Woodman's a welcome addition; but it may not seem that way

I was once told by an executive in the restaurant business that it’s best to wait six months before passing judgement on a new restaurant.

            That timeframe, he said, gives the restaurant time to adjust to its clientele, operations, menus, etc. This was before the social media arrived on the scene. And while I’m sure the six-month timeframe may still be warranted, there’s nothing to control the wags who indiscriminately and thoughtlessly post on social media.

Woodman's is well lit and well

signed as shown in its produce

section

            A case in point is the opening of Woodman’s – probably the biggest retail opening in Buffalo Grove’s recent – if not its entire 60-year history.

            But if you read some of the posts on social media, specifically the “Everything Buffalo Grove” Facebook page, you’d think Woodman’s was as welcomed in Buffalo Grove as an Arab in a Kibbutz.

            And it has only been opened less than a week. Granted, the positive reviews seem to outweigh those wags who are beside themselves because the Sushi station at Woodman’s isn’t open, or they can’t use their Visa card to get points to use so they can buy an air ticket so they can fly to Des Moines -- or this major crisis -- they couldn't get cell service in the store.

            The bottom line is this; Woodman’s is, at least from my initial visit, a heck of an operation and has proved itself to be not only a welcome addition to the Buffalo Grove business landscape, but a great corporate citizen.

            In addition to jumping on to sponsorship bandwagon for Buffalo Grove Days, Woodman’s also paid for roadway improvements along Milwaukee Avenue and Deerfield Parkway to make things easier for its customers and those drivers who use both roadways.

            But we don’t read about good neighbors. Instead many folks overlook the strong impact Woodman’s may have on the village opting instead to rip village officials for not doing more to attract new retail outlets.

Wide aisles are a highlight at
Woodman's

            As noted, based on my initial visit, Woodman’s is impressive.  It’s large. Very large. The store’s total square footage is 254,000 square feet of which, store officials told me, 135,000 is for retail space. The remaining space is for warehousing, which one employee told me is massive.

            It is anyone’s guess which area store will feel the greatest impact. Beyond an impressive assortment of grocery items, Woodman’s carries what appears to be a wide variety of home-care products, hardware items and greeting cards.

           

In addition to a wide variety of grocery items, Woodman's
carries household and health and beauty items.

Unlike some smaller stores, Woodman’s does not make bakery goods on site and meat is not cut in the store, but at a supplier that delivers meat three times a week. Its liquor department is bigger (so it seems) than some liquor stores and is anchored by a wide variety of beer.

            Check-out lines, at least at this early stage, are well managed and offer both self-checkout and employee assisted checkout.

            If you’re gas-price conscious, on Friday Woodman’s was offering lead-free for $2.74 a gallon, between five and 15 cents less than major-brand stations in the area.

            And then there’s the ‘issue’ of payment. If you’ve read social media you would think that the fact that Woodman’s accepts only Discover cards, debit cards, checks and cash is the end of the world and, as the late George Carlin might say, would infect your mind, curve your spine and help the allies lose the war. It’s easy enough to overcome this ‘obstacle’ -- plan ahead. If none of these options work, Woodman’s offers a fee-free automatic teller machine.

            Give Woodman’s a chance; and welcome them to the village.

            As for Sushi. Relax, it’s coming. Maybe they'll call when it's available. 

            They'll just use a land line.

Economic development an ongoing -- and thankless -- challenge

Metro Commercial Real Estate is seeking tenants to join Potbelly

With the demolition of the old PJ’s, the development/redevelopment at Milwaukee Avenue and Deerfield Road is moving into high gear.

            The area that housed PJ’s and a McDonald’s will be home to a new strip center that, so far, has a Potbelly Sandwich Shop as a tenant.   Granted, it’s not a flagship that will put Buffalo Grove on the map, but the redevelopment of the site is at least positive movement.

            So too is the pending construction of the massive Woodman’s grocery store at Deerfield Road and Milwaukee Avenue.

