Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

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pseudo3d
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Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by pseudo3d »

Well, obviously the answer is Dominick's since it no longer exists, but I understand that Jewel also had some dramatic changes under Albertsons. So, the question is, what "damage" did Safeway and Albertsons do to Chicago stalwarts Dominick's and Jewel-Osco (respectively) when they snapped them up in the late 1990s? Dominick's under Safeway mostly altered the product mix and pricing, but what about Albertsons? Did they do the same as they did to Lucky, and even if they didn't change the name, why are they still the market leader in Chicago, whereas the Lucky fiasco caused the plug to be pulled on Albertsons' Northern California division in just 8 years?
Last edited by pseudo3d on 03 May 2017 17:19, edited 1 time in total.
Ephrata1966
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

pseudo3d wrote:Dominick's mostly altered the product mix and pricing, but what about Albertsons?
You might want to edit the above sentence to replace Dominick's with Safeway. I only point this out to prevent confusion.

I'm not from Chicago so I really can't answer your question. But being very familiar with Philadelphia supermarket chains, I can make some observations that might help you. Genuardi's customers were very disappointed with the changes that Safeway made when it bought the chain (yes, same as what happened with both Dominick's and Randalls/Tom Thumb), and Genuardi's never really recovered from the damage that was done, even though over a decade passed before the plug was finally pulled.

I don't think people really noticed though when Albertsons bought Acme. Despite its very rich history and name recognition, very few people in the Delaware Valley (from what I've observed) seem to have any warm feelings about Acme. Maybe people did in the 50's, 60's, and 70's when Acme was undisputedly the dominant chain in the area, but I've been surprised that among older people I've talked to (I'm thinking of multiple people over 70 that I've known over the years), they seem to have really fond memories of chains like A&P, Food Fair/Pantry Pride, and Penn Fruit, but they don't seem to care about Acme. Sure, the Acme name still exists, but the Acme of today is very different from the Acme of yesteryear. And Acme has closed so many stores that I'm surprised people haven't really noticed that the chain has flirted with extinction at times.

Perhaps because Albertsons and American Stores had a relationship long before their actual "marriage", and the changes Albertsons made to Acme really weren't major (but there absolutely was a change in Acme's direction once Albertsons bought it), the two chains becoming entangled didn't really affect Acme customers.

Not sure if you've ever heard the tragic story of Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois (it's a very interesting read, even for people without a retail history fascination) but there was a Jewel at that mall that was one of the last few stores in the mall to close. I really wonder how the mall would have evolved over the decades if it hadn't been given up on after such a short life. The Jewel would almost certainly have closed anyway (and probably no later than about 1985, not all that long after when the Jewel actually closed in 1979) because the concept of supermarkets at enclosed malls was pretty much scrapped long ago.
pseudo3d
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by pseudo3d »

Ephrata1966 wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:Dominick's mostly altered the product mix and pricing, but what about Albertsons?
You might want to edit the above sentence to replace Dominick's with Safeway. I only point this out to prevent confusion.

I'm not from Chicago so I really can't answer your question. But being very familiar with Philadelphia supermarket chains, I can make some observations that might help you. Genuardi's customers were very disappointed with the changes that Safeway made when it bought the chain (yes, same as what happened with both Dominick's and Randalls/Tom Thumb), and Genuardi's never really recovered from the damage that was done, even though over a decade passed before the plug was finally pulled.

I don't think people really noticed though when Albertsons bought Acme. Despite its very rich history and name recognition, very few people in the Delaware Valley (from what I've observed) seem to have any warm feelings about Acme. Maybe people did in the 50's, 60's, and 70's when Acme was undisputedly the dominant chain in the area, but I've been surprised that among older people I've talked to (I'm thinking of multiple people over 70 that I've known over the years), they seem to have really fond memories of chains like A&P, Food Fair/Pantry Pride, and Penn Fruit, but they don't seem to care about Acme. Sure, the Acme name still exists, but the Acme of today is very different from the Acme of yesteryear. And Acme has closed so many stores that I'm surprised people haven't really noticed that the chain has flirted with extinction at times.

