posted by Elizabeth Fama
I hear through the foodie grapevine that Treasure Island will be opening its new store this Wednesday. That right, this Wednesday, March 12th, 2008. In fact, all of their deli meats and cheeses are arriving Monday.
How many syllables are there in the word "saahwheeet?"
(Now I'm just showing off, with my homemade pizzas, roasted acorn squash, and spinach salad. Yeah.)
29 comments:
Wow, that picture was obviously taken when it was 300 degrees below zero, but it still warms my heart.
if you want to keep up with neighborhood events, you need to read the Maroon and HPP.
the Herald is only useful for real estate ads featuring over-priced properties
I've been walking past the TI location every morning for the last several days, and this sort of schedule is consistent with the steady stream of supplier trucks at the loading dock, and the visibly restocked shelves.
I walked by Tuesday morning when there appeared to be a new employee training session going on in the southeast corner of the shop. Plenty of familiar faces among the 30 or so, which was cool. The freezer aisles were fully stocked, and the signage for the deli/bakery was up.
I'm wondering when Elizabeth's cafe is serving lunch -- that pizza looks absolutely scrumptious!
In fairness to the Herald, they only publish on Wednesdays. But they could have a blog, as the Maroon does, I suppose...
It seems that TI is playing down this 'soft' opening to give the new employees and the store a chance to operate with less pressure. A 'grand opening' will certainly follow.
"In fairness to the Herald"
????
You'd think that a week between print runs would let the Herald gets its facts straight, make a few phone calls, generally figure out what the hell's going on in the hood, and maybe dig around and do some reporting, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Check out this week's article on the HPNC drama. Were they able to get anyone with any real information to talk to them? Anyone? Just a bunch of recent board members who said "we don't know what's going on."
Consequently, in fairness, neither does the reader.
Exciting! I was surprised to see all sorts of cheeses and whatnot already in the refrigerated cases when I walked by this morning. Will be nice to have that grocery store back...
Huh? Why knock the Herald on this issue? There was an ad from Treasure Island themselves just saying "We will be restocking soon this week" but no mention of opening.
http://www.hpherald.com/pg9.html
There were two letters to the editor in the Herald about the impacts of the delay in opening of the store in this week's issue asking what's going on and an ad from Treasure Island saying that they were opening soon. It would seem that would be enough for the editor to assign a reporter to make a phone call or two to Treasure Island about the potential opening date. You'd think they'd even think it's a big enough story for the neighborhood that they'd have something like a "Treasure Island Watch". Sometimes reading the Herald is like reading Pravda. How can you read between the lines to figure out the story? Or what they view as a non-story.
To me, knocking on the Herald is like hitting the heavy bags at the gym. It keeps me in shape. Don't need a particular reason, since there's always a reason.
The Herald...A heavy bag.
Nice ring to it.
Now I know why Chicago Pop is so buff.
I was speaking figuratively of course, but if you think I'm ripped then hey, BOOO-YAAH!
I stand corrected. read the Herald on Wednesday only. All other days of the week read your old Maroon issues or HPP.
And, I admit, for real humor read the Onion. Letters to the Editor in the Herald when you are too drunk to get the Onion jokes.
Treasure Island will open this Wednesday, March 12. The new store hours will be Monday - Saturday: 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. and Sunday: 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. The new phone number is: 773-358-6400. The new store manager is Craig Magnus, although the only name he really answers to is Babe. Be sure to ask for him to say hello.
Most of Treasure Island will look very familiar to you as they are currently using all of the old Co-Op shelves, refrigerators, freezers, etc. However, beginning in May or June, Treasure Island will start remodeling department by department beginning with the Produce section. The store will remain open throughout the remodeling. Every single department will be remodeled including a new store front.
For those of you that do not have the time or can't get to the new store I strongly recommend their personal shopping service. It is a wonderful, same day delivery service.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been working directly with Treasure Island and the University of Chicago on this project. We are all looking forward to opening day this Wednesday!
