Kroger considering partnership with Ace Hardware

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Super S
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Kroger considering partnership with Ace Hardware

Post by Super S »

https://www.thestreet.com/story/1443165 ... rship.html

Stores where this has good potential would be Kroger's newer Marketplace stores as well as Fred Meyer. Not sure how well this would work in smaller locations, but a hardware section could work in a smaller town which has only one or two grocery stores. I have seen this concept in small towns with some independent grocers. The Hi-School Pharmacy chain had Ace or True Value Hardware departments at most of their stores before they sold most of them to Walgreens, and a handful of those which were not sold are still open today.

This could be a hint at what could be coming for Fred Meyer's general merchandise side, possibly opening the door to other partnerships.
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Re: Kroger considering partnership with Ace Hardware

Post by pseudo3d »

Super S wrote: December 29th, 2017, 9:24 am https://www.thestreet.com/story/1443165 ... rship.html

Stores where this has good potential would be Kroger's newer Marketplace stores as well as Fred Meyer. Not sure how well this would work in smaller locations, but a hardware section could work in a smaller town which has only one or two grocery stores. I have seen this concept in small towns with some independent grocers. The Hi-School Pharmacy chain had Ace or True Value Hardware departments at most of their stores before they sold most of them to Walgreens, and a handful of those which were not sold are still open today.

This could be a hint at what could be coming for Fred Meyer's general merchandise side, possibly opening the door to other partnerships.
Nice! They actually took my advice (Kroger reps--please PM me, I'd love to work in Cincinnati).

In all seriousness (though I really would love to get an interview with Kroger corporate), Kroger's line of products is comprehensive and profitable enough that they don't need to eliminate food departments. There's a reason the Ace departments take up space in smaller independent grocers, because of lower traffic and the need for higher margins, and Kroger doesn't have very many rural stores except in a few divisions, like City Market or JayC (as discussed in another thread). It definitely has potential in Marketplace and Fred Meyer, with the potential of a compromise between getting Fred Meyer out of the hardware business without eliminating the department entirely.

As an aside, I know that the Lawrence Bros./Cash Saver stores that United purchased eliminated the Ace Hardware departments when the stores were reset. I don't know if United (and by extension Albertsons) would have to renegotiate the Ace Hardware departments or if they made the choice to eliminate it to expand the food offerings.
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Re: Kroger considering partnership with Ace Hardware

Post by storewanderer »

This is the opposite of what is currently going on at Fred Meyer where they are cutting and hacking the heck out of the hardware/home departments.

It appears Kroger is having second thoughts on that and is now taking it a step more and looking for an outside partner to help them make the departments even more in depth than they were previously...

Kroger at least learns from its mistakes.

Lot of mistakes at Fred Meyer the past couple years.
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