Supermarkets proliferate, anchor development in South Loop community

By Hayley Carlton 

Finding a place to shop for groceries in the South Loop is getting even easier, thanks to the recent influx of new food stores.

Whole Foods opened its largest Chicago area store in the South Loop on Aug. 8, joining an increasingly crowded field of food emporia on Roosevelt Road. The 55,000 square foot store, which will anchor the new Southgate Market shopping center at 1101 S. Canal St., sits kitty corner from an existing Dominick’s and is six bocks west of a Jewel Food Store.

            Target, which also sells food, sits nearby on Roosevelt. Luxury food market Fox and Obel currently operates a store near Navy Pier and is looking at other areas of the city, according to Keith Montague, the company’s CEO. “Nothing is confirmed,” he said. “We think that the South Loop is a great location.”

            One site touted for a new Fox and Obel is the former Trailways bus station at Wabash Avenue and Roosevelt Road. Montague refused to comment, as did Friedman Properties, which owns the property, on Fox and Obel’s interest in it.

Meanwhile, Whole Foods continues to gear up for its opening this month. Shoppers will be able to sip wine by the glass and sign up for cooking classes at the new store. It also will provide an in-house meat smoker, juice bar, and bakery.

Despite being located very close to Dominick's, Whole Foods does not see the longtime Chicago-area chain as a competitor, said Kate Klotz, a Whole Foods spokesperson. Whole Foods is “a lifestyle experience,” she said. 

            The store, which will be decorated in a train motif in homage to the area's industrial past, offers a variety of organic foods and departments for gourmet coffee and cheese, among other specialty items. Klotz said Whole Foods chose the South Loop because it is “a growing neighborhood” and has “a live where you work vibe.”

            Klotz added the South Loop location will differ from the Gold Coast store (also in a work where you live area), because “it’s bigger” and will offer cooking classes and other services not available at the Gold Coast site.

            In addition, the South Loop Whole Foods is pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. If it succeeds, it will be the first LEED certification for any Chicago area store, according to the company.

            Whole Foods will join Starbucks, Panera Bread, and well known retailers such as Linens and Things, DSW Shoes, and Office Depot in Southgate Market, the latest entry in an explosion of development on Roosevelt Road. A new Home Depot can be found one block away, and several blocks away on Halsted Street the University Village community offers upscale clothing boutiques, a wine store, and the biggest Barbara's Bookstore location in the country.

            One of the first supermarkets that came to the South Loop was Jewel/Osco, which opened at Roosevelt and Wabash in 2001. In the 1980s and 1990s the area went from being filled with empty lots and SRO-style hotels to bustling with development and new housing. Urban pioneers had to venture out of the neighborhood for groceries before Jewel’s arrival. 

            A Dominick's opened soon after at Roosevelt and Canal in a strip mall that includes a Walgreen's, a bank, a Fed-Ex Kinko’s, and several fast food places. As one of the chain's lifestyle stores, it features upgraded perishable and service departments. The lifestyle store concept began in California, and Dominick’s brought it to Chicago for its locations in more affluent areas.

As the area develops further south and west, Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) said he hopes to bring development there, too. “I’ve got to bring them over to the West Side,” Fioretti said. “I’ve got to bring them over to the Bronzeville area.” Fioretti is aggressively promoting areas such as 35th Street and the Madison Street/Western Avenue area.

            The area's population has exploded in the past decade with young adults working in the Loop who want to be close to their jobs, retirees moving in from the suburbs, and people seeking weekend housing conveniently located downtown. Also, more college students are calling the neighborhood home, thanks to the largest dormitory in the country, which is located at Congress Parkway and State Street and houses students from DePaul and Roosevelt Universities and Columbia College.

            "There are rumors of a Trader Joe's on Cermak" coming, said Tina Feldstein of the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance. Feldstein said that there is a "very strong need" for retail, especially grocery stores on the south end of the South Loop. "We don't need any more dry cleaners."

            A spokesperson for Trader Joe's, however, said there are no plans for a South Loop Trader Joe's at this time.

            Feldstein said that although residential developments between 18th Street and Cermak Road have exploded, the retail has been "very slow in catching up." Feldstein noted how the South Loop is "sandwiched" by Roosevelt and Cermak, and that now that Roosevelt is developed, she would like to see Cermak catch up, including having other retail and big box stores.

            Bonnie Sanchez Carlson, president of the Near South Planning Board, said the recent development on Roosevelt is good for the community. "We always knew that Roosevelt would be a corridor," Sanchez Carlson said, noting development started in the South Loop at Congress and has been making its way farther south.