#TBT Michigan Avenue in Roseland

Long time no see. Allow me to wish you all a Happy New Year. Hopefully the past holiday season was a wonderful and joyous one.

I found the three pics below in the Roseland History Group on Facebook and just though this was a great look back at Michigan Avenue in the past. And my hope is that one day it could go back to its former glory. Especially once that Red Line extension is finally built

The first two pics shows the area surrounding the long demolished State Theater which is about one block north of 111th Street. It appears these two photographs below are shown on the Cinema Treasures site credited to Dr. Gene Ossello and was taken in 1967.

How are you preparing for the winter storm?

 

[VIDEO] This WGN report shows shoppers going to their local Pete's Fresh Market in Matteson to stock on food and supplies. I'm sure there could be a report on going to a hardware store picking up shovels, salt or snowmelt among other things to dig out of the snow.

Here's a report from NBC 5 about the snow storm. Of course I would recommend using a weather app on your phone - iPhone especially - I like to use the WGN weather app to check radar. Of course you can use it to check for weather forecasts also.

I hope you don't have to get out of the house once the storm hits of course save for having to go to work. :(

Also I'm hearing about very low temps, time to buy a new coat also. BRRR...

Half-off sale at the soon to close Englewood Whole Foods Market

 Starting on Friday there is a half-off sale at the soon to close Whole Foods Market Englewood store. The store is scheduled to close for business on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The closing was announced earlier in the spring after being in business since Fall 2016.

According to the Sun-Times some customers are lamenting the loss of this store located in Englewood's former business district 63rd & Halsted Streets. Also those who are working there were offered transfers to other locations, when the store opened in 2016 they hired 100 people to work there many of whom live in the community.

Of course here's a silver lining, the store's closing has inspired a community garden in Englewood.

Whole Foods’ decision to close its Englewood store inspired resident to build a thriving community garden. https://t.co/hLW29lA7Av pic.twitter.com/R3EBTflW9q

— Block Club Chicago (@BlockClubCHI) November 11, 2022

Whole Foods Market Englewood closing date set

 While this is a bit out of the scope of this blog, this is something that I covered often over at The Sixth Ward. From the time it was announced to the time it opened at 63rd & Halsted Streets, and now we know when Whole Foods Market Englewood will be closing.

According to Block Club Chicago it will be on November 13, 2022. From the time it was announced in the fall of 2013 it was heralded as an oasis in the food desert in Englewood to develop part of the old commercial district. One developer gave his take:

Leon Walker, the managing partner of DL3 Realty, which spearheaded the $20 million Englewood Square development, said in May the store was a success in encouraging other businesses to commit to the square, but it couldn’t perfect the “science of grocery” to create a store well-received with local customers.

Well there goes my own fantasy of seeing Whole Foods open a store in the Pullman/Roseland communities. Although Whole Foods does have a distribution facility on 111th Street near the Calumet err Bishop Ford Expressway.

Never been there? Well Devodare_Chicago on YouTube got you! [VIDEO]

 

Crain's: New hotel, grocery store pitched for Pullman #Ward09

 Some exciting projects coming to the far south side. Pullman could get a hotel and Altgeld Gardens - which is a long way from Pullman - could be getting a new grocery story.

Via Crain's Chicago Business

One year after the Pullman National Monument debuted as a hopeful tourist attraction, two developers have lined up plans to add a hotel for visitors and a grocery store for residents in the burgeoning area.

In one of two projects proposed in and around the far South Side neighborhood, a venture led by Chicago investor Andre Garner is seeking a city grant to help develop a 101-room Hampton by Hilton hotel at 111th Street and Doty Avenue, a few blocks east of the clock tower building that has been restored as a visitor center for the historic site. In the other, Cleveland-based grocery operator Yellow Banana has applied for the same grant to help it develop a Save A Lot supermarket immediately south of Pullman at 130th Street and Eberhardt Avenue.

Both developers have applied for $5 million in assistance through the Chicago Recovery Plan development grant program, according to a joint statement they issued with Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th. The grants are partially funded by local recovery money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act passed last year.

The plans could add to a series of developments in and near Pullman along Interstate 94, where the 180-acre former Ryerson Steel plant site has been transformed in recent years into a mixed-use campus, dubbed Pullman Park. The historic-but-disinvested property now includes a Method Soap factory that opened in 2015, a pair of greenhouses from produce grower Gotham Greens and a Whole Foods distribution center and an Amazon delivery center, among other new developments.

Read the whole thing. 

