Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 12, 2010 at 2:03pm

Anyone got grocery stores or other frequent destinations in Uptown, Bucktown, West Town or other neighborhoods they'd like to nominate - good or bad?

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Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on May 14, 2010 at 8:32am

Of course the Performance schoolyard rack is where the strip mall dumps all the snow from their parking lot...

Anne Alt said:

You're right. Yours is the first mention of Cycle Smithy. Got a picture of their bike rack?

The rack at Performance isn't the greatest, but at least it's in a position where it can be used to its maximum capacity. Also, there's constant traffic in and out of the store, so there tend to be plenty of eyes on it.

Patrick O'Connor said:

Scrolled through and didn't see it mentioned in this thread (very quick browse), but Cycle Smithy belongs in the hall of shame for their parking. You have to parallel park on the bike rack.
Great store and very helpful people, so just take your bike inside.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 21, 2010 at 11:18am

Today I happened to pass a Jewel that has good bike parking - how rare! The Jewel at Damen/Lincoln/Irving Park has two large wave racks near the doors that are actually installed at a proper distance from the wall. Several bikes were locked up there when I went by.

Has anyone else encountered another Jewel store that actually has good bike parking?

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 3, 2010 at 11:50am

In today's Tribune, Blair Kamin (architecture critic) writes about a new green Dominick's store at 5233 N. Lincoln Ave. Towards the end of the article he says "The combined impact of the energy-saving measures . . . will be the equivalent of removing 160 cars from the roads and planting more than 250 acres of trees a year." [italics added by me]

My question to him (which I'm posting in comments and sending via e-mail) is this: Did they follow the lead of Whole Foods in one important aspect - by providing bike parking to actually get more cars off the roads and make shopping by bike feasible? The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

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Permalink Reply by David on October 3, 2010 at 5:11pm

You may be right about a majority of markets in the city, but location matters a lot here. I regularly hit most of the supermarkets near me, namely the Dominicks on Chicago, on Clybourn and on Grand (occasionally), Jewel on Desplaines and on Ashland/Milwaukee, Trader Joes on Clybourn and Ontario, and I've never had a problem finding bike parking at any of them (with TJ, often one rack fills and you have to use another, though). And riding around the city, Dominicks is usually where I stop for a CLIF bar or something if I need quick energy, and I can't remember ever not finding bike parking at one.

Now I don't find myself down on 95th St. very often, which I'm sure is much worse for bikes. And the areas I frequent tend to be pretty bike-friendly (that's why I frequent them). But it's just not my experience that Dominicks typically has NO bike parking. I think that like most things in Chicago, there's a huge north side/south side split in this area.

BTW, someone above complained about bike parking at Jewel on Ashland, but I've always treated the grating in front of the store as a huge bike rack and nobody has ever complained. OTOH, somebody also mentioned Stanley's on North, which is the one store in the city where I regularly find myself with no place to park. It's not just the lack of racks there it's also the bizarre absence of any street signs.

Anne Alt said:

The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

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Permalink Reply by Jared on October 3, 2010 at 5:19pm

Plenty of bike parking at the Lincoln/Berwyn Dominick's.

Photos:

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Permalink Reply by Jared on October 3, 2010 at 5:21pm

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on October 3, 2010 at 5:22pm

There is indeed bike parking at this new, "green," Dominick's store! See my friend's photo here.

Now why didn't Dominick's install this many bike racks (and of the same decent quality) at the 3145 S Ashland store when they completed major renovations last year (meaning there was money and a crew to do it)?



Anne Alt said:

In today's Tribune, Blair Kamin (architecture critic) writes about a new green Dominick's store at 5233 N. Lincoln Ave. Towards the end of the article he says "The combined impact of the energy-saving measures . . . will be the equivalent of removing 160 cars from the roads and planting more than 250 acres of trees a year." [italics added by me]

My question to him (which I'm posting in comments and sending via e-mail) is this: Did they follow the lead of Whole Foods in one important aspect - by providing bike parking to actually get more cars off the roads and make shopping by bike feasible? The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

Stanley's has at least three CDOT racks along Elston Avenue. Request more, if it needs it.

The Dominick's I mention above to Anne Alt has NO bike racks, but it has bike parking. In the form of metal garbage bins with open metal loops. It works, but it's not acceptable from a major corporation who has employees and customers riding their bikes to the store.



David said:

You may be right about a majority of markets in the city, but location matters a lot here. I regularly hit most of the supermarkets near me, namely the Dominicks on Chicago, on Clybourn and on Grand (occasionally), Jewel on Desplaines and on Ashland/Milwaukee, Trader Joes on Clybourn and Ontario, and I've never had a problem finding bike parking at any of them (with TJ, often one rack fills and you have to use another, though). And riding around the city, Dominicks is usually where I stop for a CLIF bar or something if I need quick energy, and I can't remember ever not finding bike parking at one.

