 11 additional stores in 2014 in prime locations with great market demographics,” said Robert Mariano, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Roundy’s via a released statement.

The Task Force will seek public input from neighborhoods most affected by the shutdown and with Safeway and the local store owners to help identify potential new users, and will also utilize consultants with contacts in the retail industry to assist.

Task Force will be called upon to Marshall all of the City’s resources to protect the jobs of the workers, where possible, and provide training, resources and support to workers and their families.

The Task Force will also work directly with labor representatives to help seek opportunities for employment with any new operator of a location and draw upon the resources of other public agencies, such as the Chicago Cook Workforce Board and the City Colleges of Chicago, to provide assistance to workers who are laid off as a result of the store sales. 

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