Looks like two competing grocery stores in Chicago are taking their battle from the food market to the job market.
Days after Dominick’s put a number on the employees facing job losses when the grocery store moves out of Chicago late next month, the company is hosting a job fair.
The grocery chain, which will close any unsold stores Dec. 28, could shed 5,633 jobs in Illinois, including 3,244 in Cook County alone, according to the monthly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, also known as the WARN report.
Dozens of local companies will take part in the job fair set up by Dominick’s at a hotel in Rosemont, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Winnie Dixie, Starbucks and Jewel-Osco.
The fair will take place from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare Hotel at 5440 N. River Road in Rosemont.
But one company left off the Dominick’s job fair list is hosting a fair of its own, at the hotel next door.
Mariano’s Fresh Markets will host a job fair Tuesday from 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. at the Double Tree Hotel at 5460 N. River Road in Rosemont.
Bob Mariano, who runs the Mariano’s Fresh Markets, started at the Dominick's deli counter as a high school student. Many years later he became president of the chain. He left when Safeway bought the chain.
The bad blood between Mariano and Safeway is well documented in business journals.
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In a profile in the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, Mariano said he was focused on training employees to make a dent in the divided grocery market.
