Brookshire's to close central bakery, 85 employees to be affected

[architect]

Earlier today, Brookshire's announced that they will be closing their bakery which serves the entire chain. In tandem with reductions at the corporate management level, these changes will result in the loss of 85 jobs.

Article: http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Breaking/2 ... ose-bakery

It is sad to see the chain get to this point; however, the bakery was likely too labor-intensive to operate. Brookshire's has also struggled in recent years with both real and perceived pricing issues; Wal-Mart has gained dominant market share in East Texas and is now forcing Brookshire's to make cuts. Although a sale of the company was called off late last year, it would not surprise me to see the company put itself on the market again as their current business model is simply unsustainable due to their heavy staffing (all Brookshire's stores have baggers carry your groceries to your car, perimeter departments are staffed during almost hours a store is open, etc). In addition, the company has a limited ability to better compete on price due to their size, a challenge which could be resolved by bringing in the pricing leverage of a larger operator.

[wnetmacman]

Earlier today, Brookshire's announced that they will be closing their bakery which serves the entire chain. In tandem with reductions at the corporate management level, these changes will result in the loss of 85 jobs.

Article: http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Breaking/2 ... ose-bakery

It is sad to see the chain get to this point; however, the bakery was likely too labor-intensive to operate. Brookshire's has also struggled in recent years with both real and perceived pricing issues; Wal-Mart has gained dominant market share in East Texas and is now forcing Brookshire's to make cuts. Although a sale of the company was called off late last year, it would not surprise me to see the company put itself on the market again as their current business model is simply unsustainable due to their heavy staffing (all Brookshire's stores have baggers carry your groceries to your car, perimeter departments are staffed during almost hours a store is open, etc). In addition, the company has a limited ability to better compete on price due to their size, a challenge which could be resolved by bringing in the pricing leverage of a larger operator.

I might be wrong about this, but I believe that Brookshire has a second Bakery Plant in Shreveport.

Also, while the Brookshire's stores tend to be overstaffed, their Super 1 Foods stores aren't. Super 1 is their moneymaker, even though the store count only covers about 1/4 of the whole chain. In the Super 1 stores, pricing isn't as big of an issue due to volume. To a great extent, the Super 1 stores carry the rest of the company.

Pricing is not perceived in the Brookshire's stores; it's always been high. You pay more for service. I wouldn't call the business model unsustainable. They must be doing other things right because they just opened the 25 Spring Market stores.

You're also talking 85 out of 14,000. That's a very paltry number; less than 1%.

[pseudo3d]

Earlier today, Brookshire's announced that they will be closing their bakery which serves the entire chain. In tandem with reductions at the corporate management level, these changes will result in the loss of 85 jobs.

Article: http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Breaking/2 ... ose-bakery

It is sad to see the chain get to this point; however, the bakery was likely too labor-intensive to operate. Brookshire's has also struggled in recent years with both real and perceived pricing issues; Wal-Mart has gained dominant market share in East Texas and is now forcing Brookshire's to make cuts. Although a sale of the company was called off late last year, it would not surprise me to see the company put itself on the market again as their current business model is simply unsustainable due to their heavy staffing (all Brookshire's stores have baggers carry your groceries to your car, perimeter departments are staffed during almost hours a store is open, etc). In addition, the company has a limited ability to better compete on price due to their size, a challenge which could be resolved by bringing in the pricing leverage of a larger operator.

I might be wrong about this, but I believe that Brookshire has a second Bakery Plant in Shreveport.

Also, while the Brookshire's stores tend to be overstaffed, their Super 1 Foods stores aren't. Super 1 is their moneymaker, even though the store count only covers about 1/4 of the whole chain. In the Super 1 stores, pricing isn't as big of an issue due to volume. To a great extent, the Super 1 stores carry the rest of the company.

Pricing is not perceived in the Brookshire's stores; it's always been high. You pay more for service. I wouldn't call the business model unsustainable. They must be doing other things right because they just opened the 25 Spring Market stores.

You're also talking 85 out of 14,000. That's a very paltry number; less than 1%.

I couldn't find any references to a second central bakery in Shreveport. If it did, it's probably gone. I'm not too sure on the long-term health of Brookshire. The Super 1 stores may carry the company for the foreseeable future, but the Spring Market stores honestly seem pretty frail as far as a viable segment of the company goes. I'd bet they changed practically nothing from the Walmart days, and they only employ 20 people each. I'd be curious if they can make the logistics profitable (since it didn't work for Walmart).

Heavy staffing and high prices don't always work, that's how Village Foods (former AppleTree/Safeway) operated, they had tried basically everything to make themselves viable. It was large and modern for AppleTree (about 50k square feet, I believe) and was fully staffed in bakery/deli/meats/café, had full carryout service, etc., as well as carrying lots of local products, and gluten free/natural products that no one else carried. In the end, though, their volume was pathetic, the owner was also the landlord and basically subsidized it, competition was heavy, and the owner decided to cut losses and close the store, leasing it to a trampoline park and an Aldi.

Brookshire's of course is not limited to one store in a declining part of town, but the core problems remain the same.

