The Chicago-area grocery market is a jumbled medley of old and new players, high-volume locations and intense competition. News that Safeway would be selling its Dominick’s chain and the already completed sale of Jewel Osco to the New Albertsons entity will change the landscape immensely moving into 2014.  In the fall of this year, Safeway expressed its desire to exit the Chicago market. Fifteen of the 72 Dominick’s stores in Chicago have been sold, and unsold stores are scheduled to close Dec. 28.   A task force headed by Deputy Mayor Steve Koch has been established to promote the sale of the remaining stores, ensure smooth transitions to new owners, and minimize the impact of store closings on fresh food availability.

To date, the largest purchase of Dominick’s stores, announced December 2^nd, is a group of 11 locations to Roundy’s Inc. The stores will be converted to the Mariano’s Fresh Market banner, a format Roundy’s calls its ‘growth’ banner. Five additional Chicago-area Mariano’s are under construction with planned 2014 openings. Roundy’s sees potential for up to 45-50 Mariano’s locations in the greater Chicago market in the next few years. The stores are named after the company Chairman and CEO Robert A. Mariano, who coincidentally once headed the Dominick’s chain prior to it being sold to Safeway. Mariano describes the 11 stores as “irreplaceable locations and an excellent strategic fit with the 13 existing Mariano’s stores and with our expansion plans there.”

Data from Chain Store Guide’s 2013 Grocery Industry Market Share Report details nearly 1,400 food-selling locations in the Chicago core-based statistical area (CBSA). In the table below, the top 15 supermarket operators are ranked by estimated current market share positions.

Top 15 Supermarket Operators*
CHICAGO-JOLIET-NAPERVILLE, IL-IN-WI CBSA

*Source: Chain Store Guide’s 2013 Grocery Industry Market Share Report

Currently, no other parties have emerged as favorites to purchase large chunks of Dominick’s locations similar to the Roundy’s deal, but that could change from now until December 26^th. Some store closings appear imminent. When the 2014 CSG report is published early next year, we’ll expect to see major changes based on new store ownership, store closings and location growth. Whole Foods, Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Aldi have also opened new stores in recent years throughout the greater Chicago area.