Kroger Marketplace 2.0

[storewanderer]

The Smittys Stores were converted to Fred Meyer Marketplace for perhaps 18 months right as the merger with Kroger was progressing. The Fred Meyer name absolutely appeared in Phoenix.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... dds-format

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... yer-format

[retailfanmitchell019]

The Smittys Stores were converted to Fred Meyer Marketplace for perhaps 18 months right as the merger with Kroger was progressing. The Fred Meyer name absolutely appeared in Phoenix.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... dds-format

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... yer-format

I found pictures of Fred Meyer's presence in Phoenix: https://emuseum.tempe.gov/objects/37009 ... -tempe-ari
Note the Fred Meyer logo is purple.
emuseum.tempe.gov has plenty of old exterior pics of supermarket chains that operated in Tempe, AZ.

[storewanderer]

The Smittys Stores were converted to Fred Meyer Marketplace for perhaps 18 months right as the merger with Kroger was progressing. The Fred Meyer name absolutely appeared in Phoenix.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... dds-format

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... yer-format

I found pictures of Fred Meyer's presence in Phoenix: https://emuseum.tempe.gov/objects/37009 ... -tempe-ari
Note the Fred Meyer logo is purple.
emuseum.tempe.gov has plenty of old exterior pics of supermarket chains that operated in Tempe, AZ.

Fred Meyer had an interior for Phoenix.
It was similar to the Fred Meyer interior at the time, but a little different on the color/decor. Most Frys Marketplace had this interior initially but by 2008 few still had it. These photos are of a de-marketplaced store on Indian School Road in 2009.

[pseudo3d]

The Smittys Stores were converted to Fred Meyer Marketplace for perhaps 18 months right as the merger with Kroger was progressing. The Fred Meyer name absolutely appeared in Phoenix.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... dds-format

https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive ... yer-format

They did have a few "full" Fred Meyer stores under construction in AZ but they weren't in great areas and were abandoned before ever opening.

[jamcool]

There was one in Phoenix that totally completed and was ready for stocking and signs-Bethany Home Rd @ 35th Ave …. The site of the former West Plaza shopping center. There was an existing Smitty’s just East of the property. It would have been the first full-line FM in Phoenix. Then Kroger decided to place most of its Arizona stores under the Fry’s banner. The Smitty’s became a regular Fry’s store and the FM site sat empty for several years. It was eventually torn down (along with the ex-Smitty’s Fry’s store) to build a power center with a Walmart Supercenter, Harbor Freight, and several other tenants. Apparently the FM store didn’t fit with Walmart’s retail layout.

[BatteryMill]

It looks like the first Kroger Marketplace...in Plano.

It sounds like... Fred Meyer. They've also got a "new" Smiths Marketplace in east Las Vegas that is pretty much a Fred Meyer with reduced apparel and no electronics. I don't see or hear anything new here.

I believe that most Kroger Marketplaces are this way, actually. Speaking of which, apparel and kitchen goods are fleshed out at Marketplaces but most other GM departments are a little above standard Krogers from what I've seen.

I don't understand what is new about this. Kroger has had the Marketplace format in the Dallas Market for 10+ years. There is nothing different about this store than any other Marketplace store. For instance over 10 years ago now I went into a Kroger Marketplace in Mansfield, TX. That may have been the first one in the DFW area or one of the first ones.

Expanded general merchandise, Other departments like an outdoor living section, toys, electronics, and home goods

Now one Kroger Marketplace in Mansfield, Ohio has lost its "Marketplace" designation recently after replacing its signs to the Fresh Cart logo. I have only heard of this happening at one other Marketplace but it is still something to watch. I could give some leniency toward Supermarket News, that if there was a press release supplied by Kroger, it might be them wanting people to "forget" the original branding. It does also track with the rise of near-100k sq. ft. stores that are simply "Kroger", but even then, like that new Smith's Marketplace in Henderson, there have also been 1.0 Marketplaces opened in the past few years.

Typical lousy Journalism AND typical shill job by Supermarket News (noticed the over promotion stuff for Hy Vee?).

Also there have been several other sources reporting this story, but not mentioning the word of "first" specifically.

What is the likelihood of Marketplace 2.0 expanding to other divisions?

Perhaps this might be the Kroger Marketplace format from now on and will supersede any proposed locations, if they're paving over the original name. think Walmart and Target need a competitor, it would be refreshing to see a new hypermarket chain in regions that do not have Meijer or Fred Meyer.

They did have a few "full" Fred Meyer stores under construction in AZ but they weren't in great areas and were abandoned before ever opening.

How many, exactly?

