Smart & Final Extra

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SamSpade
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Smart & Final Extra

Post by SamSpade »

As we only have the sister chain, formerly known as Cash & Carry... now Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores...
This was kind of interesting to me.

Retail Archaeology YouTube channel takes a video tour through a Smart and Final Extra:


Looked like a decent market, really.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by arizonaguy »

I live near one that does decent business.

It's a decent store with okay pricing. If you shop promotions and use coupon apps (which I do) you can tend to get better pricing elsewhere. For the type of store it is, I have been impressed with the produce selection.

All in all I'd say that WinCo tends to beat it pretty handily (and when Aldi opens up I think Aldi will be a better operator than Smart and Final Extra) but it's not terrible.

I almost never think of going there though as I have a Walmart Supercenter, WinCo, Safeway, SuperTarget, Fry's, and Bashas' all closer to me.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by storewanderer »

I don't think this operator is great at all. The pricing is slightly below a Safeway or Raleys, and well above Smiths, Save Mart, WinCo, or Wal Mart, but the quality of the store is somewhere slightly above Wal Mart and far below WinCo.

They only have one in Reno (they were supposed to open another one out in South Reno but I think they got scared at the thought of competing with WinCo, Smiths, and Wal Mart) in a not so great part of town. It does very well, primarily because historically the nearby competition was terrible on center store pricing (Save Mart and Marketon). After Save Mart's price cuts last year, they are now much closer to being in line with Smart & Final's center store pricing.

I do like their Cash & Carry format (they recently spent money changing signs to Smart Foodservice for some unknown reason); that is more true to the original Smart & Final format. The "Extra" format reminds me of a downgraded version of a Food 4 Less with higher prices.

I have been surprised Albertsons hasn't tried to re-claim some of the former Haggen Stores that Smart & Final bought. Smart & Final has done minimal remodeling to most of those stores.

The "Extra" format is the old failed "SmartCo Foods" format that they tried to use in Denver and closed up after a matter of months. I have been surprised it has expanded as widely as it has. Many of the locations I see seem to do pretty low volumes around Sacramento and also the South Lake Tahoe one seems to be really slow.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by rwsandiego »

They are not bad, but they are not particularly good, IMO, either. The North Park (San Diego) store's produce was surprisingly good. In fact, for years I only bought apples and oranges at Smart and Final because they were dirt-cheap and better quality than Ralphs, VONS, Sprouts/Henry's, and Albertsons. The bakery was so-so, but the store is tiny so it was remarkable that they had what they had. I was not impressed with the meat that I bought. It was chewy and not very tender. When I bought beef and pork a second time, it was again chewy and tough. Their chicken was not any less expensive than the standard supermarkets' so I didn't buy it, as they only sold large quantities.

I will give them credit for taking small, urban stores like the one in North Park. Without Smart and Final Extra that part of San Diego would be a food desert. Kudos to them for providing fresh foods to the neighborhood.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by storewanderer »

I notice Smart & Final has put itself up for sale.

I wonder how many "underperforming stores" they have. Maybe Albertsons can get more divested stores back and convert them back to full service stores that will better serve their neighborhoods.

Lame Food 4 less wannabe store with lousy atmosphere and prices as high as a Safeway. What would go wrong?

They seem to be highlighting the success of the Cash & Carry format at this time. It appears to me Smart & Final overexpanded and is likely sitting on a lot of "underperforming" stores.

The irony is Cash & Carry is nearly identical to the old Smart & Final from the 80's and 90's.

They would have actually been better off years ago to keep the Henry's format and expand that on a wide scale rather than the wide scale expansion they've done of Smart & Final "Extra."
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by arizonaguy »

storewanderer wrote: February 7th, 2019, 10:53 pm I notice Smart & Final has put itself up for sale.

I wonder how many "underperforming stores" they have. Maybe Albertsons can get more divested stores back and convert them back to full service stores that will better serve their neighborhoods.

Lame Food 4 less wannabe store with lousy atmosphere and prices as high as a Safeway. What would go wrong?

They seem to be highlighting the success of the Cash & Carry format at this time. It appears to me Smart & Final overexpanded and is likely sitting on a lot of "underperforming" stores.

