Dive Brief:
- Whole Foods is reportedly buying as many as seven former Dominick's supermarkets in Chicago.
- Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Whole Foods has not confirmed the purchases.
- The sale comes several weeks after Safeway shuttered the Dominick's chain and exited the Chicago market.
Dive Insight:
The lesson here, we suppose, is that it's never too late. When Safeway's deadline for selling Dominick's locations passed, the majority of the chain's Chicago outlets had not been bought. And it looked as if things would remain that way.
But last week, Chicago-based Joe Caputo & Sons Fruit Markets announced it was buying four of the stores. If the Whole Foods deal turns out to be true, then new buyers will have been found for 26 of the 72 former Dominick's.