After much anticipation, Local Market Expected To Open Soon
After much anticipation, Local Market Expected To Open Soon
BY WENDELL HUTSON
Contributing Writer
A much-anticipated grand opening for Local Market, a full-service grocery store in South Shore, could happen sometime this month now that it passed a required health inspection by the city’s Department of Public Health.
According to Andrew Buchanan, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health, an inspection occurred Dec. 3. “The location passed its health inspection just yesterday (Dec. 3) and all food establishments must pass inspection prior to opening,” Buchanan told the Citizen.
Local Market by Shop & Save is slated to open a 62,000 square-foot store inside the shuttered Dominick’s at the Jeffery Plaza strip mall, 2101 E. 71st St., which it purchased thanks to $10 million in tax-increment financing from the city of Chicago.
Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th), whose ward includes the shopping center, previously said the store would open in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“(But) before any food business can receive a license to operate, it must first pass an inspection,” said Isaac Reichman, a spokesman for the city’s Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Department, which issues business licenses. “Once a business passes an inspection, a license can be issued immediately and as soon as the same day.” Reichman said he wanted to clarify a previous statement he made to the news media about additional paperwork being needed by Local Market before a license could be issued.
Delmarie Cobb, a spokeswoman for Hairston (5th), added the delay had nothing to do with missing paperwork. She said to be sure there were no problems, an equipment check, which is part of the health inspection, was needed prior to opening the store and that caused the “holdup.”
Now that it has successfully passed an inspection, Local Market is “working hard to have it open as quickly as possible,” said Rory Hancock, general manager for Shop & Save Market.
Once opened, the new store will have 97 full-time employees, according to Hancock, which he said were hired through three hiring fairs including its last one on Nov. 1.
And unlike Dominick’s, which leased its store space and closed December 2013, Hairston said Shop & Save purchased the 113,000-square-foot shopping center.
“The beauty of this (ownership) is that they want to work with the community and they like working with the community,” said Hairston, who added she recruited Shop & Save to South Shore despite no assistance from former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The new grocery store, according to Hairston, will be tailored for the community and would feature a community room, wine bar and outdoor patio as well as hot foods sold to go.
