Closing time for Northfield Mariano’s: noon on Friday

Mariano’s grocery store in Northfield will close for good this Friday, June 27, well ahead of its lease expiration in the fall.

The closing date is noted on posters on Mariano’s front doors, as well as throughout the interior of the store.

The Village of Northfield first announced the pending closure of the store in February, saying at the time that it was “unexpected and disappointing news.” Since, town officials have remained optimistic about the future of the building, reporting that interest from prospective tenants was high.

Northfield Village Manager Patrick Brennan said on Wednesday that he was not yet aware of a replacement business for the large space; however, he was confident one would be announced soon.

“I am hoping that we are a week or two away from (the property owners) making an announcement,” Brennan wrote in an email to The Record. “When that happens, we should be able to also estimate how long it will take for someone new to turn the lights on and welcome in new customers.”

The 47,732-square-foot Mariano’s opened at 1822 Willow Road in 2014 after Mariano’s parent company (then Roundy’s, now Kroger) purchased the location, and 10 others, from fellow grocer Dominick’s, which had been in the location for the 38 years prior.

The site reportedly sold for $13.1 million in 2023 to the Swanson Development Group.

A majority of the shelves in the Northfield Store were bare on Wednesday. Many remaining items, however, are on sale at up to 75% off through the store’s closing at noon on Friday.

Not just Northfield

The closing of Mariano’s Northfield location is part of a larger Kroger story. The brand is closing approximately 60 stores nationwide over the next 18 months, according to Kroger’s recent earnings report.

Mariano’s locations in Buffalo Grove and Northbrook, 2323 Capital Drive, are also closing in the coming weeks; though, another location in Northbrook, 784 Skokie Blvd., will remain open.

The closings occur in the wake of a failed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and fellow grocer giant Albertsons, which operates Jewel-Osco. The deal fell apart in December 2024 when a federal judge sided with federal regulators who claimed the merger would drive up prices and harm consumers.

After that, Albertsons filed a $6 billion lawsuit against Kroger, claiming the company breached the merger agreement by not exercising its best efforts in its divestment packages to sell off stores and appease the Federal Trade Commission.

“Kroger willfully breached the Merger Agreement in several key ways, including by repeatedly refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring regulators’ feedback, rejecting stronger divestiture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons,” says a statement from Albertsons.

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