Mariano's Breaks Ground On Bronzeville Store
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Mariano's grocery store chain broke ground on its newest store in Chicago, in a South Side area once considered a food desert.
The supermarket will open next year in the Bronzeville neighborhood, at the corner of Pershing Road and King Drive, making it the first Mariano's on the South Side.
Owner Bob Mariano said he found the site just by driving around the neighborhood.
"I drove back, up, down, around; every side street around here, and I said 'A store belongs here,'" Mariano said.
Ald. Will Burns (4th) said the project would create 400 jobs, and heartens longtime Bronzeville residents who feared their area had been forgotten.
"When you have Bob Mariano decide to bring a 75,000-square-foot grocery store to the corner of 39th and King Drive, it is validation of what other people have seen in this community for a very long time, and it gives them hope," he said.
Although also Bronzeville has a Jewel grocery store near 35th Street and King Drive, residents have long wished for more options.
Last year, Walmart opened a Neighborhood Market store – which is more like a grocery store than a traditional Walmart – in the neighboring Grand Boulevard neighborhood, at 47th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.