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Originally Posted by streetline
JP Grazianos and Northwestern Cutlery seem a bit more likely to survive, since they have a significant retail angle. I was hoping that Isaacson and Stein would go in that direction, and team up with a chef to open a seafood focused restaurant adjoining their store. Oh well.
If we have to lose them, it seems a shame we aren't getting more than a two-story retail space out of it. At least they're keeping part of the façade of the taller loft building.
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i dont see how theyre immune from the same market forces. if someone approaches JP with the same sort of offer (im assuming they own their property), im not sure how long theyd be willing to hold out. do you continue selling sandwiches for $8, or do you retire to southern italy?
this is one of my major gripe with chicago though, that we have so few of these wholesale sorts of markets open to the public to begin with, and the few we do have are leaving. seafood especially is difficult to source in chicago, and you are basically left to the 3 kinds of overpriced and questionably sourced cuts at the grocery store ("heres some farm raised salmon with dye added, and heres some tilapia from china..."). if its not a big box corporate chain, then it seemingly isnt allowed to exist here.
same with restaurant supply stores. Sur La Table vs Northwest Cutlery or Herzog Supply...i think you know my choice