Under Fisher, Dominick's acquired 24 stores plus a 462,000-square-foot distribution center in Northlake from Kroger in two separate transactions in 1970.

The Northlake distribution center, which was originally built by Kroger in 1961,[8] was used by Dominick's until the chain was closed in 2014.

[13] In the 1980s and early 1990s, under the direction of Bob Mariano, Dominick's experimented with new large "food and drug" combo stores.

Dominick's was one of the first to experiment with all ceiling sales areas, exposed structural elements such as piping and HVAC ducts, large-scale state-of-the-art telephone systems and POS systems, video departments, one-hour photo, bulk foods, and many other "new" 1980s concepts.

The first floor contained the customer service desk area, entry/exit vestibules, the security room, the video department, and a bank.

The 2nd level contained a break room, employee restrooms, office area, and windows that overlooked the sales floor.

[15] The Dominick's "Fresh Store" introduced prepared foods, in-store restaurants/cafés, Starbucks cafés, soft lighting, upscale subtle graphics, uniform products signage, and a general European Market feel to the Dominick's stores.

According to a grocery business consultant, "Dominick’s focused on purchasing produce and meat on quality first, price second.

These stores began to lose money due to lack of loss prevention and throwaway inventorying.

[30] Architectural changes included hardwood flooring and new direct lighting schemes that tend to be less abrasive.

[35] Until final closure in 2013, many Dominick's featured in-store bank locations and ATMs of First Chicago's successor, Chase.

A high-level and highest-priority team has been assembled to immediately address these issues.” Reports of shoppers witnessing Dominick's employees in the aisles of their stores filling carts with expired products began popping up in the comments sections of these articles.

Scores of customers had taken to the Dominick's Facebook page demanding answers about the volume of expired products on their shelves, but Dominick's remained silent on the issue prior to Ms. Cataldo's blog posts and the subsequent media coverage.

Over time, Dominick's closed stores due to lack of sales and overall poor performance.

In 2012, stores were closed in Hoffman Estates, Vernon Hills, Lake Bluff and Bloomingdale.

[42] The announcement spurred its competitors into seeking out employees and store locations that they could expand into once Dominick's exits the market.

[43] On December 2, 2013, Milwaukee-based Roundy's, which operates under the Mariano's Fresh Market brand in the Chicago market and is chaired by former Dominick's CEO Bob Mariano, announced the purchase of eleven stores in the chain, though employees would have to re-apply to work for Roundy's.