GRAND BOULEVARD — The new Bronzeville Mariano’s will open on Oct. 11, officials said Wednesday.
The 74,000-square-foot new store at Martin Luther King Drive and Pershing Road will host grand opening ceremonies in early October with the first day of business set for Oct. 11, according to Ashley Thomas, a spokeswoman for Mariano’s.
The store is the first major retail store to open on the former Ida B. Wells public housing site and has been in the works for two years.
The store is expected to hire 400 people.
Earlier in August, store officials met with local vendors about stocking their items in the store, but Thomas said contracts with local vendors were not yet finalized.
When the project was first announced, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and local aldermen said it would help reduce “food deserts” in the city and make fresh food more easily available and spur more development in the neighborhood.
The Jewel three blocks away at the Lake Meadows Shopping Center at 35th Street and King Drive also seems primed for an update, with the property owner Draper and Kramer planning an overhaul of the shopping center and building more residential buildings.
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