Save Mart

[storewanderer]

I was noticing some real improvements with Save Mart for a while, but the past few months something seems off.

Ads are poor. Pricing has gotten higher than ever. They are not competitive with even Raleys or Safeway. Employee attitude is beat down and sad. Not sure what is going on but they better make some adjustments fast if they plan to actually execute the growth strategy they appear to have built up to execute.

The past couple weeks they are closing perimeter departments like deli and seafood before posted hours. Most stores in my area have signs up saying deli is open until 9 PM, but it is closing at 7 PM even in semi-busy stores.

Food Maxx also seems to have had a lot of price increases, I am not sure who they are trying to price compete with. For a while their pricing was looking really sharp and basically matching WinCo but the past couple months it is doing nothing but rising. Still some deals there but not like I was seeing before. Also they are allocating almost no staff to Food Maxx. I only see 2-3 employees on duty at a time. Self checkout is never watched at either local location and that is the job of the one cashier to also watch self checkout. The one cashier usually is busy with customers so this is a big problem. Multiple self checkouts are always broken also.

[veteran+]

Yeah...................perhaps they (with all their top notch C-Suite) are getting ready for Spinco?

[storewanderer]

Yeah...................perhaps they (with all their top notch C-Suite) are getting ready for Spinco?

I kind of wonder what is going on.

The merger seems to be in a questionable state...

This isn't a good time of year for World Market either... I am hoping to see a big holiday push there again this year. I hope being next to empty BBB spaces doesn't hurt World Market too badly. World Market is run completely separate from Save Mart but since it is the same investment group obviously if World Market is doing well it gives them more resources they can opt to allocate to Save Mart.

[HCal]

Yeah...................perhaps they (with all their top notch C-Suite) are getting ready for Spinco?

Yeah, that's my fear. The top executives are focused on pushing this deal through. They don't really care about running the business.

Save Mart near me is as deserted as ever, perhaps worse since the pharmacy closed. FoodMaxx is still somewhat busy but prices are high and there are a lot of out-of-stocks. Also, they refuse to take anything out of the locked liquor cabinets until after you buy it. You have to wait in line, walk to the cabinet with the cashier, and retrieve your selection. Very strange system.

[storewanderer]

Save Mart near me is as deserted as ever, perhaps worse since the pharmacy closed. FoodMaxx is still somewhat busy but prices are high and there are a lot of out-of-stocks. Also, they refuse to take anything out of the locked liquor cabinets until after you buy it. You have to wait in line, walk to the cabinet with the cashier, and retrieve your selection. Very strange system.

Save Mart seemed to be moving with better ads and more appealing looking perimeters and I don't know what has happened lately but they have drifted in the wrong direction. I wondered if it was just a Reno issue as this has never been a good representation of Save Mart in this market. Some of the pricing changes they're making are particularly confusing. They don't have much in the way of a markdown program (I see some meat markdowns) anymore and seem to always have a lot of close dates all over the fresh departments. Their waste must be out of control.

Food Maxx has some liquor locked in Carson City and/or Sparks (I forget which store) and I've seen a similar thing where you have to go with the employee to get it. Since they have basically no staffing the only way to speak to an employee is to get in line and speak to the cashier. Not efficient at all. The out of stock issue at Food Maxx seems to be something to do with how they do deliveries. I was trying to get a sale item that was out of stock and the manager helped me to order it, and it was something like I made the request Sunday, they were going to submit the order Monday night, the truck would come Tuesday night, and it would be ready Wednesday afternoon. True to their word, I went back Wednesday night and found a full shelf and purchased the items. They were still on sale since the ad runs 2 weeks there I guess. I had a $5 off $30 coupon (they're giving those out like candy) to redeem also so it was pretty good.

[ClownLoach]

Save Mart near me is as deserted as ever, perhaps worse since the pharmacy closed. FoodMaxx is still somewhat busy but prices are high and there are a lot of out-of-stocks. Also, they refuse to take anything out of the locked liquor cabinets until after you buy it. You have to wait in line, walk to the cabinet with the cashier, and retrieve your selection. Very strange system.

