Arlington Heights grocery store reopening with new European deli

Closed for a little more than a year, Harvest Fresh Market in Arlington Heights is set to reopen under new ownership, who plan to restock the produce and grocery aisles and make some new additions.

Owner Iryna Kiyan says she’s adding a new deli department with a large selection of ready-made foods to the store at 100 E. Rand Road in the Arlington Plaza shopping center.

She and her husband ran XO, a restaurant, banquet hall and deli at 1057 E. Lake-Cook Road in Wheeling, for 24 years until closing in April.

“We just want to change something in our life and that’s why we decided to open the grocery store — to try something new,” Kiyan said.

As the restaurant catered to Europeans, including Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, Lithuanian and Moldovan immigrants, Kiyan hopes many of them will find their way to the new grocery store, which is being rebranded “Harvest Fresh Market and XO Delicatessen.”

The aisles will be stocked with many of the same international products the old Harvest Fresh had, but the new store will specialize in prepared foods from its new deli department. It’s something Kiyan hopes will make her store stand out in a competitive market.

Just across the street is Jewel-Osco, Trader Joe’s and Amazon Fresh, which opened in July.

“European people prefer a little bit different food. More warm food. Just a little different salad, different meat,” Kiyan said. “That’s why we want to combine European and American kitchen, and do more ready-to-go food.”

Her husband will oversee the kitchen, and she’s also bringing cooks and employees from the old restaurant, with plans to hire more.

Upgrades are underway inside the store ahead of a planned opening at the end of November or beginning of December, Kiyan said.

The store doesn’t require any zoning approvals from the village board — as the space housed a grocery store in a commercial area for 20 years — but the new owners would have to ask the mayor and trustees for a liquor license.