Nearly all major grocery retailers in Chicago now offer some form of delivery or pickup for increasingly tech-savvy consumers on the go.
But they’re also sinking capital into their bricks-and-mortar stores and bolstering their workforces in order to survive in the area’s fiercely competitive grocery industry. Mariano’s parent company Kroger announced Tuesday plans to hire 11,000 positions nationally. That appears to include more than 200 jobs in the Chicago area, according to the company’s website, though Mariano’s wouldn’t confirm the total. Mariano’s also is expanding its ClickList pickup service and remodeling certain Chicago-area locations.
Jewel-Osco, the Chicago area’s largest traditional grocery chain, hires more than 1,200 people a month for its 187 stores, Jewel executives said Tuesday, and is planning 17 remodelings this year, as it ramps up its own delivery service. Such investments come amid looming online shopping threats from Amazon and Walmart, the latter of which announced Tuesday that it would offer online delivery to 40 percent of U.S. homes in the weeks to come.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Chicago Tribune