 

Whole Foods Englewood closing

I'm sharing this news with you because Roseland can be viewed in the same way as Englewood. The Whole Foods store at 63rd and Halsted is closing in the near future after being open since Sept. 2016. It was supposed to be an oasis in the food desert.

The Englewood Whole Foods was supposed to be a South Side Chicago game-changer. Now it's pulling out. https://t.co/YkHesTVTtc via @crainschicago

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) May 3, 2022

I want to note the statement of the Mayor recently on this issue via Block Club Chi:

At an unrelated news conference Monday, Lightfoot called the closure a “great disappointment” and “gut blow” to Englewood. She said the Whole Foods was an “interesting experiment” from former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who she said championed a store that was too expensive for the neighborhood and where few residents shopped.

“I don’t know about most of you, but most Chicagoans are hard-pressed to pay, for example, $15 a pound for a piece of steak,” Lightfoot said.

The store was often empty, even on Saturdays when “grocery stores all over the city are absolutely crowded with people,” Lightfoot said.

“To me, what it underscores — and I wasn’t here when this decision was made — you cannot bring investment to the community without talking to the community and making sure the investment makes for that community,” Lightfoot said.

...

The storefront won’t be left empty, leaders said. Lightfoot said her team will work with the community to make investments that “make sense for those neighborhoods.”

“We’re going to work our tails off to get a new alternative — one that the community wants and can access and participate in,” Lightfoot said. “It shouldn’t be that we’re plopping something down in a community where we haven’t engaged with them, we haven’t talked to relevant stakeholders to see if it’s something that they want, they need and that they’re going to be able to take advantage of.”

Gately's & S.S. Kresge Co. in Roseland #tbt

I found and saved these two photographs from Roseland south of 111th Street and Michigan Avenue. I feel as if these are appropriate because we're in the Christmas season although tomorrow will be Christmas Eve. And of course these two photos don't show South Michigan Ave during Christmas time. 

Probably during much warmer weather. The dates for these photos are unknown perhaps they were taken in the 1960s or 70s. The Gately's store as many of you may know went out of business in the early 1980s. The building that once contained that store has since been demolished after a bad fire. I do believe the sign survived however as I write this no idea as to the whereabouts of that landmark.

As far as S.S. Kresge Company I don't know when that store closed its doors right next door to Gately's. I have found out that S.S. Kresge Co outlets ultimately became the Kmart chain. Do you remember Kmart? I do and many Kmart stores have closed in recent years. Perhaps you shopped at the one that was once located in Oak Lawn on 95th or a number of locations around the city.

I hope you enjoy this look back and I do wish you a Merry Christmas and hoping that you've had a very joyous holiday season.

ABC 7: Mariano's hiring 500 people in Chicagoland area

 

[VIDEO] If anyone is looking for a job in these difficult times in the above report Mariano's is looking to fill 500 positions with full & part time available at their 44 Chicago area locations. The first person with Mariano's we see in this story is Sal Ahmad who was a restaurant manager who had to switch gears due to this pandemic.

Gately's Peoples store...destroyed... #Ward09

[VIDEO] This past Friday I posted about the former Gately's store located at 113th & Michigan. The store from what I can tell doing some Googling had long closed in 1981, with another store located in Tinley Park until 1994.

Usually me and my family would drive on Michigan Avenue to head to River Oaks Mall in Calumet City, we'd often pass this store. Of course by the time I came of age all I would recognize is that antiquated sign for a store that was no longer there. Whoever owned this property if it wasn't the Gately family who previously operated their location there never removed this sign. It was just a great reminder of the history of the retail strip of south Michigan Avenue between at least 107th Street to 1115th Street.

I've read up on the history of this strip and it was an important commercial areas though perhaps it didn't have the volume of another great south side commercial area such as 63rd & Halsted (which is experiencing a slow resurgence). Still there are plenty of people who grew up in Roseland and patronized this area before the decline starting in the 1980s. You can find YouTube channels that offer videos of people who grew up in Roseland during the 1950s & 1960s. It's fascinating how the area changed from a great place to grow up to what it's generally known today as a crime ridden area.

And then on Friday the former Gately's Peoples store was destroyed by fire. It seems we may never really know due to the damage what caused the fire, unfortunately the damage has been done. Who knows what will happen with the sign, however, the building that formerly housed the store which provided so many memories for those who shopped there has a date with the wrecking ball.

