Thursday, February 26, 2004
Oak Forest mayor urges boycott of grocery chain
By Susan DeMar Lafferty
The Star
Oak Forest Mayor Patrick Gordon is hoping his citizens won't be swayed by a free bottle of Coke or a dozen eggs.
During Tuesday's city council meeting, Gordon called on residents to boycott Dominick's Finer Foods and turn in their "Fresh Values" cards.
Since the food chain announced in January it would be closing its store at 159th Street and Central Avenue on March 13, city officials have tried to meet with company officials, but have been "stonewalled," he said.
That alone has been "very frustrating," he said, but this week, the food chain, "rubbed salt in the wound," Gordon said.
In a marketing campaign to maintain its customer base, Dominick's mailed coupons to residents, effective March 14, encouraging them to shop at the chain's Crestwood and Palos Heights stores.
"They want residents to take their sales tax elsewhere," he said. "When I got this, I went ballistic."
The mayor urged residents to turn in their "Fresh Values" cards to city hall, and said he will return them to the retailer, "with mine on top." The cards entitle Dominick's shoppers to in-store discounts.
"By shutting this store down, they have lost customers forever," Gordon said.
The mailing was "tasteless and insensitive," said Bob McNeil, the city's community development director.
City officials are irate because they "went out on a limb" with a $4.5 million bond issue to construct the Oak Forest Commons shopping center six years ago. Now, they said, the city is "left holding the bag."
Dominick's, the anchor tenant in this development, which is owned and operated by Inland Real Estate, served as the main sales tax generator in the city's second tax increment financing district.
It has 14 years remaining on a 20-year lease, but city officials said they have been unable to get the details of that lease from Dominick's and Inland.
McNeil said there has been "some interest" in the site, but the city needs more information to assist potential tenants.
"After countless efforts, we have not gotten the information we need. We're trying to attract people in the dark. We're tired of it," he said.
Officials from Dominick's could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but Inland spokesman Rick Fox said that since Dominick's has the rights to the property, marketing the site is not Inland's job.
According to Fox, Dominick's recently hired John Pope and Associates to actively market the property.
"We're all working in cooperation. It's in everyone's best interest to bring in a quality tenant as soon as possible," he said.
"To the average person, it may not look like there's much activity because there's no tenant, but nothing could be further from the truth," Fox said.
The Oak Forest site was one of 12 Chicagoland closures announced by the food retailer in January.
Safeway Inc. purchased the Dominick's chain in 1998 for $1.8 billion.
In Dominick's first-quarter 2004 financial results, the company will record a $50 million to $55 million pre-tax charge for lease exit costs related to the 12 store closures. Company officials said in January that the elimination of operating losses from the closed stores would benefit earnings immediately and already was contemplated in the company's 2004 guidance.
The term of the leases, site locations, shopping patterns and competition in the area were all weighted in deciding which stores would close, Jenyce Boolton, a Dominick's representative, said last month. The food chain had been planning this for about two to three years, she said.
City officials are hoping to attract another food store in this location.
Inland's Web site does not indicate that the space is available. The real estate firm owns and operates 138 retail properties in eight states, including Orland Greens, at 150th Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park, and Hickory Creek Marketplace, at 199th Street and LaGrange Road in Frankfort, both of which are anchored by Dominick's.
Susan DeMar Lafferty may be reached at (708) 802-8805 or via e-mail at slafferty@starnewspapers.com
©2004 Star Publications
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