Perhaps because Albertsons and American Stores had a relationship long before their actual "marriage", and the changes Albertsons made to Acme really weren't major (but there absolutely was a change in Acme's direction once Albertsons bought it), the two chains becoming entangled didn't really affect Acme customers.

Not sure if you've ever heard the tragic story of Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois (it's a very interesting read, even for people without a retail history fascination) but there was a Jewel at that mall that was one of the last few stores in the mall to close. I really wonder how the mall would have evolved over the decades if it hadn't been given up on after such a short life. The Jewel would almost certainly have closed anyway (and probably no later than about 1985, not all that long after when the Jewel actually closed in 1979) because the concept of supermarkets at enclosed malls was pretty much scrapped long ago.
I ask because the Lucky stores in California were dramatically altered, and in the late 1990s, there were a number of other stores that Albertsons picked up and converted (without closing) that were very different from the Albertsons format--upscale Memphis retailer Seessel's, the Iowa stores of warehouse food store Super One Foods, the Missouri spinoff of Arizona multi-retailer Smitty's (though admittedly Smitty's-MO had cut a lot of the GM by then), and others. And none of them lasted past 2002.

...and yes, I am familiar with Jewel at DSM, though the real Jewel had no interior entrance (despite what Blues Brothers would have you believe).
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:I ask because the Lucky stores in California were dramatically altered, and in the late 1990s, there were a number of other stores that Albertsons picked up and converted (without closing) that were very different from the Albertsons format--upscale Memphis retailer Seessel's, the Iowa stores of warehouse food store Super One Foods, the Missouri spinoff of Arizona multi-retailer Smitty's (though admittedly Smitty's-MO had cut a lot of the GM by then), and others. And none of them lasted past 2002.
I wouldn't say that the Lucky stores were 'dramatically altered'. Massive program and merchandise changes, yes. Many of the things Lucky was known for were cut by Albertsons, as was their selection. In many of the stores, Albertsons kept the entire decor package and layout fully intact, so that the only immediately visible change was the name on the front door. The same can't be said for Seesel's, because that became the Albertsons poster child for how not to handle acquisitions, and it was only 11-12 stores!

Albertsons largely left Jewel alone, owing to a massive drop in sales had much changed. Plus, the writing was on the wall with Dominick's and Safeway.
pseudo3d wrote:...and yes, I am familiar with Jewel at DSM, though the real Jewel had no interior entrance (despite what Blues Brothers would have you believe).
Ahh yes, if only Jewel had moved into the bottom floor of the JCPenney store, DSM would have been decidedly different. Most of the storefronts were changed for that movie. The Oldsmobile dealership was Woolworth's, after all. And they didn't even go back to the Turn Style.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:I ask because the Lucky stores in California were dramatically altered, and in the late 1990s, there were a number of other stores that Albertsons picked up and converted (without closing) that were very different from the Albertsons format--upscale Memphis retailer Seessel's, the Iowa stores of warehouse food store Super One Foods, the Missouri spinoff of Arizona multi-retailer Smitty's (though admittedly Smitty's-MO had cut a lot of the GM by then), and others. And none of them lasted past 2002.
I wouldn't say that the Lucky stores were 'dramatically altered'. Massive program and merchandise changes, yes. Many of the things Lucky was known for were cut by Albertsons, as was their selection. In many of the stores, Albertsons kept the entire decor package and layout fully intact, so that the only immediately visible change was the name on the front door. The same can't be said for Seesel's, because that became the Albertsons poster child for how not to handle acquisitions, and it was only 11-12 stores!

