Retail Watchers

It sounds like long checkout waits were part of the complaint:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a- ... 7519e7e71b

How ironic that the "Soviet Safeway" is being hindered because of capitalism....

I'd be a bit more empathetic to "the cause" if a local liquor store was not part of the campaign. In regards to the long lines, there's a simple way to solve the problem: shop elsewhere.

Part of the problem is people who grew up in suburbs are moving to cities and they expect the infrastructure from the suburbs to follow them. It would be interesting to see what these people would do were Safeway to propose expanding the store. I can only imagine the furor over increased traffic, a bigger store footprint, and on and on.

EDIT: I just looked at the pictures contained in the Yelp reviews. The store is teeny-tiny. No wonder they run out of things and the lines are long. It is the size of a CVS.

Shopping elsewhere is not always an option, especially in 'food deserts'. Lack of inventory and long lines are the result of poor management decisions.

I live nearby. Clearly no one else does. Safeway wants to sell beer and wine. The liquor store across the street doesn't want them to do so. The Safeway has an ongoing remodel--they've greatly expanded the produce selection. The store became known as the "Soviet Safeway" in the days when it had no competition. Now there is a Trader Joe's a few blocks away and and a Whole Foods. Safeway is trying to make the store more competitive. It's small, it;s selection is limited (because it's small). DCers whine a lot. The store has come to an agreement with the neighborhood. They get to keep a chain grocery. Safeway gets to sell beer and wine. Not much really going on here.

Albertsons is a huge company with many resources. How much effort does it take to hire a few more cashiers to help the lines?

Think about all of the sales lost due to customers walking out because the lines are so long. Albertsons is wondering why their sales are down.

You need to invest money to make money. They need more employees to restock the shelves and staff the registers.

If Albertsons wants to drive away customers they are doing exactly that. The only way it could get worse is if they hired people to beat and drag customers out of the stores.

buckguy wrote: ↑September 30th, 2017, 4:51 pm I live nearby. Clearly no one else does. Safeway wants to sell beer and wine. The liquor store across the street doesn't want them to do so. The Safeway has an ongoing remodel--they've greatly expanded the produce selection. The store became known as the "Soviet Safeway" in the days when it had no competition. Now there is a Trader Joe's a few blocks away and and a Whole Foods. Safeway is trying to make the store more competitive. It's small, it;s selection is limited (because it's small). DCers whine a lot. The store has come to an agreement with the neighborhood. They get to keep a chain grocery. Safeway gets to sell beer and wine. Not much really going on here.

Insightful, thanks. Funny how the press spins a different reality.