Retail Watchers

I've researched and it appears no 24 hour stores is the rule at Publix. Not sure why I was confused regarding Atlanta. Kroger definitely has 24 hour stores in Atlanta but you won't find a 24 hour Fred Meyer in OR/WA (but QFC is usually 24 hours).

There is Gooding's in Orlando that is 24 hours. One of few 24 hour supermarkets (not called Wal Mart anyway) in that entire state... Gooding's may be worthy of a thread of its own.

storewanderer wrote:I've researched and it appears no 24 hour stores is the rule at Publix. Not sure why I was confused regarding Atlanta. Kroger definitely has 24 hour stores in Atlanta but you won't find a 24 hour Fred Meyer in OR/WA (but QFC is usually 24 hours).

There is Gooding's in Orlando that is 24 hours. One of few 24 hour supermarkets (not called Wal Mart anyway) in that entire state... Gooding's may be worthy of a thread of its own.

Was that Gooding store a former Pantry Pride?

IF my memory serves me, didn't Goodings take over several Pantry Pride stores way back in the early 1990's?

Many Pantry Prides were 24 hours operations.

Knight wrote:

veteran+ wrote:I can tell you, having worked for Publix, they do not like to take over stores (obviously they do and eventually rebuild).

Publix has acquired stores from competitors (Albertson's and Bi-Lo in recent memory), but have not acquired entire chains. Specific stores that are performing well and/or in good locations are quick acquisition targets. Acquiring entire chains involves taking on stores that are not performing well and/or in bad locations.

veteran+ wrote:...they rarely even hire employees from other retailers (unless it is a brand new region and they are unable to import enough employees).

They consistently grow their stores and employees organically (with few exceptions).

Divisional, regional, district, store, and department management positions are usually filled within the company. Management members are trained and tested in the company's best practices

Stores opening in new markets where Publix does not have much presence will likely have job fairs for entry and non-management positions in the bakery, delicatessen, front end, grocery, meat, and produce departments.

storewanderer wrote:Did they buy others stores in Atlanta?

I know Publix opened stores in two former Winn-Dixie stores in Georgia and Tennessee. Most stores were and are built organically.

veteran+ wrote:It is unusual for Publix to be 24 hours (does anyone know if this is true outside of Florida?).

Publix stores can open as early as 0600 hours (6 am) and close as late as 2300 hours (11 pm). Most stores operate from 0700 hours (7 am) to 2200 hours (10 pm). No store is open 24 hours.

Thank you for expanding and making clearer my posit.

Not sure on the origins of the one Gooding's still open but the reviews for it are terrible: http://www.yelp.com/biz/goodings-superm ... =date_desc

storewanderer wrote:Not sure on the origins of the one Gooding's still open but the reviews for it are terrible: http://www.yelp.com/biz/goodings-superm ... =date_desc

The Gooding's is definitely weird, it's the last in the chain, it almost was evicted a few years ago until it somehow turned up the money they needed to stay open at the last minute, and the store is inexplicably carpeted (have you ever seen labels as janky as this in a supermarket?). It's the closest store to Walt Disney World (thus allowing for price gouging to the extreme), even though there's a Publix and a Winn-Dixie not too far away.

If anyone wanted this store (Kroger, Albertsons), it would be a pretty good catch in terms of location but would need to be gutted with new fixtures.

It has a shop online portal showing some eye popping prices.

Private label seems to be Shur Fine (I assume the TopCo Shur Fine) and Top Care. I wonder who supplies it.

I guess you go there only if it is after Midnight (when Winn Dixie down the road closes).

Would TopCo and Top Care brands be exclusively distributed by C&S Wholesale Grocers?

Kroger is buying a former Albertsons land site in Bradenton, Florida.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/bus ... 631161002/

From that article:

"The seller, BRNK Bradenton LLC, had sued Kroger for breach of contract in May 2020 after its financial deal fell apart with Lucky's. In a lawsuit, the company argued that Kroger was obligated to make improvements to the plaza and failed to submit a final set of plans for the site by December 2019."

I think we know why they paid $5.15 million for the property. Cheaper to buy the property than to deal with this lawsuit and "make improvements to the plaza."

I would like to see Kroger build a few Marketplace Stores in FL and see how they would do. But I worry it may be a flop even if Kroger were to run the stores well like they ran their stores 5-10 years ago and have very competitive pricing- various others have gone into FL and given it their best with "big" stores and the volumes never materialized. Publix is running a lot of medium volume and not very large (under 50k square feet) stores.

Will be interesting to see how Amazon Fresh does in FL when they go in there given they are looking for smaller boxes. I feel like the market is ripe for competition.

If Kroger had wanted to be present in FL, they would have assumed the Lucky's Stores there and taken control over the operations of those. Letting them all close and selling off the real estate/fixtures in a bankruptcy auction pretty much shows they were not interested in operating a string of stores in FL at this time.

I think I read Publix has 800+ stores in FL alone. Think about that- that is more stores than Albertsons and Kroger combined have in California. They have really played their hand well, and the customers seem to love them.

I agree!

The Kroger of today does not have a chance in Florida.

Even if they bought W/D they would mess it up worse than W/D.

I wonder what that mention of AMOCO is?

Besides Kroger's incompetent top brass, they have also become blind and deaf to any customer issues. They are not interested in ANY customer feedback. I am told by Store Managers that corporate IGNORES them on everything customer related. This has resulted in Store Managers not even bothering to return customer calls regarding issues at the store.

Meanwhile at Albertsons/Vons/Pavilions, corporate customer service reps are professional, responsive and helpful. Their Store Managers still call customers to mitigate problems and requests.

Having worked for Ralphs and King Soopers.............I do not recognize this company anymore.