DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway
Posted: August 17th, 2017, 4:47 pm
Crazy about retail.
http://www.retailwatchers.com/
What is ironic is that the Safeway at the Waterfront Metro station is exactly like this. When they rebuilt the store they included a very large prepared foods area next to the deli with full meals like Wegmans does plus pizza (never seen that in a Safeway), subs, sushi and chicken wings/tenders/pieces. Safeway also included a good size sitting area where you can eat your meal. The store is near multiple office buildings and DC government offices. It is also within walking distance or a short bus ride from the surrounding neighborhoods. When I've been in this store (mainly at lunchtime or on weekends) it seems the majority of people are picking up the sorts of things that you suggest Safeway should focus on. There are also a good number of people doing larger shopping orders too. The Waterfront Safeway seems like a good example of what they could do in the other areas if they were willing to try. This I think is the problem with huge mutli-store chains. They want to do what makes them efficient which leads to sameness not serving your community.storewanderer wrote:How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
There's also the concept of delivering smaller quantities and doing so more frequently. Moldy produce is a sign that it has been on the shelf too long, which is a sign that the inventory replenishment system is sending too much stuff at one time. I used to shop at a relatively small Jewel whose produce and meat were far better than at the behemoth store in the same community. That was because the inventory turned very frequently. Same thing at the even smaller VONS I shopped at.storewanderer wrote:I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not. ...
How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
Perhaps, and this is why Safeway needs to diversify its stores more. I don't know what the demographics of this store are but it's uneconomical to demand certain features of a store that isn't sustainable, like organic produce or fresh food that has to be thrown away because no one is buying. I think that Safeway (at least pre-Albertsons) was too proud to actually cut off services and features (which Kroger and H-E-B have done, ultimately leading to a better and healthier store base) leading to a lot cut corners in its stores it did operate.rwsandiego wrote:There's also the concept of delivering smaller quantities and doing so more frequently. Moldy produce is a sign that it has been on the shelf too long, which is a sign that the inventory replenishment system is sending too much stuff at one time. I used to shop at a relatively small Jewel whose produce and meat were far better than at the behemoth store in the same community. That was because the inventory turned very frequently. Same thing at the even smaller VONS I shopped at.storewanderer wrote:I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not. ...
How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
Regarding whether a Safeway is the right fit, one of the complaints is the community feels it is being treated differently than others in the District. If then Safeway were to be replaced by another banner or were it to be a different format than in other neighborhoods, Safeway would be accused of unfair treatment.
It would be wise for Safeway to meet with the community and discuss potential solutions rather than try to solve this in a vacuum.
Agree. Tell that to a politician who 1) represents a poor neighborhood and 2) wishes to get re-elected.pseudo3d wrote:Perhaps, and this is why Safeway needs to diversify its stores more. I don't know what the demographics of this store are but it's uneconomical to demand certain features of a store that isn't sustainable, like organic produce or fresh food that has to be thrown away because no one is buying. I think that Safeway (at least pre-Albertsons) was too proud to actually cut off services and features (which Kroger and H-E-B have done, ultimately leading to a better and healthier store base) leading to a lot cut corners in its stores it did operate.rwsandiego wrote:There's also the concept of delivering smaller quantities and doing so more frequently. Moldy produce is a sign that it has been on the shelf too long, which is a sign that the inventory replenishment system is sending too much stuff at one time. I used to shop at a relatively small Jewel whose produce and meat were far better than at the behemoth store in the same community. That was because the inventory turned very frequently. Same thing at the even smaller VONS I shopped at.storewanderer wrote:I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not. ...
How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
Regarding whether a Safeway is the right fit, one of the complaints is the community feels it is being treated differently than others in the District. If then Safeway were to be replaced by another banner or were it to be a different format than in other neighborhoods, Safeway would be accused of unfair treatment.
It would be wise for Safeway to meet with the community and discuss potential solutions rather than try to solve this in a vacuum.
Moldy produce and other problems aren't acceptable but not every store can be a class "A" store. It's a balancing act.