Trends & Changes
When Chicago’s market moved from the Loop to its South Water Place location in 1925, many of the merchants and their families were relatively recent residents to the up-and-coming city—mostly Polish, Greek, and Italian immigrants. Seventy years and a new produce market later, at its present South Blue Island at Damen avenue locale, the CIPM has become even more of a melting pot.
Retail Snapshot
Now that the dust has settled from the departure of Dominick’s, the diversification of the Chicago market has been a boon to consumers who enjoy the benefits of specialty chains such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and deep discounter Aldi. With Indian, Persian, Hispanic, and Asian ethnic groups as well as Chicago’s traditional Italian, Greek, and Eastern European populations, there are more opportunities for niche stores able to cater to the many ethnic groups that call Chicago home.Though the closing of Dominick’s has not been without challenges, Scott Weber, a partner at Ruby Robinson Company, Inc., has seen some positive aspects. “We were an approved supplier for Dominick’s. Interestingly, their departure has benefitted both the independent grocers and the produce terminal. It has helped the independents expand into more neighborhoods, plus they support the produce terminal much more than Dominick’s ever did,” he says.
“Smaller chains can react more quickly, taking better advantage of deals and availability at the terminal,” continues Weber. “They’re more able to make spot buys and rotate products. The pie has been cut into smaller pieces, but there are lots of good options for consumers. Each store has its own formula and product mix, depending on the neighborhood.”
Conventional stores such as Jewel (still in the process of reinventing itself) remain a presence even as big box stores Target, Walmart, and Costco encroach on Chicagoland’s traditional supermarket terrain. These stores are also being squeezed by the smaller ethnic retailers filling the void left by large chains that have either vacated the area or consolidated.
Many of these specialty shops began as ethnic greengrocers that expanded to other grocery items. For example, the six-unit Valli Produce and International Market began with produce. Tony’s Finer Foods, a 12-unit chain that also began with fruits and vegetables, has expanded to carry a wide variety of Italian and other international products.
In 1980, buyers for Garden Fresh Market would walk the old Chicago South Water Market at 2:00 am to find fresh produce for their first store. Thirty-five years and six locations later, Garden Fresh is still anchored by a large produce department along with deli, bakery, and a wide variety of packaged goods.
Other stores in this category include Pete’s Fresh Market, Angelo Caputo’s Fresh Markets, and the more recently established Fresh Thyme Farmers Market. Their common thread is a broad selection of quality and exotic produce, as well as extensive ethnic products at competitive prices.
Chicago public radio recently reported on the new norm of shopping at multiple stores. Cost-conscious shoppers will go to Aldi or Save-A-Lot for staples, then shop specialty or high-end stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s for organic produce and imported items.
They may patronize two or three mid-range stores as well, such as Mariano’s or Caputo’s, for special ethnic produce items or value-added partially-prepared meals. Mariano’s, owned by Kenosha, Wisconsin-based Roundy’s Supermarkets, is among the region’s fastest-growing chains and seems to be redefining the middle-market grocery store with a focus on hospitality, turning grocery shopping into more of a ‘destination’ or ‘experience’ for shoppers.
In addition, as the larger chains continue to consolidate and compete for customers, smaller neighborhood markets are also opening, chasing the same shoppers. Longtime wholesaler Nick Gaglione of Dietz & Kolodenko, Inc. on the Chicago International Produce Market observes, “In a local neighborhood with a few hundred residents, where there were once four stores, now there are seven.”
Bob Scaman, president of Goodness Greeness, Inc., agrees. “The Chicago market has become ‘over-stored.’ Wherever a Dominick’s left, it seems two new stores have replaced it. The market is the same; it’s just being divvied up by more players.”
This was certainly true in the case of another player that was unsuccessful in its original foray into Chicagoland, and is back for a second try. Mrs. Green’s, a natural and organic foods supermarket chain out of New York, opened its first Midwestern store in Lincoln Park in 2014 and closed it last summer after too few customers and competition from a new Whole Foods Market nearby.
Mrs. Green’s newest endeavor is similar to a neighborhood market, a smaller version of its initial attempt. This time in Winnetka, more than 15 miles north of the city, the store has less square fotage and promotes a more intimate shopping experience of all-natural foods and products. Parent company Natural Markets Food Group has plans for as many as five more stores in and around Chicago, sprinkled along the northern shore of Lake Michigan.
Despite the tight competition, most distributors believe that the retailers who keep their produce departments front and center, and stocked with diverse, high-quality offerings, will survive and even thrive.
Another growing segment is the area’s sizeable Hispanic population and the rise of many Hispanic-owned companies. Founded by immigrants from Mexico and Latin America, there are restaurants and grocery retailers across the city and its suburbs, spurring demand in Chicagoans for pan-Latin cuisine and the many key produce ingredients that go into it.
