Going Grocery Shopping at Dominick's on Roosevelt

The peeps at Dominick's recently reached out to us to look at a new coupon program they've recently launched called Just for U. For participating in the test, they gave us some gift cards (read at the bottom of the post to find out how you can get some). Ironically, one of our main Sloopin contributors loves coupons and enthusiastically agreed to test it out.

Anyway, here is a quick blurb they sent us about the program:

We have an exciting new promotion called Just for U that we are launching in Chicago and we want you to be among the first to try it out! Just for U enhances your Fresh Values Card rewards. It saves you additional money on products selected just for you based on your unique shopping history, allowing you to save on the items you want without having to sort through ads and clip paper coupons.

So with that in mind we embarked on a trip to their website (here) to try it out. Upon signing up we took a quick look around the site and sure enough our favorite things were discounted (which obviously was linked to our previous purchases on our Dominick's Fresh Values Card). We browsed, clicked on what we wanted, which in turn added the items to our card. Voila! We saved some dough. Pretty simple. We really don't have much more to say about the program.

Anyway, we live closer to Jewel on Wabash and Roosevelt, so that's usually our go to grocery store. However, it was fun to check out the Dominick's on Roosevelt and change up our grocery shopping routine. With that in mind, we thought we would provide some additional quick observations about differences (both positive and negative):

• Parking was a breeze at Dominick's. It might feel a little more 'suburban' than the Jewel experience or even the Whole Foods across the street, but it's much easier to get parking at Dominick's.
• The produce and meat area at Dominick's was pretty impressive. Not sure if it's that much better then Jewel, but we liked it!
• The other traditional aisles at Dominick's seemed dingy, dark and older. They still had all the stuff we wanted, but it didn't seem as nice as Jewel in this section of the grocery store.
• We bank with Chase and they have one, so that was convenient.
• There was some drunk dude sleeping on a bench outside of the store, but hey you get that everywhere in the Sloop (and city for that matter).
• Prices seemed comparable to Jewel, maybe a little cheaper, but pretty similar as far as we could tell.

So there you have it. Thanks to them for reaching out to us to give it a look. It's definitely an interesting concept and improvement on the coupon experience.

Finally, we do have some $25 gift cards left over. With that said, the first four people to buy a Sloopin t-shirt via eBay (link here) will get a $25 Dominick's gift card as well. What a deal! You buy a sweet Sloopin shirt for $21.90 and you get a $25 gift card...that means you come out on top (a positive $3.10).

(Hat Tip: Peeps at Dominick's)

White Stuff is Coming

Shots Around the Sloop: Church

(Hat Tip: LH!)

Something New Potentially Coming in on 9th Street?

A reader writes:

I was walking on 9th between Wabash and State and noticed there is something going on in the only video store space. It was the video store next to the tracks that later closed down and became an apartment? Well they were painting the walls and it looked like they were making some additions in there to revamp the commercial space? Let me know if you found out anything!

We searched the usual places on the interweb but couldn't find much info on this place. Again, do any readers know about this?

(Hat Tip: RT!)

Chicago Magazine Looks at the Columbian

A great little video from Chicago Magazine and some amazing views:


Our favorite line from the video isn't in regard to the building, but the comment about the South Loop:

"Here on the South end of Grant Park you can really see whats happened in the
South Loop over the past decade. This has turned into such an active
area."

(Video from Chicago Magazine)

Sponsored Post: Thanks One Last Time

Sponsored Post

One last shout out to Infinity Strategic Group for sponsoring Sloopin over the past month. As we've mentioned, go to their site and make an appointment.

Also, if you're business is interested in sponsoring or advertising on Sloopin please email us at sloopin@gmail.com

Why No Through Street?

One of our favorite things about Chicago and the South Loop is that it has a sensible and relatively comprehensible city street grid. It's pretty easy to get around the Sloop thanks to the numbered east-west streets among other things. However one thing that has always perplexed us is why some of the streets aren't through streets. We all know about Dearborn Park I and II, but there are some others that stick out in our mind.

