Sunday, June 12, 2011

People Think Jewel Could Suffer When Trader Joe's Opens




12 comments:

ProduceLovingCitySlicker said...

The produce sucks at trader joe's, jewel, and dominicks, and is beyond overpriced at whole paycheck. So that will be a push. Stanleys or hyde park produce and farmer's markets that don't jack up their prices (read: no where in downtown Chicago) will never be affected by these places and are worth the extra time and gas to get to... Trader Joe's fills a niche for the wasabi pea loving, goat cheese pizza eating, granola and greek yogurt slamming, dried fruit crushing city slicker (read:me).

Anonymous said...

I am looking forward to Trader Joe's for no other purpose but to get a change of scenery. I am so tired of the element at jewel. I love getting hassled by homeless guys and waiting in line extra long while link cards are being used to by food and cash is being spent on alcohol. I am also going to miss the clerks at Jewell using profanity with each other and complaining about their baby daddy.

Anonymous said...

Considering the neighborhood I'm sure many of the elements you cite as being in Jewel will be present in Trader Joe's.
A drive into the city to avoid the riff raff is worth it.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Jewel will suffer the most and it isn't because it is closest in proximity to the new TJ. I hate to admit that I shop at the Jewel on Des Plaines in River North because I despise the one on Roosevelt and Wabash. I will support the new TJ (as I do the Dominick's and WF), but for the same reasons other have said I am over the South Loop Jewel.

Anonymous said...

This Jewel is pretty much my go to place since I don't like driving in the city and I can easily walk to it. I haven't experienced anything so far that would make me want to go out of my way to avoid "riff raff" etc. There are bums and lower class people all over the city. If you don't like it move to the burbs or grow a thicker skin.

Anonymous said...

You really need to S-T-O-P telling people complaining about Jewel to "move to the burbs"!

A grocery store is where you buy FOOD. It should be clean, healthy, and pristine. Jewel on Roosevelt is none of the above. Think about this for a moment: the food displays and the aisles throughout the store are disgusting, and that is the part of the store that the public can see; imagine what it looks like behind the scenes!

I comlained once about a broken sauce jar lying in the middle of an aisle to a "manager" (who was wearing jeans sagging to his mid thigh); 20 minutes later, as I was walking to check out, the jar was still there! And the "manager" was hanging out at the customer service counter, laughing with 4 other "employees" while the store rotted around us.

I highly recommend Jewel on Des Plaines in the west loop. Completely different clientale and management.

Anonymous said...

Ditto, anon @ 7:55. Same thing for all of you telling people who complain about crime and throngs of gang bangers roaming the streets to "move to the suburbs." No thanks! That is not a "community solution." The reason all of the crime-plauged hoods south and west of the sloop have become war zones is because people "complaining" about the criminal lifestyle were forced out. Do NOT let that happen to the sloop! We need more people to "complain" about Jewel catering more to the Link card crowd as opposed to the citizens who live and pay taxes in this neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

I just moved to the South Loop and I have to agree that the Jewel, while actually one of the more nicely laid out and constructed Jewels, is far below par when it comes to the employees. There's always something wrong with the self checkout machines, and I understand that that isn't the employees' fault, but I have waited for assistance at one for literally 10-15 minutes more than once while the cashiers are just slowly walking around and having a chat. Like I said, I just moved to the South Loop, but I'm not new to the city and the employees at this particular Jewel are the absolute worst I've encountered. The only grocery worse in the city is, well, pretty much any Dominick's.

Anonymous said...

Proximity to Red Line, Green Line, and #12 Bus stop. Enough said.

Anonymous said...

I occasionally shop a the Jewel on Roosevelt because of the connivence, but it is by far the worst grocery store in the South Loop. The quickest and most inexpensive ways to improve it, would be to retrain and/or hire new employees, since they are frequently rude and inattentive. It is a common occurrence for the cashiers to hold lengthy, inappropriate conversations with each other at the check out line, which makes standing in the line a longer process. Given the limited problem solving skills of the staff; staff's frequent rude and inattentive behavior; and overall poor quality of produce at Jewel, I usually just avoid it. I am thankful that there are other options.

Anonymous said...

I occasionally shop a the Jewel on Roosevelt because of the connivence, but it is by far the worst grocery store in the South Loop. The quickest and most inexpensive ways to improve it, would be to retrain and/or hire new employees, since they are frequently rude and inattentive. It is a common occurrence for the cashiers to hold lengthy, inappropriate conversations with each other at the check out line, which makes standing in the line a longer process. Given the limited problem solving skills of the staff; staff's frequent rude and inattentive behavior; and overall poor quality of produce at Jewel, I usually just avoid it. I am thankful that there are other options.

Anonymous said...

I also shop at the Jewel on Wabash, but that store can be greatly improved very easily. It's not as bad as some people say, but I think the heart of the problem is the staff.

Once during checkout, the bagger was chatting with the bagger next to him. What bothered me was not just the swearing, but the fact that the cashier was a older woman and he did not have a problem with it.

I scolded him and asked him how he could speak that way in front of the older woman. He apologized and I even made him apologize to her.

As far as the homeless people, that can not be avoided. The location so close to the train stop is the cause and nothing can be done to change it.

The management definitely needs some change.

I find the manager at Dominick's a lot more helpful.

Can't wait for TJs to open.