Grocery Stores In Chicago Are In Crisis

The grocery store sector is never static. Some stores close, others open. But in Chicago, 25 stores closed over the past 24 months due to bankruptcies or operational reasons, and only 16 stores have opened, producing “an alarming loss” of 545,000 square feet of grocery store space.

This includes five independent grocery stores that closed, while only two new ones opened, bringing their total down to 43 stores. Their market share, based on square footage, declined to just 7%. This is “not a positive sign for improving the food deserts where these grocers penetrate more regularly,” according to Mid-America Real Estate’s biennial Urban Grocery Study.

And the average store size shrank, as the stores that were closed averaged 38,000 square feet, while the stores that opened or are planned average 25,000 square feet.

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