Below is a picture facing West at the corner of Wabash and 14th street. There is a stop light at

State and 14th (which presumably still functions due to the condo parking garage at that corner) and there is a sidewalk that appears to be built for a through street going West to that light. But for some reason a parking lot and wall block this from happening. Does anyone know the reason for this? We would love to hear some theories.

We know we're not city planners, but sometimes it's fun to play one (if you're like me you loved the Sim City growing up). What other city planning improvements would you recommend for the Sloop?

Scrubby Piece of Land in Printers Row being Transformed?

A reader writes:

There's a little patch of scrubby land on Polk just south of Federal (on the west side of Dearborn Station) that is getting some sort of awesome transformation . . . any idea who's behind it?

We're not sure, but was wondering if any other readers have an idea.

(Hat Tip: JC!)

Intrigued by Ole Hardwood

There has been a lot of discussion about the new Ole Hardwood restaurant (1315 S. Wabash) and yesterday a reader forwarded an intriguing piece from the Urban Daddy website:

Welcome to Ole Hardwood, a glitzy smokehouse opening tonight in the South Loop, ready to meet your oak-, apple-, cherry-, mesquite-, cedar- and/or hickory-smoked meat needs.Yes, there’s formality in the form of grand chandeliers and black tablecloths.

But it’s not so stuffy that you'll have to shy away from licking your fingers—or anyone else’s. But first let’s start with a drink.

Very interested and we're salivating just thinking about it. Also of interest are some great pictures of the recently remodeled inside if you click here.

(Hat Tip: SG!)

Interesting Event at Elephant Room Gallery this Sat

We've walked by the Elephant Room art Gallery at 704 S. Wabash many times, but have never been in. It looks interesting, but every time we've walked by it wasn't open. Regardless, this Saturday we got word that they're having an interesting event:

I wanted to reach out to you to let you know about a unique event we have happening this Saturday, 5-10pm. Our art exhibition is part of Chicago Artists Month featured program and we are having a live sketch event with the artists in which they will be doing live sketches immediately available for purchase. The exhibition is Common Ground and you can check out our website for more details. www.elephantroomgallery.com

Sounds interesting. Check it out if you're looking for something to do this Saturday.

Brand New Firestone Shop Takes Shape

Last we checked the Firestone at 1550 S. Wabash was being demolished and to be honest we weren't sure if it was coming back. Well that doesn't seem to be the case. Upon recently driving west on 16th street we realized the new Firestone store was taking shape (although hard to see look under the EL):

Glad to see this and best of luck to them!

Foreclosures Rock Chicago and South Loop

A reader recently posted a comment with a chilling real estate article in today's Tribune. The article looks at the entire market but specifically calls out the Sloop:

"The reason (the South Loop) is getting crushed is it's only the South Loop in a good market," Greco said. "In a bad market, it's no man's land. In a good market, people assume neighborhoods will be expanding. When the market crashes, it's like the Sycamore or Moline of Chicago."

Kelly Cirignani, a sales agent at Patrick Jeffrey Realty, is working with a first-time homebuyer who until recently was looking specifically at newer construction in the South Loop.The client settled on a unit and was ready to make a 50 percent down payment, until his lender said it would not approve a mortgage in the chosen building. Cirignani now is scouting properties in Old Town and Lincoln Park. "He doesn't want anything to do with South Loop," she said. "I warned him before it (happened). I guess we didn't realize how bad it was."

In our opinion it's not as dramatic or bad as this real estate agent has made it sound. Yes, some buildings in the Sloop aren't good places to buy/invest in for a variety of reasons, but whenever you broadly paint neighborhoods it doesn't seem to do justice to the actual dynamics on the ground.

Kanye Hits the Sloop

It appears the this past Tuesday (10/19), Kanye premiered a new movie he was involved with at the ICON theater at Roosevelt Collection:

Chicago fans are some of the most loyal around — not only to their sports teams, but to their musicians as well. Kanye West was greeted on Tuesday night with a warm, Windy City homecoming as more than 300 people, including media types, local artists and friends who supported him on his ride up, gathered at the ICON Theater in Chicago's South Loop for an advance look at his movie, "Runaway," which premieres on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV and BET.

Good to see our movie theater getting some big names!

Shots Around the Sloop: 3 Foxes

Where are these guys? And better yet what is their significance?