The irony is Cash & Carry is nearly identical to the old Smart & Final from the 80's and 90's.

They would have actually been better off years ago to keep the Henry's format and expand that on a wide scale rather than the wide scale expansion they've done of Smart & Final "Extra."
Honestly, I think that the best fit for the store locations that Smart & Final has (at least in my area) is Aldi.

I could see Aldi (or Lidl) making a bid for these stores.

If Walmart wanted to expand its Sam's Club Now format they'd be another player.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by Bagels »

I was searching for a Smart & Final thread to comment on, and was surprised to find what was posted about the chain earlier this year. Pricing on S&F's fresh products (produce, meat, deli, bakery, etc.) and private label grocery products is comparable (sometimes more, sometimes less) to Walmart and Target, and significantly less than Albertson's/Vons and Ralphs (Stater Bros. as well). Their name-brand grocery products aren't as cheap as Walmart and Target, but they are priced comparatively with Ralph's (which means more than Stater Bros. and way less than Albertson's/Vons). Their "First Street" baked goods are the lowest priced of any major chain, including Walmart. That said, their weekly sales are underwhelming although they usually have a few "blockbuster" sale prices. But they rarely offer the high-volume loss leaders (e.g. soda).

What I wanted to comment on: I've noticed that since the chain was sold earlier this year, their prices have begun to swell. Most of their fresh & private label products went from Aldi territory to Walmart/Target, and brand name products went from Stater Bros. to Ralph's. As I described above, they're still competitive -- just not like they were. But the biggest disappointed is in quality. S&F use to market itself as buying only top-rated produce. But this is no longer true -- most of what we've bought recently (past several months) is either not good or spoils fairly quickly. I expect sweet potatoes I buy from 99c Only to go bad in a week, not from here.

The biggest change seems to be the removal of "fresh" departments in the few stores (mostly divested Albertsons/Vons via Haggen) that had them. A local store, for example, removed its deli, replacing the former service counters with self-service cases that contain the same prepackaged stuff other S&F carry. For now, it retains a full-service meat counter, and store-made doughnuts. And the store still carries a much larger selection of cut/prepared produce than most other S&F. But I do ponder how long this will last.

Of interest, a S&F that opened up in Garden Groove shut its doors just a few months later. Ouch.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by storewanderer »

I notice lately they run 10% off coupons in their ad. That is atypical for a supposed "everyday low price" format.

I have never been impressed with the Extra format. Quality is not the same as when Smart & Final was catering to businesses/restaurants, as you point out, way downhill across the board. I do not think it is priced particularly well. I find the store unappealing. I find the mix of items to be poor.

It will be interesting to see what store count is in another few years.

I still like the Cash & Carry format, though. That is basically the "old" Smart & Final format, but better with a larger mix.
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by Bagels »

S&F was growing on me. I could purchase a pretty good store-made doughnut for 50c, custom made deli sandwich for $3.99, and pay less for cut produce or prepared meats (e.g. kabobs, meat loaf, etc.) than I would elsewhere. But it appears the huge expansion didn't work out of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see the chain disappear in the near future...
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Re: Smart & Final Extra

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: December 31st, 2019, 12:48 am S&F was growing on me. I could purchase a pretty good store-made doughnut for 50c, custom made deli sandwich for $3.99, and pay less for cut produce or prepared meats (e.g. kabobs, meat loaf, etc.) than I would elsewhere. But it appears the huge expansion didn't work out of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see the chain disappear in the near future...
I've never been in one of the conversion stores before. Only original build stores. I think they could get some dollars selling those back to Albertsons and the neighborhoods would be happier with a legitimate full service store again. The lack of major remodeling makes me think that may be the plan.

Kroger could acquire some of the stores and expand the Food 4 Less banner if they wanted to. That's basically what the Extra format, run by Hirz who used to run F4L is in my view. A ghetto style store with loud hip hop music, long lines, messy shelves, and not so great prices.

Their original plan to expand Henrys when they owned that made a lot more sense. Henrys was a well run operation and very successful (ran higher volumes than Sprouts and had more and better perishables). Of course they had to sell that good asset to an inferior buyer after losing their shirt on that failed expansion into Denver with what was ironically the same format as Extra is.
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