Woodman's Food Market Proposes Plainfield Store, Fuel Station

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield could be home to a new grocery store in the coming years. Woodman's Food Market submitted plans to build a store at the northeast corner of 119th Street and Route 59, village officials announced Friday morning.

The company is proposing to build a 240,000-square-foot store on a 36-acre plot of land that would also house a fuel center featuring a car wash, convenience store and oil change center. The site would also feature seven outlots open to additional development.

The employee-owned grocery store, founded in 1919, has 19 locations throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, including in nearby North Aurora. Village staff described the grocery store as having a “tremendously wide variety of grocery items at everyday low prices.”

UPDATE: Village Hopes Plainfield's New Woodman's Will Open In 2025: Mayor

Many Plainfield residents were shocked and saddened when Walmart Supercenter on Route 59 closed in March 2023. With Woodman's opening, it could fill that gap in the market.

Staff first began working with the Woodman's team immediately following Walmart's closure to potentially redevelop the vacant lot, but efforts were unsuccessful, according to a news release. The current proposed location would allow the grocery store to provide locals with a "better finished product than anything that was afforded to them by the former [Walmart] location," officials said.

"Woodman's has always been very deliberate in selecting locations for our new stores," Woodman's President Clint Woodman said in a statement. "This proposed location in Plainfield is consistent with our planned growth. We are confident that our proposed development will provide a long-term benefit to the residents of the Village of Plainfield and after nearly a decade of trying to secure the best location for our operations we look forward to and appreciate the opportunity to become a corporate citizen of the Village of Plainfield."

It'll be some time until the store opens, as Woodman's application will have to follow the village's approval process. The Plan Commission will likely consider the proposal in February, and the Village Board will deliberate the project in the coming months, according to the release. If trustees approve Woodman's, on- and off-site improvements will start later this year or in 2025.

The new business is expected to add about 200 new jobs and more than 200 temporary construction jobs.

"We are happy that Woodman's has selected Plainfield for their next store and we look forward to working with them," Mayor John Argoudelis said in a statement. "They will be a great addition to the community and our residents will benefit from having more grocery options. Bringing in a new quality retailer that responds to public demand, provides jobs, and produces tax revenue is part of the equation of making the best Plainfield."