Albertsons largely left Jewel alone, owing to a massive drop in sales had much changed. Plus, the writing was on the wall with Dominick's and Safeway.
pseudo3d wrote:...and yes, I am familiar with Jewel at DSM, though the real Jewel had no interior entrance (despite what Blues Brothers would have you believe).
Ahh yes, if only Jewel had moved into the bottom floor of the JCPenney store, DSM would have been decidedly different. Most of the storefronts were changed for that movie. The Oldsmobile dealership was Woolworth's, after all. And they didn't even go back to the Turn Style.
Seessel's was a bit different for a few reasons--it was the only Albertsons owned store (well, mainlane store anyway, if you include Max Foods) before 2002 that was actually branded as "Seessel's by Albertsons", indicating that would be the name for that store even if Jewel and ACME had been reflagged later (Smitty's was also "Smitty's by Albertsons" but it was temporary and would be branded as Albertsons soon after). The thing about Seessel's though is a few reasons, one of which it was already damaged goods, because Bruno's had tried to run it for a few years before selling it off to Albertsons. From what I've heard, it was smaller and more upscale than what Albertsons had wanted to do with the chain, and Albertsons did shut down the company's bakery and commissary soon after. Still, I can't believe it was much worse than say, the Des Moines Albertsons which were formerly outright bag-your-own warehouse stores, and those things didn't even last until December 2001 (it was 2002 when the ^&*^ hit the fan for Albertsons and all those stores had to be closed).

If the changes at Jewel-Osco were not as bad, it was because they didn't change too much as a division...Jewel-Osco had the least changes to the format (just transitioned straight into being the Midwest Region of Albertsons, which is now the modern Jewel-Osco division). The ACME division had more to change but again was transitioned straight there, while the Lucky stores were reassigned to the Albertsons divisions in California. Maybe.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:Seessel's was a bit different for a few reasons--it was the only Albertsons owned store (well, mainlane store anyway, if you include Max Foods) before 2002 that was actually branded as "Seessel's by Albertsons", indicating that would be the name for that store even if Jewel and ACME had been reflagged later (Smitty's was also "Smitty's by Albertsons" but it was temporary and would be branded as Albertsons soon after). The thing about Seessel's though is a few reasons, one of which it was already damaged goods, because Bruno's had tried to run it for a few years before selling it off to Albertsons. From what I've heard, it was smaller and more upscale than what Albertsons had wanted to do with the chain, and Albertsons did shut down the company's bakery and commissary soon after. Still, I can't believe it was much worse than say, the Des Moines Albertsons which were formerly outright bag-your-own warehouse stores, and those things didn't even last until December 2001 (it was 2002 when the ^&*^ hit the fan for Albertsons and all those stores had to be closed).

If the changes at Jewel-Osco were not as bad, it was because they didn't change too much as a division...Jewel-Osco had the least changes to the format (just transitioned straight into being the Midwest Region of Albertsons, which is now the modern Jewel-Osco division). The ACME division had more to change but again was transitioned straight there, while the Lucky stores were reassigned to the Albertsons divisions in California. Maybe.
The other thing you have to keep in mind is that when the ASC acquisition took place, while Albertsons and ASC overlapped in several places, Chicago and Acme territory were stand alone; there was no real reason to change what was working. Safeway always took their cookie-cutter approach too far, and cleansed all acquisitions to be like the mothership. Albertsons was mostly content (save for Lucky) too leave the status quo as is.

Seesel's stores largely survive today with the Kroger name on the front door.

To me, Albertsons jumped the shark, so to speak, by merging with ASC. Everything that happened between there and the 2005 splitup were all a direct result of that merger.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:Seessel's was a bit different for a few reasons--it was the only Albertsons owned store (well, mainlane store anyway, if you include Max Foods) before 2002 that was actually branded as "Seessel's by Albertsons", indicating that would be the name for that store even if Jewel and ACME had been reflagged later (Smitty's was also "Smitty's by Albertsons" but it was temporary and would be branded as Albertsons soon after). The thing about Seessel's though is a few reasons, one of which it was already damaged goods, because Bruno's had tried to run it for a few years before selling it off to Albertsons. From what I've heard, it was smaller and more upscale than what Albertsons had wanted to do with the chain, and Albertsons did shut down the company's bakery and commissary soon after. Still, I can't believe it was much worse than say, the Des Moines Albertsons which were formerly outright bag-your-own warehouse stores, and those things didn't even last until December 2001 (it was 2002 when the ^&*^ hit the fan for Albertsons and all those stores had to be closed).

