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Sunset Foods celebrates Long Grove opening

Long Grove leaders are hoping a new Sunset Foods will prove to be not only a large, new grocery store for their community, but also a giant leap for the local economy.

“This is a big deal,” Village President Maria Rodriguez told the eager crowd gathered for the ribbon-cutting at the 74-year-old North Shore chain's fifth store Tuesday night. “This store and its surrounding businesses will bring 200 new jobs to the area.”

Rodriguez connected the event to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address the same evening, saying that Sunset Foods was the very example of the type of small business the country and the economy are crying out for.

“The local businesses will succeed if we make sure they do,” Rodriguez said. “Working together will stabilize the economy and help us grow the economy.”

Area residents were already prepared to their part within minutes of the opening of the store at the corner of Route 83 and Aptakisic Road.

While most visitors were still sampling the free food and checking out the volume and variety of items on the shelves, Caroline Lange of Lake Zurich already had already filled a shopping cart with a key lime pie for her husband.

She said the store's wide aisles and wide selection had probably earned its place as her new grocery store, as well as a convenient place to run for lunch from her job in Long Grove.

“I could get here for lunch every day!” she said.

Her neighbor Virginia Breyer said she was also pleased by the amount of prepared foods, which made eating healthy at the end of the work day so much easier.

Pat and Fred Kutchins of Lake Zurich were also impressed by their spur-of-the-moment visit to the new store.

“I had heard over the years that Sunset Foods have very high quality food,” Fred said.

“I know I can find anything I want here,” his wife added. “There's this cheese here that I've never seen anywhere else in the market.”

T.J. Tazioli, Sunset Foods' vice president of marketing, said the chain has aimed to impress since its first store opened in Highland Park in 1937. At that time there were 12 other grocery stores in the town, but now only Sunset Foods remains.

“We do things other retailers don't,” Tazioli said. “You can't beat service as a competitive measure.”

For Sunset Foods, Long Grove was the right fit for its corporate identity to venture out from its North Shore base, Tazioli said.

And Long Grove leaders have been persistent in encouraging the chain to provide the village with its first grocery store, Village Manager David Lothspeich said. The fact that it's happening now can only mean good things for the state of the economy, he added.

“It couldn't be more important for so many different reasons,” Lothspeich said. “Sunset Foods was identified as a business we'd love to have in our community nearly 10 years ago. It's the most significant thing you could see happening anywhere.”

  Store Manager Ron Wyatt talks with company food consultant John Liapes during Tuesday’s pre-grand opening party at Sunset Foods in Long Grove. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Karen Pass of Buffalo Grove squeezes her shopping cart between a sample table and the busy deli counter during Tuesday’s pre-grand opening party at Sunset Foods in Long Grove. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Area residents checked out Sunset Foods during Tuesday’s pre-grand opening party at the Long Grove store. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com