SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 5, 2013) - Instacart (www.Instacart.com), the only service that can deliver groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, announced today that it has added Jewel-Osco delivery for its Chicago-area customers. This is the fifth store Instacart has added since originally expanding to Chicago in September. Others include Whole Foods, Dominick's, Costco and Mariano's. Customers can combine items from more than one store into one order and have them all delivered the same day.

Instacart has also further expanded its delivery area, to include the North Park and Portage Park neighborhoods.

Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta says that Instacart's Chicago service is growing at a faster pace than San Francisco did -- just eight weeks after launch, the company was serving more deliveries in Chicago than it did in its 40th week in the Bay Area. "Our research showed that demand in Chicago would be strong, but it's even higher than we expected," said Mehta. "We've been adding dozens of Personal Shoppers each month to keep up."

Mehta said that Instacart added Jewel-Osco delivery service as a result of customer demand, and in response to the closing of Dominick's later this month. "We wanted to give our customers another alternative in those neighborhoods," said Mehta.

Instacart has disrupted the traditional grocery delivery space with its crowdsourced labor force dubbed Personal Shoppers who shop for and deliver grocery orders using their own vehicles in as little as one hour. This 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.

Instacart service is available in 23 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 and Portage Park; plus portions of Irving Park, Albany Park, Douglas, Bridgeport, Armour Square and McKinley Park. Consumers can visit www.Instacart.com to sign up for free Instacart accounts. All new customers get complimentary delivery on their first order.

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 can choose from a variety of local stores including Safeway, Dominick's, Whole Foods, Costco and Mariano's, and can mix items from multiple stores into one order. Instacart is disrupting the traditional grocery delivery business with its approach, which utilizes a crowdsourced model for Personal Shoppers and needs no warehouses or trucks. Learn more at www.Instacart.com.