Vanishing Chicago: Dominick's

My Dominick's Fresh Values card is old. Battered. Dirty. Recently lost a large chunk due to due to deterioration. I've had it in my wallet for a long, long time. It has, in fact, outlasted several wallets.

And now, it has outlasted Dominick's itself.

According to Wikipedia, Dominick's was founded in 1918 by Dominick DiMatteo, an immigrant from Sicily. Over the years, the one store became two stores, the two stores became more stores, more stores became a chain, etc.

Dominick's wasn't the biggest kid on the block in Chicago--that was (and is) Jewel/Osco--but it was prominent. In the 1980s and 1990s (when Mr. DiMatteo passed away), you could find Dominick's supermarkets all over the Chicagoland area. I had one within walking distance (well, for me, anyway, walking fool that I am) of La Casa del Terror for many years.

In 1998, Dominick's was taken over by Safeway, a national chain. And so began its slow decline to ultimate extinction.

Many blame Safeway for this. Easy to see why. The stores took on more of a generic feel. Prices became less competitive. Product quality wasn't the same. The Wikipedia entry details other customer complaints, particularly about produce and meats. But it all adds up to the same thing: Customers no longer recognized the store they were in--Dominick's was Dominick's in name only--and they chose to buy their groceries somewhere else.

Of course, it wasn't just suspect quality that lured customers away from Dominick's. There were other factors Stores like Target expanded their grocery offerings, and Walmart finally entered the city proper (they'd been in the surrounding suburbs for years); bringing their low prices along with them. Other grocery chains, like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Mariano's, entered the market, offering greater variety and, in some cases, better values.

the chain slowly contracted. Dominick's stores either became other stores--that one within walking distance of me turned into a Mariano's--or just ceased to be. Finally, it was announced that all Dominick's locations would close by December 28, just in time for Christmas. (Happy Holidays from Safeway!) Some of the locations were scooped up by competitors. Others will sit empty, their eventual fates to be determined.

A city full of "food deserts"--areas without many (if any) grocery options--just got a whole bunch more.