The Fresh Market Opens in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Neighborhood
It was a busy opening day on Oct. 30 for The Fresh Market in Chicago’s bustling Lincoln Park community, as shoppers checked out the store that replaced a Dom’s Kitchen & Market that closed abruptly last spring. Located at 2730 N. Halsted Street on the city’s North Side, the 17,000-square-foot store is on track to be a food and drink destination for neighborhood residents and visitors.
“We are so excited to be a part of the community here in Lincoln Park,” said Jason Potter, CEO for The Fresh Market. “It’s not just a store to pick up your groceries, but a place where people can come to meet up with friends and family to enjoy delicious, fresh food.”
To Potter’s point, the latest in The Fresh Market portfolio – the grocer’s 163rd store – carries a variety of fresh foods and everyday essentials along with restaurant meals that can be taken home. While that assortment is reminiscent of the former Dom’s format billed as a “food emporium,” The Fresh Market has its own experience and cache.
From a foodservice-at-retail perspective, shoppers can order “smashburgers” made from premium cuts of brisket, short rib and chuck, along with all-beef hot dogs, Neapolitan-style pizza, hummus bowls and fresh options from a salad bar, olive bar and soup station. This Fresh Market also offers a full-service coffee and cocktail bar, with coffee service from a street-facing coffee window, and several grab-and-go breakfast and pastry products.
Customers browsing the aisles can pick up grocery staples and a range of fresh products, including specially sourced produce, fresh meats cut and trimmed by expert butchers and fresh fish and shellfish. An in-store bakery is also poised to become a store focal point. Ahead of the holidays, shoppers can also choose from various catering options available for online ordering.
On opening day, the first 500 shoppers received a customized Lincoln Park shopping bag and customers throughout the day got a chance to sample products, watch specialty presentations and try their hand at giveaways. To mark the occasion, The Fresh Market presented a donation of $2,000 to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
The Fresh Market in Lincoln Park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and also offers curbside pickup or home delivery through The Fresh Market's website or mobile app.
The space on Halsted Street was originally built for Dom’s Kitchen & Market, which ceased operations following the bankruptcy of short-lived parent company Outfox Hospitality. The Foxtrot banner that was under the same Outfox umbrella was re-acquired by original owner Mike LaVitola, who has since reopened three stores in the Chicago market.
The Fresh Market in the Windy City is one of two openings this week for the specialty retailer. An outpost in Crofton, Md., was unveiled on Oct. 30 at 1153 State Rt. 3N. That 27,000-square-foot store offers a wide range of fresh produce, premium meat and seafood products, bakery items and globally and locally sourced items. It is the grocer’s fifth store in Maryland.
Greensboro, N.C.-based The Fresh Market operates 161 stores in 22 states. The grocer is No. 71 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. This past June, The Fresh Market was the recipient of PG’s inaugural Innovation Awards in the mid-tier (50-299 stores) category. The award was presented at the publication’s 2024 GroceryTech event in Dallas.
