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Garden Fresh Markets
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  • Post #61 - May 12th, 2021, 11:03 am
    Post #61 - May 12th, 2021, 11:03 am Post #61 - May 12th, 2021, 11:03 am
    Or the Round Lake Beach location. I found an old Garden Fresh container the other day; it mentioned stores in Mount Prospect and Crystal Lake along with the Northbrook, Naperville and Round Lake Beach outlets.

    What happened? I can't imagine they lost their lease in RLB. That store is still vacant. Fear of Meijer? The Northbrook store was pretty small for what they were trying to do with it.
  • Post #62 - May 12th, 2021, 4:28 pm
    Post #62 - May 12th, 2021, 4:28 pm Post #62 - May 12th, 2021, 4:28 pm
    tjr wrote:Or the Round Lake Beach location. I found an old Garden Fresh container the other day; it mentioned stores in Mount Prospect and Crystal Lake along with the Northbrook, Naperville and Round Lake Beach outlets.

    What happened? I can't imagine they lost their lease in RLB. That store is still vacant. Fear of Meijer? The Northbrook store was pretty small for what they were trying to do with it.

    The Mount Prospect store was previously a smallish Dominick's at Rand and Central (where they competed with Aldi and MallWart), after GF moved out, they tore down that end of the center and put up an LA Fitness.

    There was also an Arlington Heights unit at Rand and Palatine (SE behind Olive Garden), competing against Trader Joe's, Jewel and a couple others in that neighborhood. It's now a tile shop.

    Two things I miss from having them nearby: inexpensive ground lamb, and the orange-colored Chile de Arbol salsa.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #63 - May 12th, 2021, 5:44 pm
    Post #63 - May 12th, 2021, 5:44 pm Post #63 - May 12th, 2021, 5:44 pm
    HI,

    The owner of Garden Fresh was a neighbor. Gwiv, ReneG, LAZ and I met him at 4 AM for a tour of the vegetable markets some years ago.

    He mentioned a few locations, which I think were once CUB (or Eagle?) stores, were briefly operated due to contractual obligations. There were locations they wanted and had to operate at other locations at least temporarily.

    I visit the Mundelein store whenever I am in the area.

    Regards,
    Cathy2
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #64 - May 13th, 2021, 7:00 am
    Post #64 - May 13th, 2021, 7:00 am Post #64 - May 13th, 2021, 7:00 am
    Looks like the Mundelein store is an ex-Cub, as is the former RLB one: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct- ... story.html
    I don't know if the Waukegan store was ever a Garden Fresh. It's currently the one and only SuperFresh, like a slightly downscale Garden Fresh. Maybe same ownership?
    In younger days, my kid used to love going to the Mundelein Garden Fresh because we would look out from the balcony and play a version of "I Spy".
  • Post #65 - May 13th, 2021, 4:05 pm
    Post #65 - May 13th, 2021, 4:05 pm Post #65 - May 13th, 2021, 4:05 pm
    tjr wrote:Looks like the Mundelein store is an ex-Cub, as is the former RLB one: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct- ... story.html
    I don't know if the Waukegan store was ever a Garden Fresh. It's currently the one and only SuperFresh, like a slightly downscale Garden Fresh. Maybe same ownership?

    I do not recall any Garden Fresh in Waukegan. I see nothing to connect the dots from Garden Fresh to SuperFresh.

    I have been to SuperFresh a few times over the years, I saw nothing about it to remind me of Garden Fresh. Garden Fresh has those bright yellow bags, so you can see where someone shopped from some distance.

    There are lots of grocery stores with Fresh in the name.

    Regards,
    CAthy2
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #66 - May 23rd, 2021, 10:46 pm
    Post #66 - May 23rd, 2021, 10:46 pm Post #66 - May 23rd, 2021, 10:46 pm
    There are "Tony's Coming Soon" signs at the former Round Lake Beach Garden Fresh, southeast corner of Rollins and Rt 83. I think Tony's will do well there, given the demographics of the area. Personally I'd rather have a Shop-n-Save, Valli or Angelo Caputo's, but any of those seem unlikely.

    On possible connections between Super Fresh and Garden Fresh, other than the location being mentioned in that old article: Both used to run the same specials very frequently, although that may be because both were part of the Centrella group way back when.
  • Post #67 - May 24th, 2021, 7:07 am
    Post #67 - May 24th, 2021, 7:07 am Post #67 - May 24th, 2021, 7:07 am
    Centrella going bust affected a lot of independent grocery stores. You could buy Centrella products at Sunset Foods, which has no connection to Super Fresh or Garden Fresh.

    The two Lewis Markets in Waukegan are related with the good one on Grand Ave run by the son. The lesser one is run by the Dad on Lewis Ave, which happens to be near Super Fresh. There are always incremental improvements at the Grand Lewis Store, so I like to see what's new. It is the only store with an aisle index stating Yugoslav food ingredients can be found. It's your basic Slavic, but never before have I seen aisle index state, 'Yugoslav' or at least it once did.

    Regards,
    Cathy2
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #68 - August 2nd, 2021, 7:36 am
    Post #68 - August 2nd, 2021, 7:36 am Post #68 - August 2nd, 2021, 7:36 am
    I went to the new Tony's in Round Lake Beach on Thursday. An attractive fixup of the old Cub/Garden Fresh store, the look and layout are very similar to the Niles Tony's. Given that Tony's has a large and nice assortment of produce along with a large selection of Hispanic foods, it should be a strong competitor for the Meijer, Jewel, Walmart and Aldi stores nearby. Grand opening specials were fairly well stocked. A few snags including stinginess on giveaways of reusable bags and notepads.

    Chatter on Nextdoor is a little mixed, with many people appreciating another alternative plus the grand opening specials while some still miss Garden Fresh. But there was some debate over whether Butera is a better choice for meats along with the usual blend of high praise vs. grumbling about Butera.
  • Post #69 - November 18th, 2021, 9:38 pm
    Post #69 - November 18th, 2021, 9:38 pm Post #69 - November 18th, 2021, 9:38 pm
    I have not been a big fan of the Garden Fresh here in Mundelein, but today a neighbor brought me some nice tomatoes and raspberries that he got there yesterday and said there were currently some very good prices on produce there. I'm curious to go myself tomorrow to check Garden Fresh out again, because the weekly sale prices I saw yesterday at at Jewel across the street were notably unimpressive, especially considering the holiday approaching, although I don't hold that against Jewel so much as chalk it up to food prices being up all over lately.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"

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