Photo courtesy by flickr.com
Late in 2013, Dominick’s made headlines after it announced it would close a number of Chicagoland stores. Since then, several different stores have taken over the locations, including Mariano’s, Caputo’s, and Jewel. Now, it’s been announced that Jewel will take over five more locations of the shuttered Dominick’s buildings. This new acquisition includes two city locations—one in Roger’s Park and one in Old Town. That brings Jewel’s total investment to nine new stores.
Jewel’s Development Plans
The new locations announced to be converted to Jewel stores are at 1763 Howard Street and 424 W. Division St in Chicago, as well as 3 others in the suburbs – 3243 S. 115th St. in Merrionette Park, 800 NW Highway in Fox River Grove, and 345 S. Rand Road in Lake Zurich. The company has not yet said when the new locations will open, however. Jewel-Osco’s parent company, New Albertson’s, said that it is investing about $100 million in new projects and remodels for Jewel this year—more than 25 remodels are planned for 2014. Previously, Jewel took over and reopened four other Dominick’s locations—two in Chicago at 1340 S. Canal Street and 2550 N. Clybourn Ave., and two in the suburbs—one at 1340 Patriot Blvd. in Glenview and one at 142000 South Bell Road in Homer Glen.
Turnover from Vacancy to New Stores
Though the turnover from vacant building to new store was very fast the last time around—with just about a week in between the announced purchase of the locations and the reopening as Jewel—there has been no word as to what the timeline is to redevelop these empty stores as new Jewel locations. If empty buildings are to be left vacant for any length of time, it’s ideal to secure the entry points so that trespassers or criminals cannot get inside. There are several ways to do this: one of the most effective ways to keep people out of a building is to block off all entry points. Boarding up windows with steel window covers and covering doors with a steel door guard system make it impossible to get inside. They can be left on while developers make plans for what to do with a space—which may be particularly helpful if Jewel is waiting to space out their renovations or remodels over time. In efforts not to burn through their remodel budget too early in the year, it’s possible that they’d allow some buildings to stay vacant for a longer period of time.
Protecting building vacancies is easy with steel window and door guards. Call DAWGS today for more information.
