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LAKE EFFECT NEWS
By Lorrainne Swanson, Editor
Ald. Pat O'Connor (left) along with Dominick's President Don Keprta, wasted no time taking a whack at the front column of the Dominick's store in Lincoln Square during a demolition ceremony on Thursday. The food retailer plans to replace the existing building with one of its Lifestyle stores.
Mayberry is getting a new Dominick’s. At least that’s how Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th Ward) described the new Dominick’s Finer Foods store that will replace the existing store at Berwyn and Lincoln Avenues in Lincoln Square.
Dominick’s executives and community residents joined O’Connor for early Thursday morning for a demolition ceremony at the shuttered supermarket at 5233 N. Lincoln.
O’Connor and Dominick’s President Don Keprta donned construction hardhats and took symbolic swings with sledge hammers at a front column of the building. The real demolition starts next week.
The Dominick’s store has anchored the corner of Lincoln and Berwyn since it opened in 1975. The building is the first complete teardown of a Dominick’s store that will be replaced by one the food retailer’s Lifestyle stores. The rebuilt Dominick’s is expected to reopen before fall 2010.
The Lincoln Square store is the latest of Dominick’s 80 Chicago-area stores to get a redo. Construction of the 49,000-square-foot retail space will began later this month. The new store offers expanded produce, meat and beverage departments, a scratch bakery and hearth where bread and other goods will be baked daily on site, and a full service bank.
In addition to these improvements, shoppers will be able to enjoy a Starbucks Café with indoor and outdoor seating where they can watch traffic go by on Lincoln Avenue.
Keprta said Dominick’s decided to build a new store rather than retrofit the existing building because customers’ shopping needs have changed since the 1970s.
“We couldn’t add on to it and get all the services we needed,” Keprta said. “This is a wonderful area and a wonderful store to anchor the corner here.”
Recalling an A&P Grocery that once stood on the site, O’Connor said he was thrilled when Dominick’s executives told him this summer of their plans to replace the existing store.
Sixth-graders from Bud Long Elementary School sing the National Anthem at Thursday's demolition ceremony of the old Dominick's store in Lincoln Square. They were rewarded with a free Dominick's pizza party.
“This is the lowest crime rate in the city right here. The beat that’s west of here is Mayberry,” O’Connor said, referring to the old Andy Griffith Show. “This is a great place for a community store to be because this is a great community to be in.”
Medical prescriptions from the Dominick’s pharmacy in Lincoln Square are being transferred temporarily to the West Ridge Dominick’s that underwent a similar renovation this year at 6623 N. Damen. Dominick’s also offers free delivery for medical prescriptions.
Dominick’s store officials are also working with O’Connor’s office to arrange for Mayor Daley’s free senior shuttle service to increase its trips to other area Dominick’s stores at 3350 N. Western, 6009 N. Broadway Avenue and 6850 McCormick in Lincolnwood, in addition to the West Ridge store.
The Dominick’s store at Foster and Sheridan is also scheduled for demolition next month, to be replaced by a Dominick’s Lifestyle store that will serve as the flagship for the food retailer’s Chicago-area stores. The store currently operating Foster and Sheridan will close on Oct. 23 and will re-open after construction is completed next year.