Now I don't find myself down on 95th St. very often, which I'm sure is much worse for bikes. And the areas I frequent tend to be pretty bike-friendly (that's why I frequent them). But it's just not my experience that Dominicks typically has NO bike parking. I think that like most things in Chicago, there's a huge north side/south side split in this area.

BTW, someone above complained about bike parking at Jewel on Ashland, but I've always treated the grating in front of the store as a huge bike rack and nobody has ever complained. OTOH, somebody also mentioned Stanley's on North, which is the one store in the city where I regularly find myself with no place to park. It's not just the lack of racks there it's also the bizarre absence of any street signs.

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Permalink Reply by Jared on October 3, 2010 at 5:50pm

I think the answer is they weren't trying to "rack" up LEED points at the Ashland store.



Steven Vance said:

There is indeed bike parking at this new, "green," Dominick's store! See my friend's photo here.

Now why didn't Dominick's install this many bike racks (and of the same decent quality) at the 3145 S Ashland store when they completed major renovations last year (meaning there was money and a crew to do it)?



Anne Alt said:

In today's Tribune, Blair Kamin (architecture critic) writes about a new green Dominick's store at 5233 N. Lincoln Ave. Towards the end of the article he says "The combined impact of the energy-saving measures . . . will be the equivalent of removing 160 cars from the roads and planting more than 250 acres of trees a year." [italics added by me]

My question to him (which I'm posting in comments and sending via e-mail) is this: Did they follow the lead of Whole Foods in one important aspect - by providing bike parking to actually get more cars off the roads and make shopping by bike feasible? The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

Stanley's has at least three CDOT racks along Elston Avenue. Request more, if it needs it.

The Dominick's I mention above to Anne Alt has NO bike racks, but it has bike parking. In the form of metal garbage bins with open metal loops. It works, but it's not acceptable from a major corporation who has employees and customers riding their bikes to the store.



David said:

You may be right about a majority of markets in the city, but location matters a lot here. I regularly hit most of the supermarkets near me, namely the Dominicks on Chicago, on Clybourn and on Grand (occasionally), Jewel on Desplaines and on Ashland/Milwaukee, Trader Joes on Clybourn and Ontario, and I've never had a problem finding bike parking at any of them (with TJ, often one rack fills and you have to use another, though). And riding around the city, Dominicks is usually where I stop for a CLIF bar or something if I need quick energy, and I can't remember ever not finding bike parking at one.

Now I don't find myself down on 95th St. very often, which I'm sure is much worse for bikes. And the areas I frequent tend to be pretty bike-friendly (that's why I frequent them). But it's just not my experience that Dominicks typically has NO bike parking. I think that like most things in Chicago, there's a huge north side/south side split in this area.

BTW, someone above complained about bike parking at Jewel on Ashland, but I've always treated the grating in front of the store as a huge bike rack and nobody has ever complained. OTOH, somebody also mentioned Stanley's on North, which is the one store in the city where I regularly find myself with no place to park. It's not just the lack of racks there it's also the bizarre absence of any street signs.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 4, 2010 at 12:11am

When I lived in Rogers Park, the then-new Dominick's store (built around 2003) had an old-style rack installed in front of the store - too close to the wall, so it was only useable by 2 or 3 bikes. I've encountered the same problem on other north side stores further from downtown. Where there IS a useable rack, it's usually a 2-bike city rack on a sidewalk near the grocery store.

David said:

You may be right about a majority of markets in the city, but location matters a lot here. I regularly hit most of the supermarkets near me, namely the Dominicks on Chicago, on Clybourn and on Grand (occasionally), Jewel on Desplaines and on Ashland/Milwaukee, Trader Joes on Clybourn and Ontario, and I've never had a problem finding bike parking at any of them (with TJ, often one rack fills and you have to use another, though). And riding around the city, Dominicks is usually where I stop for a CLIF bar or something if I need quick energy, and I can't remember ever not finding bike parking at one.

Now I don't find myself down on 95th St. very often, which I'm sure is much worse for bikes. And the areas I frequent tend to be pretty bike-friendly (that's why I frequent them). But it's just not my experience that Dominicks typically has NO bike parking. I think that like most things in Chicago, there's a huge north side/south side split in this area.

BTW, someone above complained about bike parking at Jewel on Ashland, but I've always treated the grating in front of the store as a huge bike rack and nobody has ever complained. OTOH, somebody also mentioned Stanley's on North, which is the one store in the city where I regularly find myself with no place to park. It's not just the lack of racks there it's also the bizarre absence of any street signs.

Anne Alt said:

The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 4, 2010 at 12:14am

I did some research to find out why less-than-adequate bike parking (poorly installed or poor design) has been installed at many buildings where bike parking is required under the revised code. I learned that there's a big old loophole - no firm standards for what an appropriate rack is, nothing specifying that installation specs must be obtained and adhered to, and no inspection to ensure that a rack was installed to the specs.

