New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

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New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by storewanderer »

http://www.chronline.com/crime/fred-mey ... da32b.html

Nice to see our every 4 years new Fred Meyer... and entering a new market at that. Even better. Maybe they could live it up a little and try to build a couple new stores every year... lack of growth is perplexing.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by Super S »

I am a bit surprised it took so long for Fred Meyer to build a store in Centralia or Chehalis. Especially since Fred Meyer already has a distribution center in Chehalis, and at one time operated the grocery department at Yard Birds.

I had heard that Fred Meyer at one point was trying to acquire the Yard Birds property but backed off after finding out about that sites flooding history.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by babs »

Fred Meyer doesn't build many new stores for several reasons. One, Kroger figures there are better opportunities elsewhere. Keep in mind that Kroger Marketplaces are essentially Fred Meyer stores without much apparel. Two, due to the large size of the stores and all the land use laws in the NW, siting a Fred Meyer often times is a nightmare. They tried to put one in SE Portland and failed. They twice tried in the Progress Ridge area and failed. After awhile you give up. They also feel that they have such a strong market position in the NW that they don't need many more stores. I don't think that's the case at all but go figure.

What surprised me is that they didn't buy up the old Haggen/Albertson's locations in the Portland area. They would have been perfect as either a grocery only Fred Meyer or as a QFC. West Linn, Lake Grove, Murrayhill, King City, and Hall Blvd are all located in areas where the nearest Fred Meyer or QFC is pretty far away.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by Super S »

QFC I don't think has done particularly well in the Portland market. There isn't as much advertising as in the Seattle area. Although Kroger now owns them, Fred Meyer is in many ways Portland's "homegrown" brand and Kroger realizes that. Too many formats with the same name probably isn't the best idea.

A Fred Meyer store that is grocery only could be a good competitor for the Walmart Neighborhood Markets popping up though.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by Super S »

Haven't heard much talk about this since the announcement. I think Fred Meyer would do very well in the area, especially with the loss of Kmart and Sears in Chehalis in the past year. The area also doesn't have a lot of grocery options with the loss of the Yard Birds Shop 'N Kart (which ironically was once operated by Fred Meyer)Basically you have Grocery Outlet, two Safeways, and Fullers (owned by the same people that ran Shop 'N Kart) as well as Walmart. Fred Meyer also has a distribution center in Chehalis. There are a few small IGA stores in surrounding towns such as Toledo, Winlock, and Rochester.

The area's flooding history could be a factor, but that hasn't kept others from building....
Last edited by Super S on December 22nd, 2018, 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by Super S »

Looks like Fred Meyer has walked away:

http://www.chronline.com/news/fred-meye ... c13ea.html

The article talks about a lengthy permitting process, and mentions the area's flooding history. I wonder if they could make the old Kmart site work, but it just seems too small. The Yard Birds site has potential...
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by marshd1000 »

From what I can tell, there could also be the possibility of using the Lewis County Mall site for a small Fred Meyer. I think there is a theatre there currently. But it is too bad that there is no Fred Meyer in Lewis County. It would make sense given the distribution center and prior history. I do wonder if it would make sense to build a Gig Harbor style Fred Meyer that is mostly food and drug but not a full Freddy’s? This is the only gap that Kroger has on the I-5 corridor in Washington State.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by Super S »

marshd1000 wrote: December 22nd, 2018, 9:05 pm From what I can tell, there could also be the possibility of using the Lewis County Mall site for a small Fred Meyer. I think there is a theatre there currently. But it is too bad that there is no Fred Meyer in Lewis County. It would make sense given the distribution center and prior history. I do wonder if it would make sense to build a Gig Harbor style Fred Meyer that is mostly food and drug but not a full Freddy’s? This is the only gap that Kroger has on the I-5 corridor in Washington State.
The Lewis County Mall seems to be evolving into an office facility. While there is a theatre there (in the area once occupied by RIte Aid), the rest of the mall has virtually no retail since Sears closed and is more of an office building now. I am not so sure that Fred Meyer would be able to locate there.

Yard Birds is an aging facility, but has a big enough chunk of land to support a Fred Meyer type of development, and has good visibility, and it offers space to support a variety of layouts. But it makes more sense to rebuild there instead of renovating.

Fred Meyer is in an interesting position as it is scaling back some departments in favor of expanding food, which may not require as large of a store, but I think a more traditional Fred Meyer store would work better in Lewis County.
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by storewanderer »

This is frustrating as they open so few new stores...

I seem to recall they had another site up near the border that also fell through after a couple years of "negotiations."
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Re: New Fred Meyer planned in Centralia, WA

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: December 23rd, 2018, 11:07 pm This is frustrating as they open so few new stores...

I seem to recall they had another site up near the border that also fell through after a couple years of "negotiations."
It's not just Fred Meyer. Kelso was at one point poised to get a new development near exit 36 with several new stores, reportedly a Costco and Kohl's were two of the major stores. Traffic signals were actually installed (but never turned on, and the signal heads have since been removed but the poles remain) in preparation for the new development along with a road extension, but the lengthy permitting process killed the project. The land has been vacant for years.
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