2018 Northern California Market Share

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CalItalian
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2018 Northern California Market Share

Post by CalItalian »

Wish story was a little more specific per metro area.
https://www.produceretailer.com/article ... thers-step
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Re: 2018 Northern California Market Share

Post by J-Man »

From the article: "Aldi has seen some growth in Northern California but Spezzano said it has not scaled up as fast as earlier projections. That could be related to slower than expected traffic or perhaps real estate issues."

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, Aldi has no stores in northern California.
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Re: 2018 Northern California Market Share

Post by storewanderer »

I too was wondering where those NorCal Aldi Stores are... I'd like to take a drive this weekend and go see them. Does anybody know where exactly they are?

This report also is somewhat confusing because Super Store Industries is shared distribution for Raleys and Save Mart... but then both are listed separately as well since both also have separate warehouses for some items they both self distribute outside SSI. So really you need to parcel out SSI between Raleys and Save Mart to get accurate figures. I think Save Mart orders through SSI than Raleys does so I estimate their share is actually closer to 20%.

I also have no clue where the 346 stores served by C&S in NorCal are. They have Nugget, Holiday/Sav-Mor, FoodsCo, the remaining F4L franchises (not sure they have more than about 60 stores between them)...

Also I do not think Safeway has 247 stores in NorCal/Nevada. Maybe 247 stores if you include Hawaii...

I do agree with the part about Sprouts being ripe for more growth in NorCal.
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Re: 2018 Northern California Market Share

Post by Bagels »

It’s a typo; the second half of the article was meant to discuss potential growth, and was implying that Aldi is likely struggling in Southern California so don’t expect them in Northern.

I frequent the Aldi in Laguna Woods and tend to agree with the author — while it’s just one store and I don’t have any hard data, basics like eggs, milk and bananas are obviously being sold at heavy losses, and Aldi isn’t known for selling loss leaders. (For example, eggs are typically .49 - .99, vs. 2.49-3.49 elsewhere.). Additionally, crowds are light (it seems like the Ralph’s a couple miles up the road has more people in it at any given time than Aldi’s does all week) and perishables are frequently marked down - sometimes by a lot.

Looks like they’re moving onto the Phoenix market now.
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Re: 2018 Northern California Market Share

Post by storewanderer »

I think between the higher operating costs and difficult barriers to entry, Aldi will be a hard sell in California.

As I think about it, I start to understand why they may not do so well in California. Things like limited hours of operation, limited mix... basically they are like a stripped down Fresh & Easy with lower prices. Why would that work? The California customer is used to overpaying for their groceries and has been since 1999 due to Albertsons throwing the first pitch and increasing prices at those former Lucky Stores combined by the increasing dominance of the disgustingly overpriced Safeway chains, and other national operators in the state play right into it with higher prices in California than in surrounding states. Wal Mart has never been able to get the dominance in California they have in other states to push down prices at the other competition.

Aldi may fare better in places like Palmdale or in the central valley or in rural NorCal (Redding and some of those secondary markets) but I am not even sure it will do all that well in those places. They also will need to do something to their mix so it appeals better to hispanic items (it isn't just the hispanics buying and cooking with those items in California).

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been into an Aldi. I am about as cheap as they get, but the stores have been unappealing to me as a tourist for purchases of basic fruits, snacks, and such. Maybe if I had one in my hometown to gather foods to actually cook at home, I'd have a different opinion.
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