Super Saver Utah

[flyinpenguin]

Supervalu didn't seem to know what they were doing. They took on too much debt in buying Albertsons and sold off whatever they thought was expendable and not worth keeping. I'd heard the Albertsons that were sold to Associated were originally offered to Harmon's but they didn't want all of them. Associated ended up taking all of them, which was interesting because Associated retail was headed by a former Albertsons exec of like 20 years. They also took all those stores during the recession, which had it gone further south could have killed the whole company. The original plan was to sell them to individual owners within 2 years. Ridley's took Orem, which they are trying to sublease and get out of (still open) and in Riverton, Peterson's moved across the street and took Fresh Market. Draper is becoming https://honeybeeproducecompany.com/ an Associated concept that opens September 13th. If successful I've heard there could be 5 to 6 of them.

Smiths signed an intent to build a marketplace store in Bluffdale almost 2 years ago and it's been delayed at least another 2. Why is Kroger so concerned about food deflation and halves expansion when everyone else is expanding?

[storewanderer]

I don't think Harmon's would have been a great fit for most of those former Utah Albertsons. A few, yes... but not most.

Wasn't Orem sold to an alternate operator due to Associated already having too many stores of its own there? I thought that was also the situation for a store in Taylorsville, a couple in South Jordan, and Tooele. Supervalu was supposed to close all of those if they were not sold. But Tooele ended up staying open. Why is Ridley's trying to get out of Orem? Do they have a history of exiting markets? It seems like they have been expanding pretty heavily.

I ask the same question you do about Kroger. They have been acting very weird this year. Cutting a ton of non food from that Fred Meyer in South Medford, OR for me was the worst thing. They also "delayed" a lot of remodeling projects this year. But Kroger did decide to do some sudden remodeling on a store here that has a Sprouts opening across the street in 3 weeks. They did a total reset of the dry goods in July and I notice they have a building permit that was just filed last week to do some kind of $300k "remodel" to this store. Seems to be a completely reactionary move to Sprouts opening and not timed well. Sprouts has been building since like November. The remodel should have been done before Sprouts opens.

[pseudo3d]

I don't think Harmon's would have been a great fit for most of those former Utah Albertsons. A few, yes... but not most.

Wasn't Orem sold to an alternate operator due to Associated already having too many stores of its own there? I thought that was also the situation for a store in Taylorsville, a couple in South Jordan, and Tooele. Supervalu was supposed to close all of those if they were not sold. But Tooele ended up staying open. Why is Ridley's trying to get out of Orem? Do they have a history of exiting markets? It seems like they have been expanding pretty heavily.

I ask the same question you do about Kroger. They have been acting very weird this year. Cutting a ton of non food from that Fred Meyer in South Medford, OR for me was the worst thing. They also "delayed" a lot of remodeling projects this year. But Kroger did decide to do some sudden remodeling on a store here that has a Sprouts opening across the street in 3 weeks. They did a total reset of the dry goods in July and I notice they have a building permit that was just filed last week to do some kind of $300k "remodel" to this store. Seems to be a completely reactionary move to Sprouts opening and not timed well. Sprouts has been building since like November. The remodel should have been done before Sprouts opens.

I don't know what's with Kroger either. They're a public company so they have to report if anything has been going wrong financially, but their must be goings-on in divisions or perhaps corporate. The lines also have seemed longer at the local Kroger this year, I do wonder if it means anything.

[storewanderer]

I have not noticed any issues with lines at Smiths, Fred Meyer, Dillons, or QFC Stores I've visited this year. This is one of the things Kroger really has a handle on. There are just never more than 1-2 in line and they rapidly open up additional registers once you start seeing 2 people in multiple lines. FoodsCo in northern California has pretty major problems with lines and it is all over the reviews online for some of the stores like Oakland and Richmond.

I think a few too many very good people have retired from Kroger. A lot of division presidents have retired over the past few years. I think it is hurting. To make matters worse, this year, early in the year, they implemented voluntary early retirement program for division level and corporate level. So basically buyers, etc. on up. I think the "voluntary early retirement program" they implemented earlier this year pushed more very good people out, likely more at some divisions than others, and when this many experienced people leave it is not really a great thing.

[flyinpenguin]

Taylorsville Fresh Market is a dump. My understanding is they don't have a back stock room so everything is out on the floor. Associated hasn't touched this store since taking over. Not sure what they'll end up doing with it. West Jordan Albertsons was closed when the buyout occured, I've heard due to anti-trust issues. Macey's in same city was dominant and Associated couldn't keep Albertsons open (7000 South Redwood) still vacant. Same with Tooele, but they kept that open.

[storewanderer]

There was another store in Taylorsville that was not sold to Associated and Supervalu kept open for a few months after the transaction. That particular store was rejected right at the end of the deal due to its condition. It was probably an early 80's Albertsons with a couple remodels over the years.

You are correct there were two stores in West Jordan, the two in Orem, and Tooele that were excluded from the transaction due to anti-trust concerns. Rather than try to run things through the FTC, I believe those stores were simply excluded from the transaction and ultimately closed by Supervalu.