If the changes at Jewel-Osco were not as bad, it was because they didn't change too much as a division...Jewel-Osco had the least changes to the format (just transitioned straight into being the Midwest Region of Albertsons, which is now the modern Jewel-Osco division). The ACME division had more to change but again was transitioned straight there, while the Lucky stores were reassigned to the Albertsons divisions in California. Maybe.
The other thing you have to keep in mind is that when the ASC acquisition took place, while Albertsons and ASC overlapped in several places, Chicago and Acme territory were stand alone; there was no real reason to change what was working. Safeway always took their cookie-cutter approach too far, and cleansed all acquisitions to be like the mothership. Albertsons was mostly content (save for Lucky) too leave the status quo as is.

Seesel's stores largely survive today with the Kroger name on the front door.

To me, Albertsons jumped the shark, so to speak, by merging with ASC. Everything that happened between there and the 2005 splitup were all a direct result of that merger.
Storewanderer claims that Albertsons really did have a timetable for what many of us thought would've happened in an alternate future--that ACME and Jewel-Osco would be transformed into Albertsons (or Albertsons-Osco) by the early 2000s. But yes, the acquisition of ASC in many ways crippled Albertsons forever and did away with even the markets that did work (like San Antonio). However, they did at least keep some of the operations of Jewel-Osco intact (and probably even ACME). Safeway's approach was terrible across the board, and you're right, it was definitely Dominick's that suffered the hardest, even compared to Randalls, which was also sustained catastrophic damage as a chain. Even though it avoided total closure, at this point, I'm doubtful that the Houston market isn't beyond saving.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by klkla »

pseudo3d wrote:[Storewanderer claims that Albertsons really did have a timetable for what many of us thought would've happened in an alternate future--that ACME and Jewel-Osco would be transformed into Albertsons (or Albertsons-Osco) by the early 2000s. But yes, the acquisition of ASC in many ways crippled Albertsons forever and did away with even the markets that did work (like San Antonio). However, they did at least keep some of the operations of Jewel-Osco intact (and probably even ACME). Safeway's approach was terrible across the board, and you're right, it was definitely Dominick's that suffered the hardest, even compared to Randalls, which was also sustained catastrophic damage as a chain. Even though it avoided total closure, at this point, I'm doubtful that the Houston market isn't beyond saving.
It's hard to believe now but Albertson's was considered a growth company until the first merger. They were one of the fastest growing chains in the U.S. with much higher earnings than most of it's competitors. So I could see why they thought it might be a good idea to expand the company as a true national brand. Lucky, Jewel-Osco, and Acme were not exactly stellar performers at time they were acquired, either. Of course that strategy failed but looking back at the situation in context you can see why they had the arrogance to even think about changing all the stores to the Albertson's name.

As for Safeway I think you can say Genuardi's suffered just as much as Dominick's.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Here's kind of a strange sight in the second photo on the page: http://gassigns.org/jewel.htm

That vacant supermarket (with the Hollywood Video next to it, which of course has also since closed) was apparently a former Dominick's. This photo was taken in 2004. Was it particularly rare for Dominick's to close stores before the very end? I'm surprised Dominick's closed a store across from a Jewel/Jewel-Osco and not the other way around, because my assumption (correct me if I'm wrong) was that Dominick's was a more upscale chain than Jewel.

I know that Albertsons repositioned Acme to be "upscale" (not truly upscale like Whole Foods, but upscale compared to other mainstream supermarket chains) in the early 2000s. Did Albertsons give Jewel the same treatment? Also did Albertsons do this to Shaw's/Star Market in New England?

