Stop & Shop closures

[BillyGr]

Haven't checked outside of NJ, but the thing about the NJ stores is that so few of them had pharmacies to begin with.
57 stores in NJ
34 have pharmacies, 23 don't
8 had pharmacies that closed
15 never had pharmacies

Quite a few of the NJ stores were acquired from Grand Union or Norkus Foodtown down the shore, and those rarely had pharmacies -- I don't think Norkus operated any. I have more or less confirmed that there were 8 stores with pharmacies that lost their pharmacies but are still open, but there might be a few more.

Make sense that many GU locations didn't have pharmacies, particularly those older/smaller locations that they were still operating when Stop & Shop took over (many of which they either expanded or replaced, but not sure if they added such pharmacy components at that time or not).

[mjhale]

Bi-Lo was dire. No other word for that chain.

Also someone mentioned up thread somewhere about pharmacies being closed in Stop & Shop Stores in some cases. What is that all about. Does Ahold have a tract record of random pharmacy closures too?

Albertsons/Safeway have ZERO tract record of pharmacy closures. I don't think they've ever closed a pharmacy (unless they close a store). Kroger has almost zero tract record of pharmacy closures- at some point a number of years ago the small number of pharmacies in the F4L/FoodsCo group were closed.

I'm not aware of any Giant-MD pharmacy closing without the store itself closing. All of the new and relocated stores Giant-MD has built near me have pharmacies in them.

[buckguy]

Bi-Lo was dire. No other word for that chain.

Also someone mentioned up thread somewhere about pharmacies being closed in Stop & Shop Stores in some cases. What is that all about. Does Ahold have a tract record of random pharmacy closures too?

Albertsons/Safeway have ZERO tract record of pharmacy closures. I don't think they've ever closed a pharmacy (unless they close a store). Kroger has almost zero tract record of pharmacy closures- at some point a number of years ago the small number of pharmacies in the F4L/FoodsCo group were closed.

I'm not aware of any Giant-MD pharmacy closing without the store itself closing. All of the new and relocated stores Giant-MD has built near me have pharmacies in them.

Giant-MD is the only super market chain in the DC area that has ever had much in the way of pharmacy market share. The Safeway and H-T pharmacies literally never have customers. The only stores I can remember without a pharmacy in the store or nearby were the Glover Park store (c. 1956, 16K sf and on the list for replacement for years) and 14th & Park Rd (a cheesegrater-front store that went up after the '68 riots) and those were replaced some time ago.

[pseudo3d]

Could they just rebrand some of these to Giant-PA format?

Stop & Shop is very weak. Market Basket has been kicking them around for years. What I find strange is Hannaford seems to have smaller stores but seems run better and is more effective. I am not sure what the issue with Stop & Shop is, but it has not been run properly for quite some time and Ahold has not fixed that issue despite appearing to have two strong/well positioned Giant chains that know what they are doing with similar size stores...

It looks to me like Shop & Shop is getting Bi-Loed. This feels like how Ahold handled Bi-Lo in the end.

Is Strategy B that they need Stop & Shop out of the way to avoid divest/overlap issues with Albertsons if they are to swoop in and replace Kroger as a buyer? If that is the case how does DC Safeway/Acme get addressed? Kroger buys Acme (bad idea) and DC Safeway sold to C&S perhaps? Just throwing wild ideas out there.

I would think that ACME/DC Safeway ("Mid-Atlantic") Division would both be sold as a package deal. But I think if Ahold Delhaize didn't bite in 2022, they aren't interested now.

[storewanderer]

Bi-Lo was dire. No other word for that chain.

Also someone mentioned up thread somewhere about pharmacies being closed in Stop & Shop Stores in some cases. What is that all about. Does Ahold have a tract record of random pharmacy closures too?

Albertsons/Safeway have ZERO tract record of pharmacy closures. I don't think they've ever closed a pharmacy (unless they close a store). Kroger has almost zero tract record of pharmacy closures- at some point a number of years ago the small number of pharmacies in the F4L/FoodsCo group were closed.

I'm not aware of any Giant-MD pharmacy closing without the store itself closing. All of the new and relocated stores Giant-MD has built near me have pharmacies in them.

Giant-MD is the only super market chain in the DC area that has ever had much in the way of pharmacy market share. The Safeway and H-T pharmacies literally never have customers. The only stores I can remember without a pharmacy in the store or nearby were the Glover Park store (c. 1956, 16K sf and on the list for replacement for years) and 14th & Park Rd (a cheesegrater-front store that went up after the '68 riots) and those were replaced some time ago.

It is funny how that works. Safeway has a strong pharmacy business out west and has for decades now. They even did 24 hour and extended hours pharmacy departments in the late 90's and early 00's.

Never paid much attention back in East Division how busy their pharmacies were but that I didn't notice activity probably speaks for itself.