H3N3 said:

The answer is that a revision in the building code that took effect in 2006 required them to offer this much bike parking (one bike space per five automobile spaces-- I guarantee you they didn't install one smidgen more than required) for new construction, whereas an existing store is exempt.

Jared said:

I think the answer is they weren't trying to "rack" up LEED points at the Ashland store.



Steven Vance said:

There is indeed bike parking at this new, "green," Dominick's store! See my friend's photo here.

Now why didn't Dominick's install this many bike racks (and of the same decent quality) at the 3145 S Ashland store when they completed major renovations last year (meaning there was money and a crew to do it)?



Anne Alt said:

In today's Tribune, Blair Kamin (architecture critic) writes about a new green Dominick's store at 5233 N. Lincoln Ave. Towards the end of the article he says "The combined impact of the energy-saving measures . . . will be the equivalent of removing 160 cars from the roads and planting more than 250 acres of trees a year." [italics added by me]

My question to him (which I'm posting in comments and sending via e-mail) is this: Did they follow the lead of Whole Foods in one important aspect - by providing bike parking to actually get more cars off the roads and make shopping by bike feasible? The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

Stanley's has at least three CDOT racks along Elston Avenue. Request more, if it needs it.

The Dominick's I mention above to Anne Alt has NO bike racks, but it has bike parking. In the form of metal garbage bins with open metal loops. It works, but it's not acceptable from a major corporation who has employees and customers riding their bikes to the store.



David said:

You may be right about a majority of markets in the city, but location matters a lot here. I regularly hit most of the supermarkets near me, namely the Dominicks on Chicago, on Clybourn and on Grand (occasionally), Jewel on Desplaines and on Ashland/Milwaukee, Trader Joes on Clybourn and Ontario, and I've never had a problem finding bike parking at any of them (with TJ, often one rack fills and you have to use another, though). And riding around the city, Dominicks is usually where I stop for a CLIF bar or something if I need quick energy, and I can't remember ever not finding bike parking at one.

Now I don't find myself down on 95th St. very often, which I'm sure is much worse for bikes. And the areas I frequent tend to be pretty bike-friendly (that's why I frequent them). But it's just not my experience that Dominicks typically has NO bike parking. I think that like most things in Chicago, there's a huge north side/south side split in this area.

BTW, someone above complained about bike parking at Jewel on Ashland, but I've always treated the grating in front of the store as a huge bike rack and nobody has ever complained. OTOH, somebody also mentioned Stanley's on North, which is the one store in the city where I regularly find myself with no place to park. It's not just the lack of racks there it's also the bizarre absence of any street signs.

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Permalink Reply by David on October 4, 2010 at 2:07am

Are you talking about the store on Howard next to the red line terminal? I used to live up there and until recently I kept a PO Box at that UPS store, so I rode my bike to that store constantly up until a few months ago and never had a problem parking at the bike rack (right next to the exit to the red line). I'll admit I don't really remember the quality of the parking, I just park at the racked without really thinking about it (I *think* it's a wave rack). Maybe it *is* too close and I've just parked at an angle and not paid much attention, but there's definitely been many more than 2 or 3 bikes there.

I've been in Chicago less than two years, so it's quite possible that things are much better around the (north side of the) city than they used to be, which would be one reason our experiences are so different.

Anyway, I completely agree with you and Steve that *all* the markets should have bike parking, but it simply isn't the case that almost none of them do.

Anne Alt said:

When I lived in Rogers Park, the then-new Dominick's store (built around 2003) had an old-style rack installed in front of the store - too close to the wall, so it was only useable by 2 or 3 bikes. I've encountered the same problem on other north side stores further from downtown. Where there IS a useable rack, it's usually a 2-bike city rack on a sidewalk near the grocery store.

David said:

You may be right about a majority of markets in the city, but location matters a lot here. I regularly hit most of the supermarkets near me, namely the Dominicks on Chicago, on Clybourn and on Grand (occasionally), Jewel on Desplaines and on Ashland/Milwaukee, Trader Joes on Clybourn and Ontario, and I've never had a problem finding bike parking at any of them (with TJ, often one rack fills and you have to use another, though). And riding around the city, Dominicks is usually where I stop for a CLIF bar or something if I need quick energy, and I can't remember ever not finding bike parking at one.

Now I don't find myself down on 95th St. very often, which I'm sure is much worse for bikes. And the areas I frequent tend to be pretty bike-friendly (that's why I frequent them). But it's just not my experience that Dominicks typically has NO bike parking. I think that like most things in Chicago, there's a huge north side/south side split in this area.

BTW, someone above complained about bike parking at Jewel on Ashland, but I've always treated the grating in front of the store as a huge bike rack and nobody has ever complained. OTOH, somebody also mentioned Stanley's on North, which is the one store in the city where I regularly find myself with no place to park. It's not just the lack of racks there it's also the bizarre absence of any street signs.

Anne Alt said:

The majority of other Dominick's locations provide NO bike parking, or have bike racks too close to the wall or in places where they get buried in shopping carts, rendering them useless.

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