Pick'n and a Sav'n

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 13, 2007 2:59PM

Milwaukee-based Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., owners of the Copps, Rainbow Foods, and Pick 'N Save grocery chains, is expanding their area presence in a big way. A company press release announced yesterday that Roundy's plans on opening an 80,000 square-foot store on the site of the New City YMCA. This follows speculation that Roundy's is one of the companies with an eye on fouling the form-follows-function feng shui of the soon-to-be-shuttered Carson Pirie Scott building.

Say that three times fast.

Roundy's thinks that their North/Clybourn site is ripe for another grocery. We're not so sure, with a Dominick's, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's all nearby, not to mention all the traffic gridlock in that vicinity already. Short of the CTA reinstating the Elston/Clybourn bus line, traffic on the weekends there is going to be uglier than it already is. They'd be better off focusing on the State Street location. Given the Loop's increasing population and access to public transportation, it would seem like a no-brainer for downtown residents to have more grocery options.