Aug. 13--The Chicago area has five fewer grocery stores than it did two years ago, but the ones remaining are bigger and fancier, a new study shows.
The area's 278 grocery stores have a footprint of 9.86 million square feet, an increase of 140,000 square feet since an earlier 2013 study by Mid-America Real Estate Corp. of Oakbrook Terrace.
Chains that are expected to take a higher profile over the next two years in the Chicago market include Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, Mariano's, Whole Foods and Target, said Dan Tausk, a director of Mid-America's urban tenant brokerage and co-author of the study. Both Whole Foods and Mariano's are classified as gourmet, as is Fresh Thyme.
Many of Chicago's underserved areas -- mainly the south, southeast and west parts of the city -- will remain food deserts in coming years, the retail real estate company forecasts.
The "only real significant move impacting an underserved area for 2016" is Whole Foods' move into Englewood, Tausk said. The median income there is less than $20,000.
Currently, the southwest suburbs, for example, have 15.3 square feet of grocery stores per household. In contrast, the South Side of Chicago has 3 square feet of grocery stores per household.
The chains with the most stores were Aldi and Jewel-Osco, with 51 and 49, respectively, the study said.
It's the gourmet sector of the grocery industry, however, that has seen rapid growth, with square footage in the Chicago area up by 28 percent since 2013, Mid-America said.
The departure of Dominick's, a more traditional full-service grocery chain, created opportunities for other merchants. In late 2013, owner Safeway shut down the 72-store chain.
"Dominick's created opportunities for existing portfolio buyers by allowing them to expand into a market with a low supply of available existing grocery or other sizable available space," Tausk said.
Both Mariano's and Whole Foods acquired former Dominick's sites.
Fresh Thyme, according to its website, now has stores in Mount Prospect, Deerfield, Fairview Heights, Downers Grove and Joliet, and plans to open stores this year in Naperville, Crystal Lake and at 2500 N. Elston Ave. in Chicago.
The study looks only at grocery stores with at least 10,000 square feet.
byerak@tribpub.com
