Speaking Of Places To Shop…

September 13th, 2007 by Kelly

Finally – There’s a “Whole Paycheck” in the neighborhood.

Willow Festival, one of the latest entries in the destination shopping center market, is now open, nearly a year after its initial completion date. Now, everyone has their local Whole Foods, Best Buy and Lowe’s, so it’s not as if people will be flocking to the corner of Willow and Waukegan Roads anytime soon, but for us Glenview denizens, we can be grateful we no longer have to drive to Evanston or Deerfield for our chance to spend $125 while still using the “5 items or less” lane at Whole Foods.

I kid - sorta. I got the raised eyebrow from the husband when I told him how I was anxious for Whole Foods to open. This, because I mentioned a Chicago-area magazine that had completed research on the competitive pricing of local gorcery chains, only to disover that the baseline average spent at Dominick’s or Jewel equated to several thousand dollars more annually at Whole Foods. Thus, the “Whole Paycheck” moniker.

Really? I’m just jonesing for some fresh produce and a great prepared foods section. I still miss Carrot Top, and while the produce at Dominick’s is OK, I crave the really, really good stuff. (I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve walked into Jewel and they just flat out don’t have a red bell pepper. Anywhere. C’mon!)

If you are headed down Willow someday, the plaza is coming along. Still a lot of construction work going on, but I have to the guys at the Starbucks drive-thru are the nicest I have ever met, REI is way fun to just walk around and think about all that physical activity you should be doing, and for shoe fiends, a trip through DSW’s aisles is some serious retail therapy.

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