Evanston’s supermarkets will soon face a new competitor — Mariano’s Fresh Market — just across the border in Skokie.
The Skokie Review reports that the fast-growing premium grocery chain plans to open a new store at the northwest corner of McCormick Boulevard and Touhy Avenue.
That’s the 75,000 square foot site occupied by the now-shuttered Klein Tools factory. It’s just across the street from the Lincolnwood Town Center.
The new store is expected to open in 18 months to two years.
Skokie officials says the project will require no subsidy from the village, which had been trying to attract Mariano’s to a site in downtown Skokie for two years that would have required incentives from the village to make work.
In Evanston, construction is now underway on a new Trader Joe’s market on Chicago Avenue that required a $2 million subsidy in the form of city purchase of land for a parking lot for the store.
The new Mariano’s is likely to provide stiff competiton for the Jewel supermarket just over a half mile away on Howard Street in Evaston.
Mariano’s, which now has eight stores in the Chicago area, is a division of the Milwaukee-based Roundy’s supermarket chain. It’s named for Roundy’s CEO Bob Mariano, who once headed the Dominick’s chain.
Mariano’s is coming close by
It was just a question of time before this happened……
Anyone who has visited and shopped at Mariano's would have recognized that this was the store that Evanston should have been chasing all along. Their growth throughout Chicago in the past few years is the result of great produce, fresh baked goods, lots of take-home meals, on-site squeezed orange juice, and so forth. (Go down Western Avenue to the old Riverview Park site and try them out)
Based on this proposed location for Mariano's, the Jewel on Howard (in Evanston), Dominick's on Pratt (in Chicago), and the (soon to disappear??) Domininck's at Dempster-Dodge will immediately suffer, as will the Whole Foods.
It is a zero-sum game, to some extent.
It’s a real shame we got a
It's a real shame we got a useless (but highly celebrated by City Hall) GFS Marketplace next to our Sam's Club instead.
Marianos
Marianos will be next to a Walmart. Perhaps thats why they picked the Location.
What Walmart?
What Walmart? I don't believe there is one near that corner, unless a new one is planned. The nearest on Touhy is considerably further west in Niles (?) across from Village Crossing….
There’s a new Wal Mart, with
There's a new Wal Mart, with a full grocery department, coming to Skokie near Touhy and St. Louis.
This is not far from where the Mariano's will be.
Walmart
Got it. Learn something new everyday. Thanks.
How about Costco in Evanston?
I doubt it would or could happen, but wouldn't it be great if Evanston could get the one retailer not in this area that most people want. Imagine a Costco after the Dempster-Dodge shopping stie getting totally bulldozed? It is probably the only site in Evanston big enough for Costco, but alas, I'm dreaming. Yes, I know Costco is on Touhy Ave. in Niles, that's too far for most in this area. It would be a gold mine for both Costco and Evanston.
Trader Joes did not need our subsidy
So why on earth did we need to provide Trader Joe's with a dime of public subsidy? They are lucky to have access to a market like Evanston and I'm sure they are laughing at us all the way to the bank. That is two million dollars that could have gone to our schools, social programs, seniors, libraries, infrastructure, not to beg another wealthy corporation to allow us the privilege of becoming their customers. What Skokie managed here just shows we could have gotten Trader Joes or someone just like them without spending up. We just need to have hard nosed negotiators in our side who know the value of the Evanston market. Trader Joes will make a fortune off this community.
Marino’s and subsidies
If you read the article linked to in the piece, Skokie wanted them to locate downtown and were willing to subsidse them with TIF funds. The store decided that whatever sites they were looking at would not work for their model and looked to the other location.
Evanston doesn't have the same luxury of a decaying industrial district right off a major regional arterial road.
We do have decaying industrial districts and we are seeing good, non-subsidsed development happneing there (like the new coffee roaster on Greenleaf and the brewery on Dempster).
That said–the Trader Joe's subsidy is a joke.
maybe we should hire Skokie’s Community Development staffers
Based on Skokie's success at getting more for their dollar (or possibly no dollars at all), Evanston should be looking to lure their staff away since they do the job without the need for subsidies, TIFs, and other "carrots".
And here I thought all the "smart folks" lived in Evanston. NOT!
No way!
This new store will steal dominicks customers. What a waste of money that can be used for charities or schools. Having two grocery stores down the street from each other
You will have three grocery
You will have THREE grocery stores Jewel, Whole Foods and Trader Joes within feet of each other in Evanston on Chicago Ave later this year.
What about other areas?
Supporters of Trader Joes say it is no problem having three stores within a block of each other.
What about ONE store on the NE side ? Maybe a Jewel where Kendall was ! after all it seems nothing will ever come of that property. The neighbors fought so long builders pulled out. Putting a large grocery store there would make the whole area happy.
As the Council keeps seeing fit to give gifts to businesses, if we can't get a Jewel/Dominick, then give a big gift to D&D to build a major/large store.
Grocery at Kendall?
"The neighbors fought so long builders pulled out. Putting a large grocery store there would make the whole area happy."
It would be nice to have a grocery store there, I agree.
But the local NIMBYs have this concept of "Zoning continuity". What this means is that since the area around th former Kendall lot is zoned R1, the Kendall lot must also be zoned R1 to preserver 'zoning continuity'.
Forget grocery stores, or anything commercial. Even condos or townhouses or apartments are forbidden. We must have a homogeneous plot of R1 houses, to preserve the homogeneity of the neighborhood. All new residents, if houses are ever built, will also be required to have 2.37 kids and a minivan. A college degree (no Ph.D.'s, please…we hate Northwestern – but lawyers are OK) is strongly suggested.
Eventually this plot of R1 homogeneity will be extended for miles from its epicenter, so everywhere from Andersonville to Waukegan will be one giant R1 zone.
College students are, of course, not welcome – and neither are renters. Senior citizens who need assistance or who do not want to maintain a single family home will need to find somewhere else to live – the new Mather will be torn down and replaced by a two-story single family home with a 3-car garage.