Ukrop's Rebranded To Martin's

[Alpha8472]

http://supermarketnews.com/news/ahold_ukrops_0603/

Ukrop's has been rebranded to Martin's and sales are up. The stores are now open on Sundays and sell alcohol. Sundays are one of the busiest days of the week for a supermarket. I can see why the sales are up.

[krogerclerk]

The rebranding was supposed to be finished by May 17. The ukrops website now says it's being redesigned for Ukrop's Fresh Foods and has a link to Giant/Martins. Initial reports of strong store sales are good. Adding a seventh day of sales alone should have boosted comparable sales, and the addition of alcohol and other products should also add sales. As to whether new customers gained exceeds old customers lost, no reports are available, but I assume they would balance out.

Long time Richmond residents bemoan the loss of a local icon, but most concede better pricing and more variety was needed. I expect customer service to slowly decline as the Ukrop's culture disappears over time, and fresh quality should be reasonable is slighty lower than at Ukrop's.

I think Kroger, which is a similar operation to Martin's/Giant-PA will suffer the most from the Martin's operating Ukrop's. A lot of Kroger business was due to lack of Sunday openings at Ukrops and no beer or wine being sold, Kroger supplemented Ukrops. Kroger barely has a decade of continuous operation in the Richmond region, so long time loyalties haven't been built among Richmonders. Martin's and Food Lion's considerably larger store count should also put Kroger at a disadvantage.

[maynesg]

HI Yes you are correct. Its is themost expensive day of the week payroll wise for union shops.
Most full timers and somepartimers get time and a half for working this day( Heck there are some senior clerks who recieve time and half on Saturday evenings after 6)
The trade opended this pandora!s box thirty years ago and have been trying to make itpart of the work week.Originaly allof the help was paid double time and a half andthe storeswereonly opened to 3 PM.
I can remember closing at 6pm on Saturday and not returning till 7AM ,Monday. If you neede
some meat on Sunday you went to what was known as a Superete, a mini Supermarket , independently owned and paid a premium for your purchase. Their big day was Sun days and holidays.
The unionized workers and the Store Manager enjoyed a second day home tolive like a human being.
When you get rigth down to it, Grocers didn!t pich up that much in total volume.All they did was flaten Thursday. and Friday evenings and Saturdays business.

[krogerclerk]

Sunday wage costs aren't going to be a big issue for Martin's, being non-union, no more than they are for Food Lion or Walmart. Kroger is a late arrival to Richmond, buying the Hannaford stores in 2000. Kroger began eliminating Sunday OT in the late 80's, so the only way the Richmond stores would have a long tenured employee would be if they accepted transfers from the Roanoke region where Kroger has operated since the 1930's. A&P and Safeway had departed before Kroger arrived in Richmond, and Colonial/Big Star even earlier, so union scale wages are a rarity in Richmond these days in the grocery industry.

Ukrops was non-union and closed on Sunday's right up until the sale to Giant-PA/Martin's, so Sunday wage cost was a non-issue. Since Ukrop's didn't sale alcohol and was closed on Sunday, while their competitors were open and selling alcohol, those sales were likely lost to Kroger, Walmart, Food Lion and convenience stores.

[maynesg]

yes ,that figures
Not tl iive in the past but before stores were open on Sunday. You didthe same amount of volume in a six day day week as you wound up doing in a seven day week.Regardlessof what wage you pay on sunday yourlabor costs,your electricity costs simply go up.
Soimply put if all the retailers in a given market were to close on sunday( yes I know that it aint going to happen) your costs are goingtogodown your Thursday, Friday. and Saturday sales are going to go up thus making your business more eficent and more profitable. That was my point!