Albertsons announces strategic review of company

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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: August 12th, 2022, 7:52 pm Maybe it's just me,but the ACI Atlantic seaboard operations may be lagging compared to those of ahold Delhaize, which could factor in antitrust reviews should they do merge.If they do merge, hopefully the post-merger ahold Delhaize USA headquarters would either be in Pleasanton or New England rather than Boise.

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Safeway East, Acme, and Shaw's are absolutely lagging behind the Ahold chains they compete against in their respective markets.

The location of the headquarters isn't as important as giving the right amount of local control to each region. The headquarters could be in Iceland if that headquarters was for administrative functions and very basic merchandising only and left a good chunk of the merchandising, marketing, and policy decisions down to the regional offices.

The problem is with history you have Safeway headquartered in Pleasanton- chain didn't make it; huge region sell offs in the 80's; then in the 00's pulled out of IL/PA outright, sold out of Canada, eventually sold out to Albertsons. Tried to run their entire chain like California and it flopped (probably wouldn't have flopped if they hadn't PRICED the entire chain like California...). Albertsons and Boise, same story, bad history there of Boise knows best and a huge flop as a result. But either location could work if the company figures out the right balance between local control vs. centralized control. Kroger had it right in the Dave Dillon days, they figured out the balance.
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote:
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: August 12th, 2022, 7:52 pm Maybe it's just me,but the ACI Atlantic seaboard operations may be lagging compared to those of ahold Delhaize, which could factor in antitrust reviews should they do merge.If they do merge, hopefully the post-merger ahold Delhaize USA headquarters would either be in Pleasanton or New England rather than Boise.

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Safeway East, Acme, and Shaw's are absolutely lagging behind the Ahold chains they compete against in their respective markets.

The location of the headquarters isn't as important as giving the right amount of local control to each region. The headquarters could be in Iceland if that headquarters was for administrative functions and very basic merchandising only and left a good chunk of the merchandising, marketing, and policy decisions down to the regional offices.

The problem is with history you have Safeway headquartered in Pleasanton- chain didn't make it; huge region sell offs in the 80's; then in the 00's pulled out of IL/PA outright, sold out of Canada, eventually sold out to Albertsons. Tried to run their entire chain like California and it flopped (probably wouldn't have flopped if they hadn't PRICED the entire chain like California...). Albertsons and Boise, same story, bad history there of Boise knows best and a huge flop as a result. But either location could work if the company figures out the right balance between local control vs. centralized control. Kroger had it right in the Dave Dillon days, they figured out the balance.
I believe Safeway was long headquartered in Oakland dating back to the early days.I believe the HQ move to Pleasanton was sometime in the 1990's after the mid-1980's retrenchment after the leveraged buyout to fend off a corporate raider.The shutdown of Genuardi's and Dominick's occurred early in the 2010's and set the stage for the merger with Albertsons.

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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by Alpha8472 »

Safeway moved from Oakland in the early 90s. My Aunt worked in the accounting department and her department moved to an office in San Leandro in the early 90s. Then a few years later her department moved to a Safeway office in Walnut Creek, California. She retired and I am not sure when the department later moved to Pleasanton. Oakland was expensive to do business in. Pleasanton was in the suburbs and was cheaper for while. Pleasanton was closer to the rich mansions of many Safeway executives.
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by SamSpade »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 13th, 2022, 8:36 pm My Aunt worked in the accounting department and her department moved to an office in San Leandro in the early 90s. Then a few years later her department moved to a Safeway office in Walnut Creek, California. She retired and I am not sure when the department later moved to Pleasanton.
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The company I work for has media properties in both those east bay suburbs! :lol:
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: August 12th, 2022, 10:12 pm
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: August 12th, 2022, 7:52 pm Maybe it's just me,but the ACI Atlantic seaboard operations may be lagging compared to those of ahold Delhaize, which could factor in antitrust reviews should they do merge.If they do merge, hopefully the post-merger ahold Delhaize USA headquarters would either be in Pleasanton or New England rather than Boise.

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Safeway East, Acme, and Shaw's are absolutely lagging behind the Ahold chains they compete against in their respective markets.

The location of the headquarters isn't as important as giving the right amount of local control to each region. The headquarters could be in Iceland if that headquarters was for administrative functions and very basic merchandising only and left a good chunk of the merchandising, marketing, and policy decisions down to the regional offices.

The problem is with history you have Safeway headquartered in Pleasanton- chain didn't make it; huge region sell offs in the 80's; then in the 00's pulled out of IL/PA outright, sold out of Canada, eventually sold out to Albertsons. Tried to run their entire chain like California and it flopped (probably wouldn't have flopped if they hadn't PRICED the entire chain like California...). Albertsons and Boise, same story, bad history there of Boise knows best and a huge flop as a result. But either location could work if the company figures out the right balance between local control vs. centralized control. Kroger had it right in the Dave Dillon days, they figured out the balance.
Albertsons historically seems to run the Boise area stores better than the rest of the chain. They don't always understand other markets, and that already blurred line has become even more blurred in places like Oregon and Washington where you have Albertsons, Safeway, and the few remaining Haggen locations operating in the same markets.