Happy Shopping.
ESSENTIAL FOOD STAPLES
This morning, purveyors of two basic food groups were making deliveries to the Treasure Island store: Boar's Head Provisions Co. and Matt's Cookies. Whew, I was getting worried.
The announcement of the Wednesday store opening was posted on Treasure Island's website (tifoods.com) Monday afternoon, and it's in the on-line Crain's Chicago Business. Yes, exciting!
The new store hours will be Monday - Saturday: 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. and Sunday: 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Ouch. I'm suddenly intensely curious about the hours of Merrill & Hinckley (which I've patronized) in Blue Hill, Maine, but they don't have a recording on the line. It appears that even the HyVee in Albia, Iowa, operates on a schedule that is more cosmopolitan.
A pleasant scene took place this afternoon (Tuesday) at the Treasure Island store. Workers were removing the temporary board-up barriers in the entry hall in anticipation of TI's Wednesday opening. It only took them a few minutes to get the job done.
People who had gone downstairs to the post office or credit union when the board-up was in place came upstairs to find it gone. Some of them wanted to go inside the Treasure Island and start shopping. TI personnel politely turned them away and asked them to come back in the morning. People are ready for the new store!
Richard, in terms of surveillance of TI, I say you're Hyde Park's answer to Jason Bourne. I don't know which rooftop you've appropriated as your viewing station, but you've got every move in and out of that place covered!
No, C-Pop, I'm not into stakeouts and spyware. My TI observations were made "on the ground" just looking in through the big windows on the southeast corner of the store, and walking around the outside of the building.
Tuesday, I just happened upon the board-up removal, as I went downstairs to the post office to mail a letter.
No "Secret Squirrel" am I.
R Gill - wouldn't hold it against you if you were (a secret squirrel) in fact my kid would love it if I told him I knew a "secret squirrel!"
Squirrels are iconic at my house, too.
Speaking of going to the Post Office in the Treasure Island basement...that Post Office, known as the Lake Park Station, has shortened its hours, probably because people quit going in there after the Co-op closed.
Like a lot of other people, I'd like to know when, or if, the much-heralded (pardon the expression) new Post Office location will open on the ground level of the shopping center. A coming-soon sign has been on the new storefront for months and months, and there is no apparent construction activity inside.
The clerks at Lake Park Station profess not to know when the move will be, and I believe them. So I went online to usps.com and sent in the question to the US Postal Service contact-us customer inquiry page. Within a day, I got a reply back (very polite, I must say) telling me I would have to contact the area Post Office at 700 East 61st Street. I was given a street address and a phone number. I figured a phonecall would be useless, so I wrote a letter and mailed it at the Lake Park Station, to the Postmaster at 700 East 61st Street.
I'll post more info, if I get a reply. Nothing yet - sometimes the mail is a bit slow. I hope the answer isn't "move, what move?"
Just an observation: If I had asked the same question of a national retailer, they would have obtained the information and sent me the answer, instead of bouncing me to another location to ask the question again.
Headline: Richard Gill takes on the United States Post Office.
It makes our puny local HPP politics look like child's play.
Elizabeth -
I'm not taking on the mighty United States Postal Service. Actually, in my quest for the truth, I am obediently following their instructions to the letter (get it?...post office...letter...heh, heh) by contacting the post office at 700 East 61st Street. I mailed that letter on March 11. I'm confident I will receive an answer "in due course."
Meanwhile, I do know that the postal service is paying rent on both the present and new locations. Does that remind anyone of a former tenant in the same building that was also paying rent on both an active location and a vacant location?
Here's an unrelated, but amusing post office story: yesterday my uncle went to the post office and noticed an HBO poster for the John Adams series. He said, "Do you have any John Adams stamps?" The postal worker said no. He said, "That would be a great tie-in with the book and the series, do you think you should suggest it?" She replied, "Sir, this is the Post Office."
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