For me, I've never known the store and have never shopped there. I've never even shopped at the small storefronts that had occupied the ground floor of the building. Still, it's a little sad that this longtime sign is coming down and thus this won't be a landmark any longer. And now to figure out what will ultimately go up in its place along Michigan Avenue. What will be the new landmark to be located there?

Here's an ig post I did on the Gately's store once I learned of it's condition. I shot this just about a month before the fire.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Jun 8, 2019 at 10:43am PDT

Two south side Target stores are closing

[VIDEO] In addition to this video report from Tuesday from outside the 87th & Cottage Grove Target store I'll give you an excerpt from this Tribune article

The decision to close the stores in the Morgan Park and Chatham neighborhoods “follows a rigorous annual process to evaluate the performance of every store in the portfolio and maintain the overall health of the business,” the Minneapolis-based retailer said in a statement. Four other stores are closing nationwide.

About 115 people work full or part time at the 128,000-square-foot Morgan Park store, which opened in 2008. Roughly 120 work at the 126,000-square-foot Chatham store, which opened in 2002.

Employees in good standing at both stores will be given the option to transfer to a different store in their area, Target said.
 ...
Target said it does consider the proximity of other stores when making decisions about closing locations. But it also looks at the store’s profitability over several years and other options available to customers, such as shopping online and having orders delivered, Target spokeswoman Jacque DeBuse said.

“This is based on the business and is not about a neighborhood or geography,” DeBuse said. “As you have seen, Target remains committed to Chicago, as we’ve been remodeling stores across the metro (area) and continuing to open new stores to serve new guests.”

Both stores are expected to close in February next year.

VIDEO: Whole Foods Englewood and Starbucks Grand Opening

Cross-posted at The Sixth Ward

[VIDEO] JP Paulus was at the grand opening of the new Whole Foods Market Englewood on Wednesday morning. Hopefully he'll be ready to share his thoughts on this historic and exciting occasion at the intersection of 63rd & Halsted.

There are a few shots shared on ig regarding the grand opening provided by this blogger. Unfortunately I didn't get there in time for the grand opening and arrived just as the rain got heavier.

In the meanwhile, artistmac was there to shoot 33 minutes of video of the grand opening. He did this previous with the opening of Walmart stores in West Chatham and Pullman also. He was also there for the ground breaking at Englewood Square which took place in 2014.

Anyone else visited the store on the first day? How was your experience on the first day? Will the Englewood shop be your store in the future?

DISCLOSURE: One of the bloggers here at The Sixth Ward is a Whole Foods Market team member.

More media on the Pullman Whole Foods distribution center #teamwholefoods

Cross-posted via The Sixth Ward

ABC 7 did a story on this Thursday

And then they noted an information session for those interested in a job at the coming Whole Foods Englewood store expected to open this fall. That event should've been held Thursday night at Kennedy King College (@ 740 West 63rd Street).

The Tribune was there at a presser at the site located near 720 E. 111th Street. If you want to forgo reading that article there's a video there you can watch. It shows comments made by Michael Bashaw the Midwest region President of Whole Foods flanked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel & 9th ward Alderman Anthony Beale.

Whole Foods Market distribution facility coming to Pullman

The map above were you see that red marker, a Whole Foods Market distribution center is expected to be built there.

Whole Foods plans to build a distribution facility in the Pullman neighborhood on the South Side that would employ 150 people.

The 140,000-square-foot facility will be at 720 E. 111th St., according to the city of Chicago. The site is currently vacant.

The center, to open in early 2018, will replace an existing Munster, Ind., facility and will serve up to 70 Whole Foods stores in the Midwest and Canada, according to the city.

The city "will consider approximately $7.4 million in tax-increment financing assistance" for the project, according to a statement. The subsidy is being considered "to ensure the site was competitive with the existing facility in Indiana," the statement said.

The Whole Foods distribution center will be built on a 17-acre site owned by a venture of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a unit of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, CNI President David Doig said in an email. Doig's real estate company will prepare the site for an industrial developer, which will build the distribution center and then lease it to Whole Foods.

The facility will be able to handle cold and dry storage and will have office space, CNI said.

More on the future site of the facility and adjacent properties:

The former Ryerson property also includes a Method soap factory that opened about a year ago and includes a Gotham Greens farm on its roof.

Doig's CNI also developed a new shopping center on the site anchored by a Wal-Mart big box store, and more retailers plan to open stores there. The neighborhood also received a boost about a year ago, when President Barack Obama designated the area a national monument, citing its manufacturing and labor history.

You may have seen this vid below on CBS 2 this morning, BTW