Piggly Wiggly opens in Carol Stream; Caputo's Fresh Market coming soon

Two new grocery stores — including one that is scheduled to open this summer — are creating a positive buzz in Carol Stream, where a Dominick's left a void after closing in December.

Piggly Wiggly opened its newest location at 998 W. Army Trail Road on March 11, filling a 39,000-square-foot space that was vacated by Family Foods several years ago, according to village officials.

“The response has been very good,” said Paul Butera, President and CEO of Piggly Wiggly Midwest.

A Jewel-Osco is located just across the street and a Meijer is less than four miles away, but Community Development Director Bob Glees said Piggly Wiggly is a different type of store that will likely draw in followers who have visited one of the company's many Wisconsin stores.

“It's smaller and has more specialty items,” Glees said. “I don't know that they would be considered a direct, head-to-head competitor with the other stores.”

The Carol Stream location — which is the seventh in Illinois and the first in DuPage County — occupies the largest retail space in the County Farm Plaza at the southwest corner of Army Trail and County Farm roads, Glees added.

“We certainly always like to have our centers completely filled and the addition of Piggly Wiggly I think brings a lot of visibility and energy to that center,” he said.

More than 60 people are employed at the new store, which is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

On the southern end of the village, at North Avenue and Schmale Road, Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets has moved its headquarters into a 300,000-square-foot building that once housed a distribution facility for the pharmaceutical company McKesson.

Glees said Caputo's has redeveloped the building, which now includes office space and a warehouse. About 80,000 square feet, he said, will be dedicated to a new store, which is expected to open in July.

Despite the two new groceries stores, village officials are still working on getting a tenant to take over the space Dominick's left empty at 560 S. Schmale Road.

“We're pretty much back to even. We would like to get the Dominick's filled out and then we'll be back in the game,” Glees said.