Instacart Further Expands Chicago North Shore Delivery Area

Instacart, which bills itself as the only service that can deliver groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, has again expanded its delivery area in Chicago’s North Shore to include the towns of Lincolnwood, Skokie, Winnetka, Wilmette and Northfield. The service delivers from four area store chains -- Whole Foods, Costco, Mariano’s and Jewel-Osco – and enables shoppers to combine items from any or all four stores into a single order.

Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta noted that Chicago is the service’s fastest-growing region, with particularly high demand for expansion to the North Shore because residents “don’t have as many options for grocery shopping or delivery.”

Crowdsourced Workforce

First rolled out in San Francisco, Instacart expanded to Chicago last September and has widened its delivery area several times since. The company relies on a crowdsourced labor force known as “Personal Shoppers” who shop for and deliver grocery orders using their own vehicles. This model eliminates the need for costly infrastructure such as warehouses, trucks and full-time drivers, according to Instacart, which also offers its service in Boston and Washington, D.C.

A new expanded Chicago-area coverage map is available online.