LIL' BUDDY'S BLOG: Price War? Number 2 Chicago Food Store Chain, Dominick's, Slashing Costs on Thousands of Grocery Items!
THE CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE MARKET, AND OTHER THINGS CHICAGO, FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A LITTLE WHITE DOG!
Hello, you dogs! Gracie Ella Moss here - you know, the Lil' Brown Dog in the Moss Household. Buddy is out tonight with the boys - an all-night poker game, I suspect. He has those every once in a while.
Blogging duty goes to me tonight!
Shopping for Groceries in Chicago? With just a few exceptions, most shoppers frequent two of the largest supermarket chains. Here in the Chicago area, Jewel Food Stores, owned by Minnesota-based Supervalu, Inc., does 39% of the grocery business in town.
Dominick's, about one-third the size, with 81 Chicago Area Stores, holds onto a declining 11% of the market. They are owned by CA-Based Safeway Stores.
Back in Old Chicago, as our Human Daddy and Team Leader Dean refers to the early 1970's, the two giant supermarket chains were practically all we had here. Jewel was the first to offer 24-hour shopping - very unusual back in '72, he said.
Dominick's had the classier, friendlier employees. They wore white shirts. Black ties. Efficiently bagged your groceries, in the days when paper was the only choice. They were started by an old Italian Family - Dominick Di Mateo was the family patriarch, and he and his son, Dominick Junior, frequently visited the stores, making sure they were clean, well run, and had plenty of Canolli in stock at the store deli.
Jewel was bigger. Brighter. Flashier. More union. And often less friendly, in Daddy' Dean's opinion, anyway.
The two chains battled it out in the weekly supermarket sales flyers in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. They advertised heavily on Chicago Radio and TV.
And each had its own, unique part in Chicago History.
Today, the battle goes on, but the battleground has changed. Large supermarket competitors - including Walmart, Super Target, and Meijer, have an increasing piece of the grocery pie here. Whole Foods Market and a few smaller competitors target those most organically-conscious, Treasure Island and Trader Joe's - those seeking a bit more exotic, imported fare.
This all drives prices down - good for the consumer . . . yes?
Well, now, according to Reporter Mike Hughlett in today's Chicago Tribune, Dominick's has fired the latest volley in the Chicago Grocery Store Wars. They've announced deep price cuts - as much as 30% - on thousands of items. The move matches the one by Jewel last April, as they reduced many of their prices up to 20% - and still do - in their "Big Relief Price Cut" promotion.
During this weekend economy, you dogs, most humans are looking at every way they can to save money. They are packing up the pups less to eat out at restaurants. Even so, the Chicago Big Two Grocery Chains are seeing falling sales, and lost business to the upstart discount supermarkets.
Thus - price cutting to build store traffic. And, as a result, consumers save money!
Or do they? Often times, says Charles Cerankovsky, of Northeast Research, when supermarkets slash prices on some sales leader items, they often raise prices on many others! Hmmmmm . . . . !
In any event, if you do hit Dominick's or Jewel to save all that money, please spend some of the money you do save on some Meaty Bones for Buddy and me. Canine Sources say, prices are SLASHED!
YOUR ACE REPORTER ON FOUR PAWS,
BUDDY HOLLY MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
(Actually, it's me - GRACIE ELLA MOSS - writing this week. Buddy's back next week - unless, that is, he takes a bath at the poker table!)
