"Heinen's represents the type of high-quality, full-service grocer that our residents and downtown businesses made clear they wanted during formulation of our downtown plan," Glenview Village President Jim Patterson said. Watch video
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Heinen's Fine Foods will welcome suburban Chicago shoppers to its 19th supermarket in Village of Glenview, Ill., at 10 a.m. on May 7.
The $10 million to $12 million Glenview store, the company's second in affluent suburban Chicago, replaces a vacant Dominick's store in a community that specifically sought out and invited Heinen's to come to town.
View full sizeClevelanders who visit Heinen's stores in Chicago, such as this sun-bathed display of flowers in the Barrington store, would recognize them as Heinen's stores. "Our new downtown Glenview store celebrates everything we stand for as a local, family-centric business," Co-President Jeff Heinen said, in a written statement. "We pride ourselves on exceptional customer service and having customer leave our store feeling better than when they arrived."
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View full sizeHeinen's, which began as a butcher shop in 1929, still puts an emphasis on avoiding antibiotics and knowing its ranchers and farmers.
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View full sizeSome of the Cleveland products the Heinen brothers have taken with them to Greater Chicago include Shaker Heights-based Good Greens bars, seen here in a display at the Barrington store.
Jim Patterson, Glenview village president, said in the same announcement that "Heinen's represents the type of high-quality, full-service grocer that our residents and downtown businesses made clear they wanted during formulation of our downtown plan."
But the biggest change since the Heinen brothers signed on to build the store in December 2012 is how much more crowded the Chicagoland grocery landscape has become. "It's much more competitive today than when we first decided to do this," Jeff Heinen said.
Dominick's Finer Foods, the second-largest grocer in Greater Chicago after Jewel-Osco in terms of store count, announced last October that it was leaving the market for more profitable locations elsewhere, prompting a mad scramble by its rivals to buy up suddenly-available stores.
View full sizeHeinen's, which began as a butcher shop in 1929, still puts an emphasis on avoiding antibiotics and knowing its ranchers and farmers.Heinen's won the bids for two stores in Lake County, north of Chicago's Cook County, but its expansion has been far more modest than those of Mariano's Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market.
Heinen's 20th store, in the Village of Bannockburn, Ill., will open in late July, and its 21st store, in the Village of Lake Bluff, Ill., will open soon after that, sometime in the fall.
In an unrelated announcement, Heinen said the opening date for the Downtown Cleveland store in The 9 Building has been pushed into the first quarter of 2015.
Even without the Cleveland store, Heinen's will have already opened more stores this year -- its 85th anniversary -- than in any previous year.
Like its sister store in Barrington, Ill., the Glenview store won't have a pet food aisle or parcel pick-up service -- "We were a little constrained by space," Jeff Heinen said. But he said visiting Clevelanders will still recognize the interior as a regular Heinen's store, and be able to use their Tasteful Rewards loyalty cards there.
As in its Cleveland-area stores, the Glenview store will feature an extensive produce department with organic and locally grown seasonal produce; an in-store butcher and service case with source-verified beef and pork; seafood flown-in overnight six days a week from Hawaii, Alaska, Washington and New England; a gourmet and artisan cheese department and deli counter; a self-serve bulk olive oil and balsamic bar; a self-serve salad bar; and a Wellness Center with vitamins, supplements, probiotics and one-on-one wellness coaching.
Shoppers can also designate a local school to receive a donation equal to 1 percent of their annual purchases, as they can in Ohio. Glenview, about 20 minutes northwest of Chicago, has a population of 44,692; a median family income of $125,138; and a median home value of $545,000, according to the village website.
View full sizeSome of the Cleveland products the Heinen brothers have taken with them to Greater Chicago include Shaker Heights-based Good Greens bars, seen here in a display at the Barrington store.The 43,915-square-foot Glenview store is slightly bigger than the 38,000-square-foot Barrington store, with back offices on a partial second floor and rooftop parking for employees on the third floor. Located at 1020 Waukegan Rd., slightly north of Glenview Road, it will also have a small cafe and seating area that Barrington (a former Staples store) didn't have room for.
Jeff Heinen said that per tradition, both he and his brother, Tom, will be at the May 7 opening, but that they have not finalized all the grand opening promotions. "We think long-term, so we're thinking a lot more about how much business we're going to do in year three or year five than we are about how well we do in week one," he said.
Despite the additional rivals and greater unknowns, he said the company still expects to thrive in Greater Chicago. "We still believe our solution and our value equation: Our sourcing of products, our quality, service and price, is really a different shopping experience from everyone else," Heinen said. "Our solution is still unique enough that we believe we can be successful."