Dominick's Losing Chicago Flavor

Dominick's Finer Foods (Oak Brook, Ill.), for years the quintessential Chicago-born supermarket chain, is in danger of losing that identity. According to a report in Crain's Chicago Business, Safeway Inc. (Pleasanton, Calif.), which bought Dominick's in 1998, has been cutting jobs at Dominick's headquarters and consolidating buying, marketing and other functions at its own headquarters in California and other locations.

Crain's sources say as few as 40 employees will be left at Dominick's Oak Brook offices, which was once a beehive of more than 400 workers. Grocery industry experts told Crain's that while shifting buying from Illinois to California will save money, it's also risky in that it could “make it harder for Dominick's to stay in tune with local tastes and could cause some smaller regional brands to disappear from store shelves.”