I think it was great what Albertsons tried to do with Acme (which mirrored Albertsons' own move "upscale" in the late 90's and early 2000s), but it seems like this strategy didn't work because it wasn't applied consistently to all Acme stores. Albertsons did a pretty thorough job of closing, replacing, or upgrading particularly outdated Acme stores, but there still were older stores that were very much neglected for too long. The new "upscale" Acme concept was applied to some Acme stores but not others. And some stores were remodeled to the new look much more thoroughly than others.

The addition of Starbucks to stores was perhaps the best example of the "new and improved Acme" of the era. But it seemed like a huge mistake that Starbucks was added not just to the large, modern Acme stores but also was added to a handful of small, outdated Acme stores. Some of these small, outdated stores were given Starbucks even though nothing else was done to bring the stores up to date. Not surprisingly, a lot of these particular stores ended up closing within a year or two anyway after Starbucks was added. The Acme in Rosemont, PA (a TINY store from the early 1950s, it was only about 10,000 square feet, and had absolutely no room for expansion) had a Starbucks for a brief time before it closed and became a CVS. I wish I knew what exactly Albertsons actually had to get rid of at this store to make room for the Starbucks.

Only a small number of Acme stores (even the larger, modern ones) had Starbucks added, even though Albertsons added Starbucks to a huge number of their namesake stores. And I'm not sure why, but Acme closed all their Starbucks around 2006 or 2007 (some of them were replaced by Seattle's Best Coffee and later by Bucks County Coffee, but others were replaced by nothing, and eventually the Bucks County Coffee counters were closed and replaced by nothing anyway). But since Albertsons/Acme split from Supervalu, Starbucks has been added to a handful of Acme stores once again. I guess that really only is because a number of the acquired A&P stores had Starbucks though.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

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Ephrata1966 wrote:Here's kind of a strange sight in the second photo on the page: http://gassigns.org/jewel.htm

That vacant supermarket (with the Hollywood Video next to it, which of course has also since closed) was apparently a former Dominick's. This photo was taken in 2004. Was it particularly rare for Dominick's to close stores before the very end? ...
Not at all. Safeway had been shrinking Dominick's since buying it.
Ephrata1966 wrote:...I'm surprised Dominick's closed a store across from a Jewel/Jewel-Osco and not the other way around, ...
Nothing about what Safeway did to Dominick's surprised me. That being said, Jewel always had a bigger market share than Dominick's and typically had bigger, brighter, cleaner, and busier stores than Dominick's, even before the Safeway acquisition. After Safeway acquired Dominick's, their already smaller market share eroded and Jewel took a bigger slice of the market. It was really sad to see the stores built during the Bob Mariano days lose customers.
Ephrata1966 wrote:...because my assumption (correct me if I'm wrong) was that Dominick's was a more upscale chain than Jewel....
I wouldn't call Dominick's more "upscale" than Jewel. Under Bob Mariano they introduced the "Fresh Store" concept, which introduced hot foods, salad bars, big produce departments, and big delis. The problem (even before Safeway) was aside from the prepared foods, Domnick's quality and cleanliness were always below Jewel's. One of my pet peeves was Dominick's penchant for pre-sliced deli meats. Jewel sliced to order. Dominick's ground beef was made in a central location, Jewel ground fresh in the store. Dominick's dated its meat three to five days out. Jewel dated it two to three days out.

The Bob Mariano-built Fresh Stores had a more upscale-looking produce and fresh foods department, but in 1997 (just before Dominick's was acquired) Jewel rolled out a very upscale interior that replaced the truly bizarre interior they used from the late 1980's and into the 1990's. Once Jewel started remodeling stores, even the smallest store looked much more upscale than Dominick's.
Ephrata1966 wrote:...I know that Albertsons repositioned Acme to be "upscale" (not truly upscale like Whole Foods, but upscale compared to other mainstream supermarket chains) in the early 2000s. Did Albertsons give Jewel the same treatment?...
The upscale design package Albertsons gave ACME was the interior Jewel rolled out in 1997. Alberstons pretty much left Jewel alone, given its market share and reputation for quality and service. Before Supervalu put its mitts on Jewel, it was more upscale than most supermarket chains, bizarre 1990's decor package notwithstanding.

