Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

pseudo3d wrote:7660 El Camino Real? Thought Smart & Final bid on it. Guess Gelson's won.
No. This store was part of the original 'Stalking Horse' bid package. I do think Smart & Final is getting the other Carlsbad store, though, on Carlsbad Village Drive.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by SamSpade »

CalItalian wrote:Gelson's Carlsbad (video) http://www.cbs8.com/story/31255809/gels ... unty-store
Just shows what Haggen could have /should have done to try to drive up some more interest, but were so "rushed" so they never did.
My understanding is that these style of TV segments are paid for, but it's hard to tell sometimes.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

SamSpade wrote:My understanding is that these style of TV segments are paid for, but it's hard to tell sometimes.
Probably not paid but definitely arranged up by Gelson's public relations department.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

The second Yelp review for the store in Carlsbad read:

"Too pricey for me!!"

I've never seen Gelson's reply to a Yelp review before but this was their reply:

"Comment from Annie G. of Gelson's Market - Business Owner - 2/19/2016 • Hi Lee, we are pleased you find our prices competitive. Please check our advertised specials in our Newsletter for great deals and sign up for our savings mailer. Have a wonderful day!

Oops. Fail lol.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote:The second Yelp review for the store in Carlsbad read:

"Too pricey for me!!"

I've never seen Gelson's reply to a Yelp review before but this was their reply:

"Comment from Annie G. of Gelson's Market - Business Owner - 2/19/2016 • Hi Lee, we are pleased you find our prices competitive. Please check our advertised specials in our Newsletter for great deals and sign up for our savings mailer. Have a wonderful day!

Oops. Fail lol.
Or the Gelson's rep is trolling this Yelper for a laugh.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

Gelson's opened the 4th of eight former Haggen locations yesterday in Santa Monica. I had to go to LAX anyways so stopped by the store at around 5 pm.

Needless to say the store was packed. There was a very positive vibe from customers and employees so hopefully this store will do well. They really cleaned it up but left a lot of the original fixtures. For instance the flooring has the light colored wood in frozen foods from the Fresh & Premium remodel, the dark wood floors in produce from the LLC remodel and the medium-dark wood floors around the checkstands that Haggen had installed (but Gelson's did add new clerk-unload checkstands as they do in all stores). The rest of the flooring was generic white tile form the Fresh & Premium remodel. The lighting is mostly exposed fluorescents that date back to when this store was a Lucky.

The walls were painted an off white and accent lighting was added all the way around the perimeter . They are using temporary vinyl department signage until the full remodel is completed later this year which didn't look as bad as it sounds. They have artist renderings of what the store will look like after the remodel which will include new lighting, flooring, and of course the graphic package. They will be adding a Wine & Craft Beer Bar and Raw Seafood Bar plus a larger gourmet cheese section during the full remodel.

The product mix was basically the same as existing Gelson's. Because the store is larger than their older stores they added more facings of their existing products and went deeper into the offerings of popular brands. For instance a certain granola bar would have one facing in a regular Gelson's and have two or three in this one. And instead of carrying three or four flavors of that granola bar they are carry six or seven. This appears to be a temporary situation until the new departments are added which will take square footage from grocery.

The perishable departments all looked very nice. They completely remodeled the Service Deli and added a full kitchen. They had full salad, hot food, chili and soup bars as well. Bakery looked nice and surprisingly kept Haggen's unusual bagel display. The meat department was amazing both in Self Server and Full Service. The first item you notice in Service Meat is Kobe beef steaks at $49.99 a pound lol. They really wanted to send a message about what type of store they are with that.

http://smdp.com/gelsons-opens-to-the-public/154198
http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/F ... sles/45211

The next store to open will be a former Pavilions/Haggen in Ladera Ranch on March 31st.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by submariner »

Gelson's is going to face the same image problems as Haggen. Many people are going to think a store that replaces their old Albertsons or Vons will have the same prices. Haggen and Gelson's just aren't that... they are more upscale, and generally will command a higher price. Unfortunately for Haggen, their expansion ambitions ultimately killed them. Gelson's is taking a more modest approach, allowing shoppers to acclimate to their experience easier.

Oh, and let's face it, for every complaint, there's at least 100 satisfied people who don't write reviews.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

submariner wrote:Gelson's is going to face the same image problems as Haggen. Many people are going to think a store that replaces their old Albertsons or Vons will have the same prices. Haggen and Gelson's just aren't that... they are more upscale, and generally will command a higher price. Unfortunately for Haggen, their expansion ambitions ultimately killed them. Gelson's is taking a more modest approach, allowing shoppers to acclimate to their experience easier.

Oh, and let's face it, for every complaint, there's at least 100 satisfied people who don't write reviews.
I think one of the big differences between Haggen and Gelson's is that Gelson's can deliver the product quality and service that Haggen couldn't in the upscale arena. The Gelson's brand is also more familiar to consumers in LA and Orange County.

It seems like they went out of their way yesterday to make it as obvious as possible that they are not competing for the price sensitive consumer. Most of the negative reviews are always about their prices. The positive reviews are about their selection, product quality and service standards. Those are the customers they are targeting. The ones complaining don't get that they're not the target audience, anyways.

Gelson's gross margins have historically averaged between 38%-43% which are unheard of in the supermarket industry. So they don't necessarily need real high volume stores, yet their average weekly sales are around $700,000 a week so they seem to have found a formula that works for them. The real challenge is can they add 9 stores in one year, going from 18 to 27 stores (a growth rate of 60%) and hold it all together? That amount of growth is nothing compared to what Haggen tried to do but is still a lot to take on in one year.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

Hundreds line up for Gelson's Santa Monica grand opening
http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/F ... sles/45211
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