Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Chicago Market Announces What Its Gerber Building Grocery Co-op Will Look Like

click to enlarge and zoom in (there's a ton of detail)

Chicago Market has shown us its plans for the Gerber Building, and what we can expect to see in the community-owned co-op grocery store when it opens next year.

You'll have to zoom way in, but you can see a floral section; groceries; a deli; a coffee bar; a cafe, a meeting space; beer, wine and spirits; a nut butter section with a grinder; a ready-to-go foods section; bulk food bins; fresh produce; health and wellness products; and a lot more.

There will be customer entrances from Wilson and Broadway and from the parking lot, with a third one to be built on the north end of the building for loading.

In its email, Chicago Market says, "Here are a few highlights of the drawing you're seeing:
  • This was an iterative process - this is at least the 14th drawing!
  • It's a balancing act to place things so that departments interact well, product flows into the store well, and most importantly, that we achieve 8800 square feet of sales floor space, as defined by our market study. In order to meet targeted sales projections, we need that many feet dedicated to product. 
  • Which is why you see us leveraging the basement for backstock storage and some office spaces, as well as cleverly "bumping out" into the parking lot with a couple coolers.
  • We offer two shopper entrances - one at the corner of Wilson and Broadway for walk-in transit traffic, and the other in the back off the parking lot. And we'll build a third entrance at the north end for loading.
  • As many aisles as possible are oriented to allow a view to the windows, and we'll keep shelving in front of the windows low to preserve light and views through all our beautiful windows. 
  • As planned, we'll be a full-service grocery store with grab-n-go prepared foods, a morning commute coffee counter, fresh local produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods, wellness, lots of bulk foods, wine, beer and spirits, a seating and event space and more!
  • Our Store Design team shared this schematic design with our landlords at the CTA recently and they've approved our moving forward with it."

Can't wait for the opening next year!

If you'd like more information about Chicago Market, and/or how to be an investor in this community-owned store, click here.

1 comment:

  1. Hello everybody. Is there going to be a summer Sidewalk sale or a Sunnyside Festival this summer?

    ReplyDelete