Independent grocery store The Market Place is up for sale after national food retailers like Trader Joe’s, Walmart and the upcoming Walgreens moved in just blocks away, the store’s owner confirms.
Peter Stellas, the grandson of the grocery store’s founder, says he started seriously considering the sale about six months ago when news about North Broadway’s Walmart Neighborhood Market broke. The controversial store is what Stellas cites as the final straw.
“I told Alderman Tunney that Walmart is going to [expletive] rape the neighborhood,” Stellas said. “… Since the Walmart opened, it’s absolutely had an effect on my decision.”
Located in Lincoln Park at 521 W. Diversey Pkwy, the grocery store could be sold in a multitude of ways, Stellas says. While The Market Place is on the market, he’s still not sure whether he’ll sell the almost 13,000-square-foot parking lot or the nearly 17,000-square-foot store as one deal or independently.
Leasing the storefront out to a new tenant is also an option.
The deal will have to be right, Stellas says, meaning if the right proposal doesn’t come along, The Market Place will remain open. And that might be good news for neighbors searching for a “full service” grocery store.
"We were on a comeback from Trader Joe’s opening, but with Walmart and now Walgreens coming in, we just can’t compete. … Seriously, those stores suck."
While Trader Joe’s, Walmart and the new flagship Walgreens—slated to open around Labor Day—all sell groceries, Stellas points out their flaws. The Market Place is the only store with a traditional deli where meat is prepared fresh daily, and it’s the only place offering gourmet pre-prepared food.
But with neighbors and Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) still hoping for a Mariano’s Fresh Market at 3030 N. Broadway, locally owned stores like The Market Place may on its last leg.
“Walmart is not a full service grocery store, so I think this just confirms that the Mariano’s development is still going to be a need for the neighborhood,” Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce Director Maureen Martino said. “We certainly still have Treasure Island that’s locally owned.”
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Stellas, who’s managed the grocery store since 1984, says he’s always entertained the option to sell The Market Place, but with the onslaught of new, big-box competitors, he can’t compete. He said he’s hoping neighbors will make the choice to shop local, effectively keeping the store alive.
“We’re the oldest independent grocery store in Chicago,” Stellas said. “We’ve been in business since 1927, before Treasure Island. We were on a comeback from Trader Joe’s opening, but with Walmart and now Walgreens coming in, we just can’t compete. … Seriously, those stores suck.”
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There might be some "rich" people in Lakeview but in 7 years I didn't meet one person that wasn't hustling (no pun intended) 2 or even 3 jobs just to say they live in Chicago and eat at all those subpar restaurants, etc. .........unless they were DINKS (and THEY were barely making it with one being unemployed after 15 years with a major company in the Loop).
When I was a child, there was a typewriter store down the street. Should the owner of the typewriter store stay in business, even though nobody wants typewriters anymore? Business owners have to change with the times. It's nothing personal.
A few examples: (1) For over a month the store only has 2 baskets for the whole store. While they do have large and mid-sized push-carts, their complete inventory of baskets has disappeared & no effort has been made to get new baskets from Bentonville despite many polite appeals to management. (2) One checkout register open, a long line waiting (and due to the lack of baskets, people are uncomfortably holding their groceries in their arms) & no effort to open another register. Despite countless employees loitering in & obstructing the aisles doing seemingly nothing but chat with each other while they restock items at a pace slower than a quadriplegic could restock items. Yes, there are rare occasions that a somewhat competent manager will open other registers but this is the exception, not the rule. (I would be amiss if I failed to mention that almost always the cashier left to deal with one endless line alone is almost always very friendly, nice and does her or his job well). (3) Simple, polite complaints to management are ignored. Complain about employees smoking directly in front of the entrance, have a manager find you to say he took care of it, leave the store to the same employees smoking in the same place. This specific store is a disgrace to the neighborhood and the retail industry.
I'm still baffled at the "chains" hatred while they all flock to Starbucks like white-on-rice.
Before I recently decided to use my spending power at neighborhood stores who provide a passable customer experience, the only consistently positive experience I had at Wal-Mart was with the cashier left to manage a never ending line on her own. I mention this because whomever was tasked with that burden showed the only signs of competency in the store. The management closely resembles post-surgery lobotomy patients: Not having baskets in a grocery store for over a month is unfathomable. Not enforcing State law by not allowing your employees to smoke at the entrance is a violation punishable by fine. If the Patch wanted to do anything which resembled journalism they would assign a reporter to examine the poor business practices and utter disregard for the consumer (by both employees and management) that is the standard at Broadway and Patterson.
"“There is no venue that presents a better opportunity for us than Chicago," Mars said, according to the Center Square Journal. "[T]his is not the first urban market that we have entered, or pretended to enter, but it is a critically important one to us and we are absolutely committed to doing it right." Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/wal-mart-exec-outlines-re_n_886118.html Note: I did try to search for contact information for Wal-Mart's Chicago Market Manager Jack Williams but that is not available. Those wishing to contact Wal-Mart corporate customer service, For reference: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Customer Relations 702 SW Eighth St. Bentonville, AR 72716-0117 Phone: 501-273-4000 Toll free: 1-800-925-6278 Fax: 501-621-2063 e-mail: letters@wal-mart.com