Grocery operator Yellow Banana completed renovating and rehabbing six Save A Lot stores on the South and West sides — 2½ years after signing a $26 million redevelopment agreement with the city.
The agreement required the Ohio-based company to receive certificates of completion for each store, as well as a certificate for the entire project, in order to receive $13.5 million in public funding. So far, it has received about $6.5 million, with the rest being issued in the coming weeks, according to the Department of Planning and Development.
Records show Yellow Banana received certificates for all six stores by the city’s Sept. 27 deadline, which was set after the company said it wouldn’t meet the original March 31 deadline. One store’s completion certificate was given on March 6, with the others given last month. The certificate for the entire project was issued Sept. 26.
It’s been a bumpy road for the company, founded in 2021. Since signing its redevelopment agreement in 2023, Yellow Banana closed all 38 of its Save A Lot stores outside of Chicago, racked up over $2 million in vendor lawsuits and municipal debt, and faced sanitation violations and complaints of expired food.
Even in the final weeks before its September deadline, it had trouble meeting some of the city’s requirements — leading to thousands of dollars in penalties.
Yellow Banana promised city officials that it would spend 26% of its hard construction costs toward hiring minority-owned businesses and 6% on Women Business Enterprises. The company also pledged to have at least 50% of the total hours worked on construction sites done by Chicago residents.
But it failed to meet the requirements at two stores, according to emails obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Yellow Banana was told by a city project auditor on Sept. 11 that it failed to meet the city residency requirements for the Morgan Park store at 10770 S. Halsted St. Only 43.02% of the total construction hours were done by residents of Chicago. Yellow Banana had to pay a $5,735.23 penalty on Sept. 18 to avoid more delays in receiving a completion certificate for the store.
In correspondence dated Sept. 19, the company was informed that the Gresham store at 7908 S. Halsted St., didn’t meet the women- and minority-owned businesses and city residency percentage requirements. It was instructed by city officials to pay $70,958 in liquidated damages. Yellow Banana had spent 23.42% of costs with Minority Business Enterprises and 5.76% with Women Business Enterprises. The company noted that 48.51% of the total construction hours were done by residents of Chicago.
Department of Planning and Development spokesperson Peter Strazzabosco said in a statement, “The simultaneous rehabilitation of six full-service grocery stores is no small accomplishment, especially given the impact of historic divestment, market pressures and operator challenges involving the grocery industry nationwide.”
Save A Lot spokesperson Sarah Griffin said in a statement: “Save A Lot and Yellow Banana are proud to have completed six extensive remodels on stores in the city of Chicago that will ensure continued food access for thousands of families in the neighborhoods we serve. We are grateful to the city of Chicago, our team members and our customers for their continued support throughout this process. We are now fully focused on day-to-day operations in all Chicago locations.”
Yellow Banana is required to keep the six stores open for at least 10 years, including submitting an annual compliance report for each location sharing details such as occupancy, jobs and financial information. The Department of Planning and Development said it will also make annual visits to the site, with an initial visit scheduled for this fall.
If one of the six stores close, the city can default on the redevelopment agreement and recoup all public funding. The company also operates a Save A Lot in Englewood, though the former Whole Foods location is not part of the agreement.
At openings like the West Lawn store in April, residents have been excited for the renovated stores.
“We used to have to drive my mom far away, like to the Sam’s Club in Hodgkins or to Costco,” West Lawn resident Alicia Serna said. “I’ll take her here, and it’s closer. And they got a lot of variety of stuff, too. Before, it was a little like … you wouldn’t want to go in there.”
This story has been updated with a comment from the Department of Planning and Development.