Mariano’s opening Greektown store
by Luxury.Net
Good news for the people who love to shop. Mariano’s opening a new grocery store in Greektown. Shoppers at Mariano’s grocery store in Greektown will get to design their own craft-beer six-pack, slurp down oysters at an oyster bar and take cooking lessons from visiting chefs in the Milwaukee company’s most creative efforts yet to serve the Chicago market. Bob Mariano, who is the owner of parent company Roundy’s Supermarkets, based in Milwaukee, has commented that, “We continue to refine the concept because customers talk to us about what they want.” Mariano, a Chicago native who spent 27 years working his way to the top job at Dominick’s, first told the Sun-Times in February 2008 that he wanted to build as many as 25 full-service grocery stores in the Chicago area within the next several years. According to the sources, the Greektown store is the eighth, and five more are in the works. Sources also revealed that Mariano’s could have 30 stores here in the next five years, including a potential site on Chicago’s South Side.
Mariano said, “Chicago customers are very sharp, and they want value, choices and high-quality food. Time is critical to them, so they want an all-in-one shopping experience.” Sources revealed that the Greektown store at 40 S. Halsted will employ 450 people. The store anchors the new Gateway retail mall and is across the street from a Dominick’s. The store features a handful of things such as a walk-in beer cooler, stocked primarily with craft beers, where shoppers can pick their own six-pack variety. Classroom kitchen that will offer special events and cooking classes by chefs. A wine nook where people can enjoy a glass of wine. 150 parking spots and so on.
Jon Hauptman, who is a partner with Willard Bishop retail-food consultancy in Barrington, said that, “They provide an appealing shopping experience for perishables, and their prices in their store brands are lower than many in the Chicago market.”