Here's a link to a Flickr page that has some shots of the Jewel interior that started in 1997 and was rolled out until Supervalu instituted the Premium Fresh and Healthy package in 2006.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alpha8472 ... 324588056/

I'll leave you with an anecdote about Jewel vs Dominick's. I was visiting my family in Chicago for my nephew's birthday and a few young mothers were discussing the cake. My sister in law mentioned that she got the cake at Jewel (as always) and the other moms agreed that they would shop at Dominick's as well as at Jewel for day-to-day items, special occasion shopping was always done at Jewel. That was pre-SVU, when things started to deteriorate. However, on my last couple of visits back home I saw vast improvements at Jewel. Albertsons is really investing there .
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

I was assuming Dominick's was a semi-upscale chain because Safeway has a history of buying upscale-leaning chains such as Genuardi's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, and Pavilions. And since 2000, Safeway itself has seemingly tried to move upscale, especially since the Lifestyle format made its debut circa 2006. But I must have been wrong this time.

Also, I was assuming Jewel/Jewel-Osco was a pretty mediocre chain before Albertsons bought it because Acme was previously its main sister chain. I love Acme because of its rich history and store architecture, but otherwise it really is a pretty mediocre chain and always has been. But after reading the above post, I'm starting to get the impression that Jewel was always a bit better than Acme.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by rvwalton »

Ephrata1966 wrote:I was assuming Dominick's was a semi-upscale chain because Safeway has a history of buying upscale-leaning chains such as Genuardi's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, and Pavilions. And since 2000, Safeway itself has seemingly tried to move upscale, especially since the Lifestyle format made its debut circa 2006. But I must have been wrong this time.

Also, I was assuming Jewel/Jewel-Osco was a pretty mediocre chain before Albertsons bought it because Acme was previously its main sister chain. I love Acme because of its rich history and store architecture, but otherwise it really is a pretty mediocre chain and always has been. But after reading the above post, I'm starting to get the impression that Jewel was always a bit better than Acme.
Although Jewel, Acme, and Lucky were under common ownership, Jewel was pretty much left alone to its own devices. They replaced outmoded stores with bigger, brighter stores when they could. In some areas, mainly in urban Chicago neighborhoods, they didn't replace stores because there was no available real estate to build bigger. So, they remodeled and kept the same footprint. That isn't to say they didn't have some stinkers and/or mediocre stores, but overall they offered better quality products and services than Dominick's.

EDIT: Every few years it seemed there was a new rumor that Safeway would enter Chicago, but they never did until they acquired Dominick's. IMO, they should have seized the opportunity to buy some of the better A&P's when they exited Chicago. Although most of them were dives, National built a handful of very nice stores a few years before they sold to A&P. Surprisingly, A&P actually kept them up and even did a nice job remodeling some of the less-attractive stores.
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Question for rvwalton: would you agree with me that the Jewel at Dixie Square Mall would have likely closed anyway even if the mall had stayed open? Even if the mall had been doing perfectly fine, I still think Jewel would have closed circa 1979. I couldn't see it lasting much longer than that, perhaps closing in 1985 at the latest.

Do any of you have any theories about how Dixie Square itself would have evolved over the years, had it not been closed so early?
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

Post by Groceteria »

Ephrata1966 wrote:Do any of you have any theories about how Dixie Square itself would have evolved over the years, had it not been closed so early?
While the general history of Dixie Square is a great topic for discussion, it should probably happen in a new (or existing) ithread in the shopping center forum. Thanks!
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Re: Which Chicagoland supermarket suffered the most under new ownership?

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Ephrata1966 wrote:Question for rvwalton: would you agree with me that the Jewel at Dixie Square Mall would have likely closed anyway even if the mall had stayed open? ...
Yes, I would agree. Jewel closed the Oakbrook Center location and also closed the Randhurst location, although that one was relocated to a much larger outparcel.
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