Dominicks - The Downfall of the Grocery Store Chain

Dominick's is a household name in the grocery business in the Chicago area.  They had about 70 stores from the city to the suburbs.  Recently they have fallen on hard times and have decided to close or sell all of the stores by the end of the year. 

Growing up, my family would shop at Dominicks as well as as other stores like Jewel Osco.  As an adult however I rarely shopped there, mainly because the prices were so high.  Some people complain about the prices of competitors stores, but from my experience, the items that I buy are always listed at the highest prices I have seen anywhere whenever I go there.

Since hearing the news, I thought I would venture over to my local Dominicks one more time.  I figured they might have a lot of sales to clear out the inventory before they closed.  I went there early in the morning.  The place was a ghost town.  Seriously, I walked in and did not see a single person.  I started pushing the cart around and occasionally saw an employee here and there.  I checked out the prices and to my surprise, they were still as high as ever!  No good deals.  I really think this is one of the reasons they have lost business is because their prices are inflated compared to the competitors.

I didn't want to waste the trip so I walked around and picked out a few things that were not too expensive.  Even the specials that you need a card for were still the same price if not more than what you would pay elsewhere.  Overall the store was not in great shape, but I don't blame them.  If you knew your store was closing in a few weeks, it would be hard to have the motivation to do a good job and provide the best service.

I checked out at the only open register with an employee who seemed to be on the phone having a personal conversation at the same time.  Not sure if I will go back for the last days to see if there is anything on clearance or if that will be the last time I shop there.  I do feel bad for the employees.  Many of the stores are being bought out by Marianos, Jewel, or Whole foods.  Hopefully most of them can retain their jobs with the new stores taking over.