St. Louis visit--leisurely stroll through newest Dierbergs' and Global Foods Market

[Romr123]

Spent a few days in St. Louis, and strolled through the new Dierbergs in Crestwood (the successor development to the 1957-era Crestwood Plaza which has taken about 15 years to be re-developed with housing and a grocery-strip). Directly across Watson from Schnucks (itself the successor to the final Loblaws-developed National supermarket) which was pretty revolutionary when it went in, and Schnucks didn't Schnuck-ify it too much until now. Second ring affluent suburb, SW of downtown about 10 miles from the Arch.

Dierbergs has been open about 4-5 months. Not terribly busy mid-Friday afternoon, but the store was gorgeous--really looked great. Ready for the late afternoon/evening rush. They use SuperValu as their wholesaler, so Essential Everyday is the base private label. Meat department appeared to be entirely case-ready (albeit with a large service butcher and fish counter). Full salad bar. Liquor island (liberal Missouri liquor laws), separate cheese island. Very large deli and (separate) bakery counter. Price levels appeared to be pretty high (produce especially seemed $$)...leaves some room for Meijer to undercut as they come into the market.

Pharmacy was branded "Mercy Pharmacy"--one of the local hospital chains (recall that Schnucks spun their pharmacies to CVS)... Quite a bit of garden merchandise in the entrance (mulch, hanging baskets, etc).

Also took a stroll through Global Foods Market---an amazing store in Kirkwood (affluent railroad suburb just north of Crestwood). This was a 1962-vintage A&P Centennial which was National-ized after A&P left (copper-roofed gable roof), then was acquired by a Thai family when National disintegrated.

Every nationality of food known to mankind in 30k sqft, all fresh and rotated (they're quite scrupulous about pull-dates, marking things down 50% as things get close to expiry). The interesting thing about this store is that it plays 2 roles---it's ethnic central, but it's the only supermarket in Kirkwood's downtown (there's an Aldi about 2 miles away, and several Schnucks/Dierbergs about 3-4 miles away in any direction) so it gets the senior citizen granny-cart type shopper and works for them as well as it does the foodies. Had some fun comparing Russian to Ukranian products.

Didn't visit Schnucks this trip. They were pushing their app/rewards (lots of billboards) and "butcher in every store" pork steaks (one of St. Louis' trademark items). Schnucks' is implicated in one of the lead-in-applesauce/cinnamon product recalls, so may be a little on their hind-legs at the moment (they're still family owned and lead poisoning isn't a joke in a city as old as St. Louis).

[Bakeragr]

If you want to see a stocked liquor department, you should visit the Dierbergs at the Lake of the Ozarks. It is bananas.
I've not been to that new Crestwood Dierbergs but the one on Manchester in Des Peres to the north of there is excellent, as is the newer Schnucks down the road.
It would be interesting to know what shopping patterns changed after the exit of Shop 'N Save in STL. My guess is 90% of their sales went to Aldi and Walmart, with the remainder going to Schnucks. Schnucks and Dierbergs have lots of nice things, but competitive prices are not one of them.
Thanks for the visit. I know exactly where that Global Foods is, but I've never stopped there. Might have to check it out next time I'm in the city.