[wnetmacman]

I couldn't find any references to a second central bakery in Shreveport. If it did, it's probably gone. I'm not too sure on the long-term health of Brookshire. The Super 1 stores may carry the company for the foreseeable future, but the Spring Market stores honestly seem pretty frail as far as a viable segment of the company goes. I'd bet they changed practically nothing from the Walmart days, and they only employ 20 people each. I'd be curious if they can make the logistics profitable (since it didn't work for Walmart).

Heavy staffing and high prices don't always work, that's how Village Foods (former AppleTree/Safeway) operated, they had tried basically everything to make themselves viable. It was large and modern for AppleTree (about 50k square feet, I believe) and was fully staffed in bakery/deli/meats/café, had full carryout service, etc., as well as carrying lots of local products, and gluten free/natural products that no one else carried. In the end, though, their volume was pathetic, the owner was also the landlord and basically subsidized it, competition was heavy, and the owner decided to cut losses and close the store, leasing it to a trampoline park and an Aldi.

Brookshire's of course is not limited to one store in a declining part of town, but the core problems remain the same.

The Shreveport bakery is located on Fern Drive in the original Shreveport Brookshire's store. It may have closed, but IIRC, in the 90's they had consolidated all bakery functions there.

Comparing 177 stores to one store doesn't do it for me. You're talking one store that was the last for a chain that was doomed from the beginning. Folks shop at Brookshire's and pay the higher prices because of the higher level of service. I know that a lot of folks don't care about that as much in this price conscious day and age, but there is still a large contingent of the population that does. Village Foods in Bryan was one store. You certainly can't do it with one. It requires a large chain. Super 1 Foods balances off the higher margins of Brookshire's by paring down the service but in turn lowering the prices. Volume in both is pretty high, and for different reasons.

I haven't been in a Spring Market yet; I am trying to make the time to stop at one soon. My understanding was that they made modifications to the stores, partly because Brookshire isn't good at GM. A sizable portion of the Express store was GM, say almost a third. Spring Market is supposed to be all groceries except the pharmacy. I'll see if I can't get to one soon. If they run like a typical Brookshire store, 20 folks isn't out of line. Logistics isn't an issue, because most of them are or were near existing Brookshire stores. (Mamou, LA is 10 miles north of Eunice, where there is a Super 1; Zwolle, LA is west of Natchitoches, where there are two Brookshire's stores) Keep in mind that Walmart didn't say they were unprofitable, just that they didn't meet the performance target they were expecting.

[pseudo3d]

I couldn't find any references to a second central bakery in Shreveport. If it did, it's probably gone. I'm not too sure on the long-term health of Brookshire. The Super 1 stores may carry the company for the foreseeable future, but the Spring Market stores honestly seem pretty frail as far as a viable segment of the company goes. I'd bet they changed practically nothing from the Walmart days, and they only employ 20 people each. I'd be curious if they can make the logistics profitable (since it didn't work for Walmart).

Heavy staffing and high prices don't always work, that's how Village Foods (former AppleTree/Safeway) operated, they had tried basically everything to make themselves viable. It was large and modern for AppleTree (about 50k square feet, I believe) and was fully staffed in bakery/deli/meats/café, had full carryout service, etc., as well as carrying lots of local products, and gluten free/natural products that no one else carried. In the end, though, their volume was pathetic, the owner was also the landlord and basically subsidized it, competition was heavy, and the owner decided to cut losses and close the store, leasing it to a trampoline park and an Aldi.

Brookshire's of course is not limited to one store in a declining part of town, but the core problems remain the same.

The Shreveport bakery is located on Fern Drive in the original Shreveport Brookshire's store. It may have closed, but IIRC, in the 90's they had consolidated all bakery functions there.

Comparing 177 stores to one store doesn't do it for me. You're talking one store that was the last for a chain that was doomed from the beginning. Folks shop at Brookshire's and pay the higher prices because of the higher level of service. I know that a lot of folks don't care about that as much in this price conscious day and age, but there is still a large contingent of the population that does. Village Foods in Bryan was one store. You certainly can't do it with one. It requires a large chain. Super 1 Foods balances off the higher margins of Brookshire's by paring down the service but in turn lowering the prices. Volume in both is pretty high, and for different reasons.

I haven't been in a Spring Market yet; I am trying to make the time to stop at one soon. My understanding was that they made modifications to the stores, partly because Brookshire isn't good at GM. A sizable portion of the Express store was GM, say almost a third. Spring Market is supposed to be all groceries except the pharmacy. I'll see if I can't get to one soon. If they run like a typical Brookshire store, 20 folks isn't out of line. Logistics isn't an issue, because most of them are or were near existing Brookshire stores. (Mamou, LA is 10 miles north of Eunice, where there is a Super 1; Zwolle, LA is west of Natchitoches, where there are two Brookshire's stores) Keep in mind that Walmart didn't say they were unprofitable, just that they didn't meet the performance target they were expecting.

It is not the same thing, I know, especially since they sealed off the main entrance. Although it was one store, it had some cost benefits from Grocers Supply Company (which also did back office stuff for them, like paychecks). Probably the "declining area" was a huge part that did them in, the H-E-B down the road had one of the highest shrinkages in the chain (I believe the manager had said something like that). And of course, the volume was pretty low, something I'm sure Brookshire's doesn't have. But if it did...