Save Mart seemed to be moving with better ads and more appealing looking perimeters and I don't know what has happened lately but they have drifted in the wrong direction. I wondered if it was just a Reno issue as this has never been a good representation of Save Mart in this market. Some of the pricing changes they're making are particularly confusing. They don't have much in the way of a markdown program (I see some meat markdowns) anymore and seem to always have a lot of close dates all over the fresh departments. Their waste must be out of control.

Food Maxx has some liquor locked in Carson City and/or Sparks (I forget which store) and I've seen a similar thing where you have to go with the employee to get it. Since they have basically no staffing the only way to speak to an employee is to get in line and speak to the cashier. Not efficient at all. The out of stock issue at Food Maxx seems to be something to do with how they do deliveries. I was trying to get a sale item that was out of stock and the manager helped me to order it, and it was something like I made the request Sunday, they were going to submit the order Monday night, the truck would come Tuesday night, and it would be ready Wednesday afternoon. True to their word, I went back Wednesday night and found a full shelf and purchased the items. They were still on sale since the ad runs 2 weeks there I guess. I had a $5 off $30 coupon (they're giving those out like candy) to redeem also so it was pretty good.

I've been in four Albertsons this week looking for a hard to find item, and they were all unusually dead. One I was the only customer at checkout around 5:30pm which was alarming. Walmart price increases in foods are also slowing down their business and the store was very slow a couple of days ago. Went to the store undergoing remodeling - grocery aisles are fully reset and assortment looks like what you'd expect to see in Arkansas with really weird stuff. Clearly our theory they change all POGs to the company plan during remodels then remove slow selling SKUs later is correct. I'm waiting to see if they add ice melt and ice scrapers to automotive when they get to that section since all the California stores open with them then mark down and probably throw away within two months.

Went to Winco yesterday mid afternoon and it was the busiest I've ever seen the store, absolutely slammed worse than it was two days before Thanksgiving. At a glance I saw at least a dozen luxury cars in the row I was parked in, Tesla, BMW, Lexus, Jaguar and Mercedes all recent models. Trader Joe's next door was also extremely packed and busy.

People are looking for the lowest price and are driving the distance needed to find it.

[storewanderer]

I am noticing slower business and smaller size by items baskets at Safeway units around Reno. Still sales are probably up since their prices are like 10%+ higher than a year ago.

Could you get Stater to special order the hard to find item?

Raleys is having issues in some locations and others are as busy as ever.

Save Mart is having major traffic issues.

Smiths and WinCo have more customers than they know what to do with. Smiths has a reputation for lower pricing in this market. Smiths has the best meat and dairy pricing in the market since they pull from Utah instead of California so costs are lower.

Wal Marts are still busy in food but non food areas are dead.

[greenfalcon]

Visited two Save Mart stores this evening, mostly because they're the only place that carries a large size of a cereal I enjoy.

First Merced, plenty of the item in stock, but the price had jumped two dollars since last week to $7.99. I was willing to grab just one (usually I get two), but the lines were growing and not moving. I put the item back and walked out.

Then Atwater, the next town up. The item was $7.49, grabbed two, breezed through checkout.

There are definitely some inconsistencies in this operation.

[storewanderer]

I did a hard walk of 3 Save Marts and 2 Raleys today and on a price perspective price after price I looked at at Save Mart was higher than Raleys. Regular price, sale price, name brand, store brand, food, non food, pet food, it didn't seem to matter, Save Mart's prices were just higher.

Save Mart has odd zone pricing. The stores in Carson City have higher everyday prices on various items than the Reno Stores.

[reymann]

i was at the foodmaxx on blackstone/barstow and saw the self checkout area all barricaded off tonight. i'm wondering if save mart is going to phase out self-checkout at their stores.