[buckguy]

I'm not aware of any Giant-MD pharmacy closing without the store itself closing. All of the new and relocated stores Giant-MD has built near me have pharmacies in them.

Giant-MD is the only super market chain in the DC area that has ever had much in the way of pharmacy market share. The Safeway and H-T pharmacies literally never have customers. The only stores I can remember without a pharmacy in the store or nearby were the Glover Park store (c. 1956, 16K sf and on the list for replacement for years) and 14th & Park Rd (a cheesegrater-front store that went up after the '68 riots) and those were replaced some time ago.

It is funny how that works. Safeway has a strong pharmacy business out west and has for decades now. They even did 24 hour and extended hours pharmacy departments in the late 90's and early 00's.

Never paid much attention back in East Division how busy their pharmacies were but that I didn't notice activity probably speaks for itself.

Giant-Landover was very different from most of its competition---smartly staffed and willing to experiment until it got things right (or get rid of what they couldn't master like electronics or carpet cleaning)---that was the genius of Izzy Cohen who ran it for decades. They had Fred Meyer-like stores in the 50s and early 60s and even a few full-line department stores, but got out of all that as discount store chains rose and proved they were better at that sort of thing, although Giant continued to carry more GM (usually housewares-related) than other chains. They were an early adopter of in- store pharmacies, put them in as many stores as possible and learning from their GM experience, never went into lines that didn't generate volume. They were strong in deli/bakeries and were early adopters of things like bulk foods. They probably were the most vertically integrated chain their size and sold products and even design services to competitors. Stop & Shop dismantled all of that---they were not a chain that experimented and they were not strong in areas like deli/bakery, but they did figure out how to run pharmacies from their Medi-Mart chain (which I think went to Walgreen's), so that has continued to be a strength for Giant.

Safeway in DC ran more traditional stores and only got into bigger stores in the 80s---they still had little 1940s and pre-war stores into the early 1970s. Their model was to saturate markets like a traditional grocery chain, whereas Giant was always a supermarket chain and, despite having a lot of density in Montgomery County, they recognized that a super could serve a fairly large area. Giant never had a large store count in DC proper even though that's where they began in the 30s and their stores generationally grew in size as they added different departments.

[marketreportblog]

Had more time today to check out 11 more Stop & Shop stores in the Newark, NJ area, Staten Island, and a few in central Jersey. Now I don't know what to think. On the whole, these stores are WAY better run than the Bergen/Passaic county stores I visited last week, but still, lots of problems with aging facilities, understaffing, and obvious empty shelves. Could be some sort of supply chain issues but why is it affecting the stores differently, and not affecting any of the other Ahold-Delhaize chains? It feels like they're having trouble filling the stores, some of which are enormous.

Some observations:

• Stock problems in most, but not all, of the stores.

• Some are really showing their age -- Elizabeth, Aberdeen, Keyport.

• The Staten Island ones are all relatively recently renovated, but some are much better than others. These remodels were pretty minor.

• The Staten Island ones are clearly way higher volume than the New Jersey ones -- but that's likely just because there are fewer competitors there.

Some of the interesting stores:

• South Orange, NJ - former Pathmark acquired 2015. Seems well-run enough, mostly stocked with some spaces (see produce 1 and 2 and bakery). Bigger problem is dated decor, not so much in style but that signs have fallen. You enter to see a sign that says "we come to Stop & Shop". A few other signs are missing or damaged. Suburban area, not much competition, middle-income.

• Elizabeth, NJ - Edwards built around 1995, renovated around 2010. I would say corporate has given up on this store but the staff of the store itself obviously take great pride in it. Outdated, all the fixtures are original, the decor is basically hung in front of the old Edwards decor. But it's absolutely spotless, perfectly stocked, very very solid perimeter, all signs point to it being very high-volume but it's in a lower-income urban neighborhood of North Elizabeth right near the Newark border (not exactly a great area, especially to the north a few blocks) so it's not the type of area Stop & Shop tends to prefer. Large Latin American and Caribbean immigrant populations here, and S&S is doing better with international foods but still not great. Loads of people and not that many supermarkets, but there is a Twin City (local chain) about three blocks north that's a well-run store but very expensive. About 3/4 of a mile west of Newark Airport. It's around 55,000 square feet but feels enormous, especially because it's in a city. Even though it hasn't been renovated for around 15 years, this might be the best-run store I saw today.

• Forest Ave, Staten Island, NY - former Pathmark acquired 2015, renovated 2023. Looks pretty good, mostly stocked but big gaps in HABA (deodorant and toothpaste) and frozen. Busy but way understaffed, long lines. Felt kinda dingy and cramped. ShopRite and Western Beef, both newly renovated and both popular, are just to the west.

