Giant-MD President Ira Kress says it may be forced to close stores if retail theft continues
Posted: June 26th, 2023, 7:07 am
https://wtop.com/local/2023/06/landover ... dent-says/
I don't do a lot of shopping at Giant-MD anymore. When I have been in Giant-MD I have noticed that stores with dual entrances have one entrance closed off to force everyone through a single entrance/exit. The entrance that is usually closed in the one near the pharmacy. I have also seen the 20 items or less limitation for self-checkout. During the middle of the day there is usually one or two staffed register lines for people with full carts. I was in a Giant-MD store around closing last weekend. Two people came up front with full carts. When faced with the 20 item limit at self-checkout both asked where they were supposed to check out. The few staff on duty were tied up dealing with various issues at self-checkout. I only had a single item to purchase but still had to wait about five minutes for a self-checkout to become available. In that time the staff still hadn't addressed the two people with full carts over the self-checkout item limit. I wonder if those people ever got checked out or if they bailed and left.
In the past couple of months, I have noticed a drop in traffic in the Giant-MD stores near me. The ads are not as strong as they used to be. In the past I would use sale items and coupons to balance out the high average non-sale pricing. I used to be able to come out about 5 percent over Walmart which allowed me to limit my Walmart run to only HBA and paper goods where Walmart is usually cheapest around here. Safeway has really been running strong ads and good Just for U specials over the past three months or so.
I do wonder where geographically Giant-MD is having theft issues. I have actually witnessed more incidents of theft at Walmart near me than I have at Giant-MD. Once again, I suspect that the theft issues are happening at stores in lower income areas. Those are the areas that can least afford to loose a large scale grocery store. I don't know what the total answer is. However, I don't think that threatening to close stores is going to gain much goodwill with your customers and community. Safeway hasn't closed off second entrances except after 8-9 PM until close which I think is reasonable. Also, I only see baby formula locked up at Safeway but it has been that way since the shortages we had in the last couple of years. Maybe the theft rings haven't hit Safeway around here yet and changes are coming at Safeway too.
I don't do a lot of shopping at Giant-MD anymore. When I have been in Giant-MD I have noticed that stores with dual entrances have one entrance closed off to force everyone through a single entrance/exit. The entrance that is usually closed in the one near the pharmacy. I have also seen the 20 items or less limitation for self-checkout. During the middle of the day there is usually one or two staffed register lines for people with full carts. I was in a Giant-MD store around closing last weekend. Two people came up front with full carts. When faced with the 20 item limit at self-checkout both asked where they were supposed to check out. The few staff on duty were tied up dealing with various issues at self-checkout. I only had a single item to purchase but still had to wait about five minutes for a self-checkout to become available. In that time the staff still hadn't addressed the two people with full carts over the self-checkout item limit. I wonder if those people ever got checked out or if they bailed and left.
In the past couple of months, I have noticed a drop in traffic in the Giant-MD stores near me. The ads are not as strong as they used to be. In the past I would use sale items and coupons to balance out the high average non-sale pricing. I used to be able to come out about 5 percent over Walmart which allowed me to limit my Walmart run to only HBA and paper goods where Walmart is usually cheapest around here. Safeway has really been running strong ads and good Just for U specials over the past three months or so.
I do wonder where geographically Giant-MD is having theft issues. I have actually witnessed more incidents of theft at Walmart near me than I have at Giant-MD. Once again, I suspect that the theft issues are happening at stores in lower income areas. Those are the areas that can least afford to loose a large scale grocery store. I don't know what the total answer is. However, I don't think that threatening to close stores is going to gain much goodwill with your customers and community. Safeway hasn't closed off second entrances except after 8-9 PM until close which I think is reasonable. Also, I only see baby formula locked up at Safeway but it has been that way since the shortages we had in the last couple of years. Maybe the theft rings haven't hit Safeway around here yet and changes are coming at Safeway too.