Sunset Foods opening delayed

The opening of a long-awaited grocery store in Long Grove will be delayed until next year, but the project is expected to begin May 1, village officials said.

Sunset Foods will throw open its doors for service some time in the spring of 2010, said John Cortesi, Sunset Food's president and chief executive officer.

Logistics with roads and county water lines have delayed the project by a few months, but that's all in the past with construction crews poised to break ground at the corner of Route 83 and Aptakisic Road, Cortesi said.

Sunset Foods, an small, upper-end grocery chain, already has stores in Libertyville, Northbrook, Highland Park and Lake Forest, Cortesi said.

The shopping center will be called Sunset Grove, with Sunset Foods being the major tenant.

There will be other smaller buildings, which are expected to house a cleaners, pharmacy, bank and spa.

Also, there's plans to build restaurants around the site in the future, village officials said.

The village is anxiously awaiting the store's opening as it has been courting Sunset Foods for the past seven years, said Village President Maria Rodriguez.

When built, Sunset will be the village's only grocery store.

Currently, residents are grocery shopping in Buffalo Grove, Palatine and Kildeer, said Trustee Karen Schmitt. Many residents have expressed a desire to shop for food in their own town, Schmitt said.

Long Grove has had a minor spate of construction projects in the last few years. While Sunset is a major project for the village, it's not the biggest.

A 240,000-square-foot Mega Menards, a home-improvement store, will open at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday at 2700 Lake-Cook Road.

Like Sunset, the village worked with Menards for many years before the project finally materialized, village official said.