The site of the former  McDonald's and PJ's Pub

            The announcement that Woodman’s was coming to the village was, as you might expect, greeted with a variety of reactions – mostly on social media because it’s a lot easier to comment and click than come to a Village Board meeting.  That’s just the reality of it.

            Convenience being what it is, using social media is to many people a lot less painful than sitting through a village meeting.  I get it.  Unfortunately, a lot of posts on social media in general are often knee-jerk reactions to an announcement, statement, event, etc. and may not be steeped in background information.

            The Woodman’s announcement is an example of that. Many posters chided the village for not putting Woodman’s in the site in Chase Plaza vacated by Dominick’s.  There’s a good reason for that.

            Location and size.  According to Chris Stilling, community development director for the Village of Buffalo Grove, Woodman’s will be a 241,000 square store.  That’s big.  Very big – especially when you consider that stores like Jewel and Mariano’s are in the 50,000 to 70,000 square foot range.  The bottom line is Woodman’s would not fit on that site.  The Woodman’s store will also take up 20 to 25 acres.

            Some residents have clamored that Chase Plaza needs to be developed because they want a grocery store near their house. I can understand the desire for proximity, but economic development is not neighborhood driven, nor is it anchored solely by retail. 

            To many people, it seems that retail is the most visible barometer of economic development.  In reality it’s just part of the puzzle.  So too are restaurants.  Stilling knows that, especially with Buffalo Grove businesses and organizations employing 20,000 people.

            A major part of economic development is commercial, industrial and office space.  Buffalo Grove ranks high on the amount of nonretail space available in Lake County -- and it keeps growing.  Stilling estimates that there is nearly 500,000 square feet of nonresidential construction taking place in the village.

            As for Chase Plaza, the Village Board is scheduled to get an update on the site at Monday’s (Aug. 15) Board meeting.  Breaking news?  Probably not.  Word is that movement on Chase Plaza is basically the village constantly badgering Jewel corporate about selling it. Jewel’s corporate entity owns the site and appears to be controlling who takes over the vacant Dominick’s store.  According to Jewel’s website, the chain “is owned by AB Acquisition LLC, (which) acquired Jewel-Osco from SUPERVALU, a transaction that brought all Albertsons stores under singular ownership again and added ACME Markets, Shaw’s and Star Markets to the growing food and drug retailer. In 2015, the parent company doubled its store base when it completed a merger with Safeway. Today, Jewel-Osco operates 185 stores throughout the Chicagoland area, Indiana and Iowa, which is part of a 2,200+ store operation that employs approximately 265,000 people nationwide.”

            No matter what happens at Chase Plaza, or when, to many residents, the only economic development barometer is what they see in Chase Plaza or Town Center – which granted isn’t much.  The village cannot mandate what business goes where or what business decides to call Buffalo Grove home.

            It has worked out incentive packages.  Woodman’s is a prime example.  The Village worked out some unique incentives with Woodman’s to reel them in.  It’s a tax-sharing plan that is based on tax revenues generated by the store.  The village, notes Stilling, is not laying out cash for Woodman’s, nor will it take a cash hit from the incentives.

            Pundits on social media expressed concern about the roadway at Deerfield Road and Milwaukee Avenue.

            Included in the Woodman’s deal are roadway improvements.  Costly?  Yep.  Village expense?  No.  Stilling said Woodman’s will cover improvements to both streets.

            Economic development is, as noted, a puzzle that is difficult to complete.  The village had a proposal for redevelopment of Cambridge Commons at Dundee and Buffalo Grove roads, but nixed it after incessant delays and the request for excessive incentives by the developer. And for the record, one poster on social media decried that the village should “…Put it (Woodman’s) where it's empty on Dundee where the car places use to be old Rogan’s store empty nobody wants to come to this town”

            Rationale be damned, there’s no way, Woodman’s would not fit there and the “car places” are on property not owned by the village, not to mention that the property owner is allegedly asking an excessive amount of money for the land.

            As for “nobody wants to come to this town”.

            Woodman’s does.

            And look at the reception some people are giving it.