Instacart Expedites Expansion to Chicago's North Shore to Meet Rising Customer Demand

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jan 15, 2014) - Instacart (www.Instacart.com), the only service that can deliver groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, announced today that it has added four North Shore neighborhoods to its coverage area in Chicago, upping the number of vicinities it serves to 27. The expansion was expedited due to a high volume of requests from this area, most likely due to inclement weather. Instacart's Chicago service started in September 2013 and is growing at double the rate of San Francisco, where it was initially launched in May 2012.

"The reception to Instacart's same-day grocery delivery service in Chicago has exceeded our expectations. We've received a high volume of requests from the North Shore, so we expedited our expansion to reach these customers," said Apoorva Mehta, CEO and founder, Instacart. "Overall, we are ramping up our fleet on a weekly basis to meet rising demand and are factoring in weather forecasts due to the 100% spike we see in orders due to snow."

North Shore residents can initially order items from Whole Foods and Jewel-Osco; Instacart will add other stores in the coming weeks. Customers can combine items from more than one store into one order and have them all delivered on the same day -- even within one-hour and two-hour timeframes.

"It's clear that Chicagoans are happy to have Instacart deliver their groceries, especially in bad weather," said Heather Wake, Chicago City Manager, Instacart. "We've also learned that University students are big Instacart customers because most of them don't own cars and grocery shopping is time consuming and a big hassle. Now that we're serving Rogers Park and Evanston, Loyola and Northwestern students can stock their fridges and pantries within an hour."

Wake advises Chicago customers to place orders early in the day in inclement weather, and be aware that Shoppers are dependent on the stores being open. "There's always the possibility that stores will close early if the weather situation deteriorates, especially as the day goes on."

Consumers can visit www.Instacart.com to sign up for free Instacart accounts. All new customers get complimentary delivery on their first order.

With the addition of North Shore neighborhoods, Instacart's service is now available in 27 Chicago neighborhoods: Lake View, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, West Town, Near West Side, Lower West Side, Near North Side, Loop, Near South Side, Avondale, Uptown, North Center, Andersonville, Ravenswood, Edgewater, North Park, Portage Park, Rogers Park, Evanston, Wilmette and Kenilworth; plus portions of Irving Park, Albany Park, Douglas, Bridgeport, Armour Square and McKinley Park.

The new zip codes being served in the North Shore region are 60045, 60626, 60202, 60201, 60203, 60091 and 60043. Location maps can be found here.

About Instacart
Instacart is the only service that can deliver groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, and is often less expensive for consumers than a personal, time-consuming trip to the grocery store. Customers in San Francisco, Chicago and Boston can choose from over 270,000 items from local grocery stores and large chains like Safeway, Whole Foods and Costco. They can mix items from these stores into one order and get them delivered in as little as an hour. Instacart is disrupting the traditional grocery delivery business with its approach, which utilizes a crowdsourced model of Personal Shoppers who use their own cars and smartphones to shop and deliver groceries to customers. This model eliminates the need for costly infrastructure such as warehouses, trucks and full-time drivers. Instacart is not affiliated with the stores; its model is to connect customers with Personal Shoppers who shop on their behalf. Learn more at www.Instacart.com.