Report: Dominick’s Spending Over $200M on Remodeling

Chicago Supermarket chain Dominick's is in the midst of spending more than $200 million to renovate its Chicago stores along its lifestyle format, aiming to reverse years of decline, according to the Chicago Tribune.

There have been recent rumors circulating that Dominick's is for sale, but the company’s president Don Keprta stressed that it was not.

With Dominick's corporate parent Safeway pumping big money into renovating stores, "logic dictates that it's not for sale," he said.

Keprta noted, too, that Dominick's earlier this month launched a new marketing offensive that entails significantly higher ad spending, though he declined to be more specific.

The conversion process isn't cheap, ranging from $2 million to $5 million per store, the report said. Overall, Dominick's has spent more than $100 million on the project so far, and expects to invest at least another $150 million in the next two years, according to the report.

"We've had significant sales growth each time we do the lifestyle format,” Keprta said. “We're very pleased with the results, and that's what has allowed us to go back to [Safeway] and get more money to keep it going."