Boise isn't necessarily bad for grocers though. Keep in mind WinCo is also headquartered there. WinCo actually seems to run a more consistent operation across regions.
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: August 14th, 2022, 8:43 am

Albertsons historically seems to run the Boise area stores better than the rest of the chain. They don't always understand other markets, and that already blurred line has become even more blurred in places like Oregon and Washington where you have Albertsons, Safeway, and the few remaining Haggen locations operating in the same markets.

Boise isn't necessarily bad for grocers though. Keep in mind WinCo is also headquartered there. WinCo actually seems to run a more consistent operation across regions.
Over the years a lot of negative points came up about having the headquarters in Boise. There isn't much of a vendor presence there, to get vendors there who have to fly on the airlines almost always meant a connecting flight (not a non-stop), and historically the market didn't have much grocery competition so it seems the eyes of the management who spent most of their time in Boise saw one thing when they looked at/shopped at their stores, but what was happening in reality in other places was much different (the chain was getting kicked). Boise was a small store count and in no way indicative of the rest of the chain or enough stores to carry so many other struggling regions. Safeway and its headquarters location seemed to create a similar sort of blurred vision but the difference there was generally the Safeway operations in the entire state of California were doing just fine and that was hundreds of strong stores to offset what was a smaller number of stores in weak markets.

You would think with WinCo headquartered in Boise and now Albertsons again a largeish headquarters operation there that it would solidify Boise as a grocery city. WinCo is a lot larger and doing a lot more functions than it was 20 years ago and will continue to grow consistently in the coming years like clockwork.
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by SamSpade »

storewanderer wrote: August 14th, 2022, 11:08 am Over the years a lot of negative points came up about having the headquarters in Boise. There isn't much of a vendor presence there, to get vendors there who have to fly on the airlines almost always meant a connecting flight (not a non-stop), and historically the market didn't have much grocery competition so it seems the eyes of the management who spent most of their time in Boise saw one thing when they looked at/shopped at their stores, but what was happening in reality in other places was much different (the chain was getting kicked). Boise was a small store count and in no way indicative of the rest of the chain or enough stores to carry so many other struggling regions. Safeway and its headquarters location seemed to create a similar sort of blurred vision but the difference there was generally the Safeway operations in the entire state of California were doing just fine and that was hundreds of strong stores to offset what was a smaller number of stores in weak markets.

You would think with WinCo headquartered in Boise and now Albertsons again a largeish headquarters operation there that it would solidify Boise as a grocery city. WinCo is a lot larger and doing a lot more functions than it was 20 years ago and will continue to grow consistently in the coming years like clockwork.
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Thankfully there are now more one-hop or one connection flights to/from the Treasure Valley than ever before (maybe?). Also, I would think some could plan a visit to also see Ore-Ida, Lamb Weston, Simplot or the Magic Valley's growing dairy region (ie. Chobani or Lactalis).
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: August 14th, 2022, 3:48 pm
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Thankfully there are now more one-hop or one connection flights to/from the Treasure Valley than ever before (maybe?). Also, I would think some could plan a visit to also see Ore-Ida, Lamb Weston, Simplot or the Magic Valley's growing dairy region (ie. Chobani or Lactalis).
I think so but many are on secondary airlines that are not widely used by business travelers. The RNO-BOI is back on some airline I've never heard of before called Aha. I was recently talking to someone who sometimes has to go to BOI who works for a large publicly traded corporation and their travel portal does not even give Aha as an option to book a flight on. This is after the RNO-BOI was unfortunately cut from Southwest long ago, then cut from Alaska's small Horizon planes due to low occupancy (before COVID).
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: August 14th, 2022, 11:08 am

Over the years a lot of negative points came up about having the headquarters in Boise. There isn't much of a vendor presence there, to get vendors there who have to fly on the airlines almost always meant a connecting flight (not a non-stop), and historically the market didn't have much grocery competition so it seems the eyes of the management who spent most of their time in Boise saw one thing when they looked at/shopped at their stores, but what was happening in reality in other places was much different (the chain was getting kicked). Boise was a small store count and in no way indicative of the rest of the chain or enough stores to carry so many other struggling regions.
A more strategic place for Albertsons headquarters would've been Portland or Salt Lake City in retrospect, as those cities are larger and close enough to Albertsons home territory (Albertsons also had good market share and an established presence in those places).
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Re: Albertsons announces strategic review of company

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote:
storewanderer wrote: August 14th, 2022, 11:08 am

Over the years a lot of negative points came up about having the headquarters in Boise. There isn't much of a vendor presence there, to get vendors there who have to fly on the airlines almost always meant a connecting flight (not a non-stop), and historically the market didn't have much grocery competition so it seems the eyes of the management who spent most of their time in Boise saw one thing when they looked at/shopped at their stores, but what was happening in reality in other places was much different (the chain was getting kicked). Boise was a small store count and in no way indicative of the rest of the chain or enough stores to carry so many other struggling regions.
A more strategic place for Albertsons headquarters would've been Portland or Salt Lake City in retrospect, as those cities are larger and close enough to Albertsons home territory (Albertsons also had good market share and an established presence in those places).
Portland maybe but don't know about SLC: Safeway left Utah in the great retrenchment of the mid-1980's while Albertsons did likewise 10-15 years ago.Utah nowadays is dominated by Smith's and various independents supplied by Associated.

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