[SamSpade]

Off Topic

Not to completely drag this off topic, but shout out to @storewanderer for those Fred Meyer Marketplace interiors. They do look like the Fred Meyer decor of the time with a "southwest" flair (kind of like the purple instead of red sign). My local Fred Meyer moved into a built store in 1997 so I see what you mean.

[storewanderer]

I was in what I thought was a recently opened Kroger Marketplace in TX, but I see it opened in 2016, but had the new Kroger "marketplace" sign out front, and it still had the typical Marketplace clothing and full kitchen place departments.

Also the Smiths Marketplace in Henderson, NV has the clothing and kitchen place departments but the rest of its general merchandise mix is similar to what a large standard Smiths would have as opposed to the expanded non food mix most Marketplace stores receive (including the other Smiths Marketplace up in NW Las Vegas, or the one out in Saint George).

Many Marianos stores also have the kitchen place department (another thing C&S won't be able to replicate at the level Kroger can do it).

Regarding the Fred Meyer Marketplace in Arizona format, that format actually did have clothing, and the clothing category did not make it when the stores converted to Fry's Marketplace and instead they converted to an expanded garden area. So I found it funny when Kroger brought back clothing to this format. It is also my understanding that Fred Meyer Marketplace allocated 4-6 additional aisles to general merchandise, mostly hardlines like auto/sports/hardware, that Fry's "re claimed" for grocery/consumable categories when they rebranded as Fry's Marketplace. The present day Kroger Marketplace format isn't all that different from what Fred Meyer Marketplace and then Fry's Marketplace in Arizona were trying to do. Also the store layout has continued to be quite similar.

The biggest problem with Fred Meyer Marketplace in Arizona was many of those stores, physically, were not really very nice physical facilities. Low ceilings, small fresh produce/meat/bakery departments, aisles crammed together, small restrooms, no windows. There was one newer one in Tempe that felt somewhat modern, probably opened right as Smith's bought Smitty's, but the rest of Smitty's and then Fred Meyer Marketplace was just not a nice physical store.

[storewanderer]

Off Topic

Not to completely drag this off topic, but shout out to @storewanderer for those Fred Meyer Marketplace interiors. They do look like the Fred Meyer decor of the time with a "southwest" flair (kind of like the purple instead of red sign). My local Fred Meyer moved into a built store in 1997 so I see what you mean.

I was really excited to find that store still with the Fred Meyer Marketplace interior back when I found it. I have always been curious about the short tenure of Fred Meyer in Phoenix, and often wonder if they would have been successful with full size format stores there. The store that never opened but was fully built was in not the best neighborhood and I am not sure it would have been successful. But the way Phoenix has grown and continues to grow I think they would have had numerous opportunities to open in better locations and establish their format there from 1999-present. But the Phoenix market has been a major success for Fry's and a lot of efforts and resources went into making Fry's successful as it absorbed those Smiths and Fred Meyer banner stores, and built numerous new stores of its own.

[jamcool]

I was in what I thought was a recently opened Kroger Marketplace in TX, but I see it opened in 2016, but had the new Kroger "marketplace" sign out front, and it still had the typical Marketplace clothing and full kitchen place departments.

Also the Smiths Marketplace in Henderson, NV has the clothing and kitchen place departments but the rest of its general merchandise mix is similar to what a large standard Smiths would have as opposed to the expanded non food mix most Marketplace stores receive (including the other Smiths Marketplace up in NW Las Vegas, or the one out in Saint George).

Many Marianos stores also have the kitchen place department (another thing C&S won't be able to replicate at the level Kroger can do it).

Regarding the Fred Meyer Marketplace in Arizona format, that format actually did have clothing, and the clothing category did not make it when the stores converted to Fry's Marketplace and instead they converted to an expanded garden area. So I found it funny when Kroger brought back clothing to this format. It is also my understanding that Fred Meyer Marketplace allocated 4-6 additional aisles to general merchandise, mostly hardlines like auto/sports/hardware, that Fry's "re claimed" for grocery/consumable categories when they rebranded as Fry's Marketplace. The present day Kroger Marketplace format isn't all that different from what Fred Meyer Marketplace and then Fry's Marketplace in Arizona were trying to do. Also the store layout has continued to be quite similar.

The biggest problem with Fred Meyer Marketplace in Arizona was many of those stores, physically, were not really very nice physical facilities. Low ceilings, small fresh produce/meat/bakery departments, aisles crammed together, small restrooms, no windows. There was one newer one in Tempe that felt somewhat modern, probably opened right as Smith's bought Smitty's, but the rest of Smitty's and then Fred Meyer Marketplace was just not a nice physical store.

Yet in the 70s/80s Smitty’s was the dominant chain in grocery sales in Phoenix. They were the only “superstore” in town before Walmart.