Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

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wnetmacman
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Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

Post by wnetmacman »

According to this article on supermarketnews.com:

Like bags of wet cement

The stores sold by A&P in its waning days as a going concern aren't holding up so well, sales-wise. Like a 15% loss in sales. Usually a new operator can invigorate a dying store, but the A&P stores were so bad that maybe they really can't be fixed, even by others.

Thoughts?
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Re: Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:According to this article on supermarketnews.com:

Like bags of wet cement

The stores sold by A&P in its waning days as a going concern aren't holding up so well, sales-wise. Like a 15% loss in sales. Usually a new operator can invigorate a dying store, but the A&P stores were so bad that maybe they really can't be fixed, even by others.

Thoughts?
They didn't specifically mention ACME in the article, which I would think based on the chatter here, be a prime candidate given its service and pricing issues. They were the ones that took the most operating stores. Personally, I would put the blame on being unable to get rid of garbage employees due to union rules, but that's just me.

The other "reason" is a contributing reason why they went out of business in the first place, just a saturation of food stores like Walmart, Costco, and drug stores cutting into a saturated market base. I think we can all talk about the decreasing number (let alone brands) of store brands that populated their home town.
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Re: Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

Post by veteran+ »

pseudo3d wrote:
wnetmacman wrote:According to this article on supermarketnews.com:

Like bags of wet cement

The stores sold by A&P in its waning days as a going concern aren't holding up so well, sales-wise. Like a 15% loss in sales. Usually a new operator can invigorate a dying store, but the A&P stores were so bad that maybe they really can't be fixed, even by others.

Thoughts?
They didn't specifically mention ACME in the article, which I would think based on the chatter here, be a prime candidate given its service and pricing issues. They were the ones that took the most operating stores. Personally, I would put the blame on being unable to get rid of garbage employees due to union rules, but that's just me.

The other "reason" is a contributing reason why they went out of business in the first place, just a saturation of food stores like Walmart, Costco, and drug stores cutting into a saturated market base. I think we can all talk about the decreasing number (let alone brands) of store brands that populated their home town.

WOW, "garbage employees due to union rules....."?

Pseudo, IMHO, THAT is crossing the line.

Sorry, but that is not cool to say.

:-(
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Re: Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

Post by pseudo3d »

veteran+ wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:
wnetmacman wrote:According to this article on supermarketnews.com:

Like bags of wet cement

The stores sold by A&P in its waning days as a going concern aren't holding up so well, sales-wise. Like a 15% loss in sales. Usually a new operator can invigorate a dying store, but the A&P stores were so bad that maybe they really can't be fixed, even by others.

Thoughts?
They didn't specifically mention ACME in the article, which I would think based on the chatter here, be a prime candidate given its service and pricing issues. They were the ones that took the most operating stores. Personally, I would put the blame on being unable to get rid of garbage employees due to union rules, but that's just me.

The other "reason" is a contributing reason why they went out of business in the first place, just a saturation of food stores like Walmart, Costco, and drug stores cutting into a saturated market base. I think we can all talk about the decreasing number (let alone brands) of store brands that populated their home town.

WOW, "garbage employees due to union rules....."?

Pseudo, IMHO, THAT is crossing the line.

Sorry, but that is not cool to say.

:-(
Nowhere did I imply that all unionized employees were bad, but I'm afraid that the union contracts are so tight that the "bad eggs" have to be explicitly breaking the rules to be let go (if this is incorrect, please tell me). Besides, I stated that was a personal opinion and speculation as to why the A&P stores have been doing poorly (hence, the disclaimer "...but that's just me"). It was a fact that the unions refused to let non-union companies buy the stores, though.
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Re: Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

Post by veteran+ »

pseudo3d wrote:
veteran+ wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:
They didn't specifically mention ACME in the article, which I would think based on the chatter here, be a prime candidate given its service and pricing issues. They were the ones that took the most operating stores. Personally, I would put the blame on being unable to get rid of garbage employees due to union rules, but that's just me.

The other "reason" is a contributing reason why they went out of business in the first place, just a saturation of food stores like Walmart, Costco, and drug stores cutting into a saturated market base. I think we can all talk about the decreasing number (let alone brands) of store brands that populated their home town.

WOW, "garbage employees due to union rules....."?

Pseudo, IMHO, THAT is crossing the line.

Sorry, but that is not cool to say.

:-(
Nowhere did I imply that all unionized employees were bad, but I'm afraid that the union contracts are so tight that the "bad eggs" have to be explicitly breaking the rules to be let go (if this is incorrect, please tell me). Besides, I stated that was a personal opinion and speculation as to why the A&P stores have been doing poorly (hence, the disclaimer "...but that's just me"). It was a fact that the unions refused to let non-union companies buy the stores, though.
I have managed stores that were union, non-union, unions with weak State Labor Commissioners and non-union with extremely weak State Labor Commissioners. In addition, HR and/or ER departments play huge parts in labor and management practices with or without unions and with weak or strong Labor Commissioners. Also consider the evolving changes between past and modern HR/ER departments.

Today, there is barely a difference in union or non-union employees through the perspective of "managers". I found managing non-union employees with an HR/ER department on steroids and profoundly fearful of litigation the MOST challenging in all aspects of managing and leading employees (hiring, developing, disciplining and most of all, termination).

I found myself wishing for the union shop and union steward days.
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Re: Former A&P stores acquired by others not doing well

Post by mbz321 »

pseudo3d wrote: They didn't specifically mention ACME in the article, which I would think based on the chatter here, be a prime candidate given its service and pricing issues. They were the ones that took the most operating stores.
Acme ditched Self-Checkouts and hasn't been living up to the promises of more staff on their front end. This has really frustrated a lot of shoppers, especially the acquired stores that are in more Urban areas where customers are likely to pop in for a few items here and there and not have a whole shopping cart full of food. Although pricing is always a concern, A&P and it's banners seemed to be priced way higher than Acme.
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