SOUTH SHORE — Big sales are coming to a Dominick's in South Shore this Friday.
The Dominick's at 2101 E. 71st St. will start its own Black Friday sale when products, including meats, will be sold at 50 percent off until the store closes Dec. 28. Currently some items, such as health and beauty products, are already 50 percent off.
In October, Safeway Inc., which operates 72 Dominick's in Illinois, including 15 in Chicago, announced it was leaving the Chicago market by 2014. Three Dominick's stores in Chicago are slated to be converted into a Mariano's Fresh Markets, while a handful of others are being taken over by Jewel-Osco.
Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th), whose ward includes the Dominick's store site, said she is hoping to lure another grocer to her ward, too.
"I would support a Mariano's store in that space. Without a new grocery store it would be challenging for residents to shop," Hairston said.
Dominick's is an anchor tenant at the Jeffery Plaza, 7131 S. Jeffery Blvd. Hairston said one of her biggest fears was the potential of a vacant store there after Dominick's closed.
But, with a half-off sale coming, it has regular shoppers like James Lyons excited.
"I have lived in South Shore for three years and I always shopped at Dominick's because of their sales," Lyons said Tuesday while perusing the store. "I plan on returning Friday to stock up on beer for New Year's Eve."
But other shoppers like Louise Crawley, a South Shore resident for 40 years, are already making plans to grocery shop elsewhere.
"I really liked this Dominick's. It has everything I need at prices I can afford. But once it closes, I will be doing my shopping Downtown at Jewel. I don't like the Jewel on 75th and Stony Island, and I have never been a fan of discount grocery stores like Aldi," Crawley said. "[Besides] I like my meats to be fresh and I like getting good customer service, two things I got at Dominick's. So if I have to drive further and spend a little bit more to get better service, so be it."
Other than a grocery store, Chatham resident Javiene Nichols, who shops at the South Shore Dominick's store, said a sit-down restaurant would be a good fit.
"We need to be able to take our kids to a nice sit-down restaurant so they can learn how to dine out," Nichols said. "There are nothing but fast-food restaurants around here and all kids learn from eating there is how to eat unhealthy and bad table manners."
After walking around the store for an hour, Crawley decided to put everything in her cart back and wait until Friday.
"I was fine until I saw they were out of my oatmeal. I love oatmeal but since they are out I will wait and try again Friday," Crawley said.
