This is great news for Elmhurst.

I am over the moon.

No more driving to Arlington Heights for the best gelato ever, not to mention an all-around amazing, affordable store that feels higher end! I am so incredibly excited!!!

Woo hoo!!!! For the jobs, the tax dollars, the FRESH PRODUCE! Btw, great bakery goods, and some good bulk items, too! We're jammin' mon!

My daughter lives near 1 in the city and just loves it !!

I guess this is better than another vacant strip center. It may eventually force the Dominick's at York and Grand to close, which is fine with me since that is heavily populated with low lifes and link card carriers (ever go into their bathrooms and admire all the gang graffiti?) I just hope this crowd doesn't wind up at Mariano's.

so whats the timeframe of this thing getting built?

Will be nice to see a new venture in our town! WOO HOO

"Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" except in Elmhurst because it really annoys Ken.

This is outstanding news. I already have my Mariano's preferred shopper card and look forward to many trips to this new store!

So excited! I love this store

How are the prices there?

ken, it may indeed force the dominick's on grand avenue close as well as the jewel on schiller, and the customers that currently patronize those establishments may very well end up shopping at the next closest store, which would be mariano's. remember, this is a "destination retailer" designed to draw tax dollars from all over, not just elmhurst, so bringing customers from bensenville, villa park, addison, melrose park, is exactly what it is designed to do. glad that there will be jobs for those that live here in elmhurst as well as the surrounding communities, that's the most important thing for the economy. i'm curious as to what kind of incentives they recieved to come here - arlington heights is giving up $100,000 per year in sales tax revenue for the next 15 years, which if this was elmhurst, at 1%, the first $10 million dollars in sales every year would essentially be "tax free"...it would only be after they reached $10 million in sales would we see any additional tax money.

Good news indeed.

As for Ken's comments, let's just hope some around here are a bit more welcoming. And as for Ken's question, I do indeed shop in Maywood, Melrose, and Bensenville. There are things I can more easily get there than in Elmhurst. And the people there are pretty much the same as I find in Elmhurst, even if there is more frequent link card use.

people who live in elmhurst use link cards, too... .

I absolutely LOVE this store! They make shopping fun. Great news.

We have friends that live in Arlington and rave about this store, I hope it is as great as the hype. Will try shopping there and report my findings. Good Luck! We really need some competition besides Jewel and Dominicks.

The discussions about people on handouts and welfare here is quite disheartening, Some people in Elm. are snobs, aren't we! If people are poor and need the link card it usually is a temporary thing, Why do you look down your nose at these folks? Is this what they teach you at the church you attend?

Sorry to throw water on this good news, but let's make sure there's a reality check here: (1) Mariano's should not be expected to provide a significant sales tax boost for the area, as they will pull dollars from other stores in town such as Jewel and Dominicks, as well as smaller deli stores such as Chow (which is a great little place by the way).
(2) These other business will be at a competitive disadvantage for years because Mariano's will be subsidized with a long-term sales tax incentive. This creates an artificial economic benefit for Mariano's and an artificially-induced disadvantaged for existing stores; this does not reflect the free market.
(3) It is interesting that this story was broke, right in the thick of campaign time for the current Elmhurst Mayor, who is running for an additional elected position, by that same candidate. This allows the candidate to incorrectly take credit for something during the campaign, which leads to.....
(4) Anyone with even minimal knowledge of commercial real estate will know that the private market makes these decisions, and as such the current Elmhurst Mayor cannot, and should not, take credit or be credited for this project.

Link cards make me absolutley sick. All I have ever hear is people abusing the system rather than needing the help. What is it like 50 million people on food stamps? What a joke. are you telling me 1/7 or 1/8 americans cant afford food?!!?!?

My coworker described one of his friends who a link card. Lets call him Bob. Bob has two cars, one is new 2011 leased audi, Bob is a small business owner and lives in a big house in naperville, Bob lives with a woman lets call her Katie, Bob and Katie love each other, they have been dating for a decent amount of time, Bob and Katie had a child togather with another on the way. However Bob and Katie decided that they don't want to get married in the eyes of the law because the wife will lose the benefits of having a link card. As far as the state knows she is a broke unemployed woman, struggling with a kid, almost two kids, living in the basement closet of a some dudes house, desperetly getting by. Katie qualifes for maximum state benefits.

This my friends is the REALITY of link cards for the majority of the recipients. Yes there are plenty of people who NEED them, but MOST DONT and abuse the system.

To Adam - that story sounds like complete B.S. I don't believe it.

My intent in my original post was to point out that a Mariano's located a few blocks from the Dominick's at Grand and York will have a negative effect on that store. And if it closes the clientel will probably go to Mariano's. Though Dominick's has high prices they still attack a large number of link card holders anyway, since when you get your food for free why would you care what it costs? I also pointed out the large amount of gang graffiti etched in the tile and metal in the washroom at Dominick's. This is something Mariano customers will have to deal with if this segment of Dominick's shoppers move over to Mariano's.

Why is it that in order to make yourselves feel better you resort to putting others down. As far as taking advantage of the system you need to wake up and realize that the Wall Street scums that robbed many hardworking people are no different. Just because they don't live in Addison, Bensenville, or Maywood doesn't make them any better. So instead if profiling others Ken and Mike, maybe take a look at your neighbors. You might be surprised if you stop with the whole superiority thing. It's getting kind of old and people don't respond to these type of racist comments like they use to. Realize that you're living among a generation that is more open minded and has no tolerance for narrow viewpoints. You'll always have a racist group in every community but remember that you're showing your ignorance when you make comments like the ones you make.