As 7 Save A Lot Stores Close, South And West Siders Increasingly Worry About Grocery Options

WEST LAWN — South and West side neighbors scrambled to stock up on discounted groceries Saturday as seven Save a Lot stores prepared to close, with shoppers saying they are increasingly worried about the scarce grocery options in their neighborhoods. 

Terry Maderak, a longtime West Lawn neighbor, pushed a shopping cart full of discounted food through the parking lot of the Save a Lot at 4439 W. 63rd St. Maderak and her husband have shopped at the store three to four times a week for years, she said. 

“I’m devastated,” Maderak told Block Club. “It’s very ridiculous that they’re taking this out of the neighborhood.” 

The seven Save A Lot stores, all on the South and West sides, closed Saturday after the discount grocery chain ended its agreement with store operator Yellow Banana.

Earlier that week, Save A Lot said the Ohio-based Yellow Banana faced “significant financial headwinds.” The chain stepped in to keep the seven Chicago stores operated by Yellow Banana open while Save A Lot and city officials looked for a new operator and supplier.

But when Saturday’s deadline to find a new operator came and went, the stores closed. The closures come just years after the city approved a $26 million incentive package for Yellow Banana to take over and revive the stores, which were some of the only grocery options in their South and West side neighborhoods.

Now, some neighbors said they will have to go to further lengths — and possibly pay more — to secure fresh food and other daily essentials for themselves and their families.

Mary Hunter, 68, who lives down the street from the Save A Lot at 420 S. Pulaski Road in West Garfield Park, said the store has immensely helped residents who are low-income and rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. 

Even though she has seen other stores in the area close in recent years, Hunter said this location has become a staple for her and other neighbors, especially for seniors who don’t have easy access to transportation and need a nearby place to find affordable groceries. 

“This one specifically, it stays with us,” she said. “It sticks with us.” 

For Maderak, the Save a Lot store closure means losing another affordable nearby grocery option on the Southwest Side. With Jewel being the only other closest option, she said many people in the neighborhood will be paying higher prices for food. 

“This store has meant everything,” said Maderak. “I cannot tell you how nice these people are who work in this place, and now they’re all looking for jobs and I just wish them well.” 

Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) said the closure of the West Lawn Location in his ward is a huge loss felt within the community. He said many senior residents live in the neighborhood and have relied on the store because it is within walking distance. The location closed down for 18 months while it underwent renovations before reopening in 2025 under the city’s agreement with Yellow Banana. 

“That location has been a grocer for the last 70 years,” Quinn said in an interview. “I worked there in high school and was a shopping bagger at the time, and it’s been an anchor in the community. ” 

By early afternoon, many shelves at the stores had been picked over, leaving some shoppers empty handed as they walked back out to their cars. Since news of the closures broke, multiple Save A Lot locations have advertised 50 percent off of select items. 

Two local Save A Lot store employees confirmed that the locations would close at the end of the day Saturday, and they said they had not heard of any plans to revive the stores. One employee said the closures also come amid struggles within the company following the death of Yellow Banana CEO Joe Cantfield at the age of 54 in April, and the stores struggled after cuts to the SNAP program led to a loss in sales, officials said. 

As stores begin to close, Save A Lot will give some of the remaining food on shelves to a variety of community organizations, according to sources familiar with the situation late last week.

Save A Lot partnered with Yellow Banana in 2022 to renovate and reopen the stores in Auburn Gresham, Englewood, South Chicago, South Shore, West Garfield Park, West Lawn and West Pullman. Later that same year, City Council approved $13.5 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) funds and an additional $13 million in New Market Tax Credits and private funding, in an effort to boost grocery access in food-desert areas. 

Under a redevelopment agreement with the city, the company was to open the stores by March 2025, or they would risk losing the TIF funding. The store openings saw numerous delays, with most locations returning in 2024 and two locations staying closed until April 2025. 

An occupancy agreement required Yellow Banana’s stores to remain open through 2035. If the stores close permanently, the locations that received TIF funding must be reoccupied by a grocer within a year to avoid defaults, city officials previously said.

Save A Lot, Yellow Banana, the city’s Department of Planning and Department and other financial partners are currently discussing opportunities to “establish a viable financial structure for long-term grocery operations at the seven store locations,” Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner at the city’s Planning Department, said in a statement to Block Club Friday. 

“If the stores close, the City’s goal is their prompt reopening, potentially with one or more new suppliers or operators,” Strazzabosco added. 

Quinn said he hopes a new investor will soon replace the closing Save a Lot locations, emphasizing the overall need for more grocery options in food deserts across the city’s South and West Sides. 

“The city has pumped $13 million into these buildings, so the buildings are in really good shape,” he said. I’m hopeful that a new tenant will be ready to take over all the sites that Save A Lot is going to close up. Otherwise, residents are sort of forced to find grocers in Cicero Avenue and the suburbs, and that’s a concern.”

Save A Lot did not respond to Block Club Chicago’s request for comment on Saturday. 

Atavia Reed contributed reporting.