The Save A Lot grocery store in West Garfield Park is expected to open its doors to the public Thursday morning — offering an "updated shopping experience" nearly one year after its owner Yellow Banana closed the store.
Yellow Banana CEO Joseph Canfield and Save A Lot Chief Development Officer Bill Mayo told the Sun-Times during a store preview Wednesday that they're excited to “prove themselves” to Chicago residents, who have complained about its expired food and dirty stores.
The store is the first to open out of six locations that were part of Yellow Banana’s city-funded $13.5 million deal to offer South and West side residents more grocery options. If it opens all six stores by the city's April deadline, it will receive the full $13.5 million in funding.
The West Garfield Park store at 420 S. Pulaski Road incorporates suggestions from residents like the addition of two organic produce options — baby spinach and lettuce. Fresh-cut turkey was also added at the urging of residents along with new floors and lighting, which add a "welcoming" aesthetic, according to Mayo.
Canfield says the biggest change at the store is the updated refrigeration, which previously caused “product integrity issues.”
The freezer section of the Save A Lot grocery store at 420 S. Pulaski Rd. ahead of its opening on Thursday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
In the past two years, Yellow Banana’s 38-store portfolio has shrunk to only include Chicago. Stores outside of Chicago and in Ohio, Florida, Texas and Wisconsin have either closed or been taken over by Missouri-based Save A Lot.
Canfield and Mayo didn't want to talk about the challenges that have plagued Yellow Banana from missing store opening deadlines to nearly $2 million in lawsuits filed by suppliers.
Canfield says the the company’s financial issues are “in the past.”
“We’re looking forward on things; we’re really not going to talk about things in the past,” he says. “We don’t comment on any litigation. Any challenges we have with suppliers we are actively working through with them.”
The duo declined to discuss what led to vendors like Pepsi and Sherwood Food Distributors to file lawsuits against the company.
“We're trying to focus on getting this store open, opening up the other stores, getting in the market and being successful,” Mayo says. “We're really looking forward. That’s really what our focus is.”
Canfield says the other five stores are expected to open by Thanksgiving.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The West Garfield Park store is the first to open out of six locations that were part of Yellow Banana’s city-funded $13.5 million deal to offer South and West side residents more grocery options.
The city of Chicago made a $13.5 million deal with supermarket operator Yellow Banana, but the company has racked up $2 million in debts and shrunk to one open store amid lawsuits from creditors.
In January, a Yellow Banana executive promised the city his company would improve after multiple delays opening stores in underserved South and West side communities.
The city of Chicago made a $13.5 million deal with supermarket operator Yellow Banana, but the company has racked up $2 million in debts and shrunk to one open store amid lawsuits from creditors.
The number of Chicagoans living over a mile away from a supermarket or superstore — a major grocer — has jumped by 63% in the past decade, a WBEZ-Chicago Sun-Times analysis found.
The store at 344 E. 63rd St. was shut because of property damage from a break-in reported Saturday, the company said. A sign at the low-cost grocery store urged customers to visit the Englewood Save A Lot less than 2 miles away.
A week after a contentious community forum during which residents said they did not want a Save A Lot, the store at 832 W. 63rd St. opened Thursday. “We thought it was best to open the doors and let the community decide for themselves on how they felt about things,” a company executive told the Sun-Times.
In a contentious community meeting Wednesday night, Save A Lot’s CEO tried to convince concerned community members that the low-cost grocer is ready to meet their shopping needs.
Owners of the grocery chain said they would meet with Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) and residents to address the community’s needs. A soft open is postponed.
A day after a Whole Foods closed in Englewood, it was heartening that a City Council committee green-lit a $13.5 million project to revive six Save A Lot grocery stores.
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, said the Save A Lot name that will be revived by stores operated by Yellow Banana has been seriously damaged by store closings.
Plans for the closed Gresham Save A Lot have been solidified, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot announces $13.5 million in grants to go toward Yellow Banana-owned stores, including the Gresham location.
Yellow Banana operates six Chicago-area Save A Lot stores, and wants to renovate and reopen the shuttered Gresham store. It would retain the Save A Lot name through the same licensing agreement as Yellow Banana’s other stores.
