The Fresh Market grocery chain to close Glen Ellyn store

GLEN ELLYN – The Fresh Market grocery store chain has announced it will close 15 locations across the country, including the store at 285 Roosevelt Road in Glen Ellyn.

“Over the last eight months, our company has been executing a turnaround plan and we’ve seen great progress," Fresh Market CEO Larry Appel said in a news release. "However, for a variety of reasons unique to each retail location, that progress is not evenly distributed and, as a result, we have decided to close these long-term, underperforming stores. We will work to relocate as many impacted employees as possible to other stores within our footprint."

The stores are set to close in the next two to four weeks, Fresh Market spokeswoman Amy Grossman said in an email.

The company does not plan to close any other stores "in the foreseeable future," the release stated. The only other Fresh Market store set to close in the Chicago area is in Lincolnshire.

In 2016, the grocery chain agreed to be acquired by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, a leading global alternative investment manager. The deal was worth about $1.36 billion, according to a news release from The Fresh Market.

Although The Fresh Market will be closing its store in Glen Ellyn, a new grocer is headed to the village. Pete's Market is set to open in February 2019 in the former Dominick's store in the Baker Hill shopping center.

Trustees in September 2017 approved a $1.25 million incentive to bring Pete's Market to the shopping center. The village will receive a $75,000 base sales tax each year, and there will be a 50-50 sales tax split above the base between the village and shopping center owner. The agreement will terminate after the $1.25 million is reached or 10 years, whichever is first.