Grocery Outlet looking at NY locations

[BillyGr]

No argument, but miles put on surplus merchandise reduces the profitability pretty quickly. Upstate NY (like Michigan) has significant agriculture (tree fruit orchards etc) as well as processing facilities which are really the bedrock of an operator like this---there are STILL overruns and obsolete packaging (just heard that Target is re-imaging Up and Up) which getting liquidated close by is WAY less costly than shipping it any distance.

That seems like a good possibility.

If we get another season like the recent one with a late(r) cold snap that causes a quantity of good (but strange looking) apples, buy them up cheap and use a local processor to turn them into something like apple sauce, filling for pies etc. that can then be stored more easily and shipped if needed.

[mbz321]

There is definite movement from PA out to the west coast for products including perishables. I have also seen signs of west coast products being stocked back in PA such as It's It Ice Cream Bars (a product difficult to find outside Northern California).

Funny you mention ice cream as I occasionally see 'Dryer's' popping up in my GO's here in PA (the brand goes by Edy's in the Northeast). I always wondered the logistics of sending frozen product that far unless the plant is located smack in the middle of the country (I haven't really looked into it too much. I guess there are plant codes on the packaging that would reveal more info). I've never bothered buying it as the flavors are usually oddball ones and the price isn't low enough for me to want to take a gamble.

[storewanderer]

There is definite movement from PA out to the west coast for products including perishables. I have also seen signs of west coast products being stocked back in PA such as It's It Ice Cream Bars (a product difficult to find outside Northern California).

Funny you mention ice cream as I occasionally see 'Dryer's' popping up in my GO's here in PA (the brand goes by Edy's in the Northeast). I always wondered the logistics of sending frozen product that far unless the plant is located smack in the middle of the country (I haven't really looked into it too much. I guess there are plant codes on the packaging that would reveal more info). I've never bothered buying it as the flavors are usually oddball ones and the price isn't low enough for me to want to take a gamble.

They get Hood ice cream out here in CA/NV at Grocery Outlet from time to time. I've never seen that out here. Also have seen some Friendly's Ice Cream, haven't seen that in a while. Also they had almost a full endcap of various Food Lion ice cream bars for a while, but I think I checked the plant code on those and they were made somewhere in the middle of the US. It had the same plant code as some Meadow Gold items.

There is definitely something up with their logistics on frozen where stuff is definitely getting transported across the country.

Cheese is also somewhat interesting there. In CA/NV they often get loads of a wide assortment of Land O Lakes Shredded Cheeses (this product is not sold out west).

If you see Umpqua ice cream there it is an OR brand and it is very good. I don't like their 4.49 price... WinCo is around 4.84 everyday (has more flavors)... finally has a sale for 3.48 right now... Safeway had it for a while, discontinued it, now has it back in just a few flavors - 7.49.

Part of Grocery Outlet's pricing may be they are basing suggested prices off of CA and looking at what Safeway or even worse Save Mart/Lucky (who have higher prices than Safeway) charges.