Dominick’s Rolls Out Price-Cutting Campaign

In the wake of a recent round of price cuts implemented by a rival regional supermarket chain earlier this year, Dominick’s 81 stores in the Chicago area are implementing price cuts on everyday items that will be flagged with yellow tags alongside special discounts for loyalty card holders.

“Customers in Chicago don’t want to run around to different stores trying to get the best deal, so we’re lowering thousands of prices across the store,” Dominick’s president Don Keprta was quoted as saying in a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. Keprta said the price cuts are as high as 30 percent on some items and represent “things the typical shopper will have on their list.”

Having already lowered prices on 5,000 staple items a year ago, Dominick’s latest round of price cuts was potentially triggered in part by rival Jewel-Osco “Big Relief Price Cut” program that was rolled out in the spring, according to industry observers. But other factors are also at play in the Chicago area as well, including several new stores in the works by the likes of Roundy’s and Meijer, the latter of which is working on a new smaller-format grocery-focused store in the Chicago suburb of Niles, and the first of which is gearing up to open a 68,000-square-foot supermarket at the site of the Lattof Chevrolet building on Northwest Highway, southeast of downtown in Arlington Heights. What’s more, Batavia, Ill.-based Aldi has also ramped up its Chicagoland expansion efforts, as have other discount format operators, including Walmart, amid a lingering weak economy and skittish consumer behavior.

Aside from storewide price cuts that had been gradually rolled out over the past three weeks with advertising beginning yesterday, Dominick’s will also highlight temporary price cuts for its “Fresh Values” loyalty card shoppers that suppliers and manufacturers occasionally offer.

With an 11 percent market share, Safeway-owned Dominick’s is the Chicago area’s second-largest grocery chain behind Supervalu’s top-ranked Jewel subsidiary, with 39 percent of the market, according to Nielsen.
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