• Hylan Blvd, Staten Island, NY - built around 2007, renovated 2022 or so. A huuuuuuge one, around 75,000 square feet and it really feels like they're having a hard time filling it. Seems meh to low volume, very close to a brand-new high volume ShopRite and a few other stores. Problems in produce, oil, HABA, and dairy.

• Aberdeen, NJ - built early 00s to replace an older acquired Grand Union in the same mall, never renovated. Holy crap this place is enormous -- over 90,000 square feet. And it could just as easily be half that. They obviously can't handle a store of that size. Stock problems all over and way too much empty space. This store, which was empty and clearly does no volume at all, must be living on borrowed time with an equally massive, crazy popular ShopRite on one side and a small but exceptional independent called Livoti's on the other.

I have lots more info and pictures on the other stores if anyone's interested.

[mjhale]

@marketreportblog Based on your descriptions of the stores, it seems that Stop and Shop went all in on large stores in the early 2000s. Other than the stores that are former Edwards locations, how many of these massive stores are built off the Super Stop and Shop model? My understanding is that model had larger general merchandise areas but not on the level of a Walmart Supercenter or Fred Meyer. Now that the trend in grocery stores is away from all of the extra general merchandise, there is a lot of floor space that has to be merchandised as grocery items. As you say, Stop and Shop can't seem to handle these huge stores with all this extra space but is stuck with them. Perhaps if they hadn't gone so big with their stores they would have less space to fill and in turn the stores wouldn't have the stock gaps that you observed. If Ahold really wants to stay in NJ, perhaps a downsizing of some of these stores is needed. Maybe the extra space could be used to accommodate delivery and pick up staging areas. A Walmart Supercenter near me downsized the sales floor by about 20,000 sq feet. The downsized space was used to build a dedicated delivery and pickup staging area which has access to the side of the building near the auto center. Makes it easy for people to drive up and get their groceries without having to park with everyone else who is shopping in store.

[marketreportblog]

@marketreportblog Based on your descriptions of the stores, it seems that Stop and Shop went all in on large stores in the early 2000s. Other than the stores that are former Edwards locations, how many of these massive stores are built off the Super Stop and Shop model? My understanding is that model had larger general merchandise areas but not on the level of a Walmart Supercenter or Fred Meyer. Now that the trend in grocery stores is away from all of the extra general merchandise, there is a lot of floor space that has to be merchandised as grocery items. As you say, Stop and Shop can't seem to handle these huge stores with all this extra space but is stuck with them. Perhaps if they hadn't gone so big with their stores they would have less space to fill and in turn the stores wouldn't have the stock gaps that you observed. If Ahold really wants to stay in NJ, perhaps a downsizing of some of these stores is needed. Maybe the extra space could be used to accommodate delivery and pick up staging areas. A Walmart Supercenter near me downsized the sales floor by about 20,000 sq feet. The downsized space was used to build a dedicated delivery and pickup staging area which has access to the side of the building near the auto center. Makes it easy for people to drive up and get their groceries without having to park with everyone else who is shopping in store.

Yes, you're right. A lot of these that weren't converted Edwards were Super Stop & Shops built with large general merchandise areas that Stop & Shop hasn't been able to fill for years. I like your idea of downsizing for delivery and pick up, but the thing is a lot of these stores have already had delivery and pick up areas built in to the sales floor and they just don't take up that much space. If I were Ahold Delhaize, and I were serious about staying in NJ, I would cut all or most of the stores down to about 40,000 square feet because they seem to be able to handle that no problem. Sublet the other space or something, maybe you make some extra money on that. And do some serious renovations, with completely new decor, new fixtures, new flooring, and so on and so forth. They could probably do quite well with a chain of very well-run, good-looking, and fully-stocked 40,000 square foot stores in NJ and parts of NY. But my guess is that's an investment that Ahold Delhaize doesn't want to make.

Someone on Reddit said they heard some or all of the Stop & Shops are going to be sold soon. I'm not convinced, but they've gotta do something. Maybe they're preparing for a Tops-style spinoff or something, but it's not sustainable to keep running the stores like this. Or maybe they'll just fix whatever issues they have and they'll be back to normal in a few months. But they must be losing business with empty shelves and long lines, so will people come back?

[pseudo3d]

Stop & Shop is the only mainstream supermarket I can find with actual NYC stores (none in Manhattan though), and it stretches from New York City to Boston.

If it's up for sale, who's gonna buy it? Albertsons (assuming no merger) can't buy it in whole unless it wants to divest a good chunk of ACME and Shaw's/Star Market. Kroger buying it would mean they have to deal with the same divestments or just give up the merger altogether. C&S can't buy it unless they want to pull out of the merger, too. Private investors just would probably sooner dismantle it than try to run a supermarket chain.

If they sell it it's far more likely to be split between Big Y, Market Basket, Hannaford, and Albertsons than continue as a unified chain.