Retail Watchers

I wonder if they’re remodeling in preparation for the new South Reno store and to give folks a better perception of Safeway? I do like some of the remodels they’ve done in Oregon.

I’ve always wondered why Kroger didn’t build a couple of Marketplace stores out here... I’m out in Dayton, and this Smith’s is one of the busiest in the chain. I’ve heard it does the volume of a Fred Meyer, and one of my pharmacist friends said it’s the busiest pharmacy in Northern Nevada. WinCo wil...

Costco will be a replacement... not sure about Freddy’s. Bend is big enough for two Fred Meyers though.

It looks like Kuna’s pharmacy closed recently... I was in Klamath Falls recently, and one of the managers at Bi-Mart mentioned that stores on the 97 corridor are doing pretty well (especially K-Falls and La Pine) and stores like Winston are also really busy. He indicated that Bi-Mart is going to con...

I was talking to a couple of coworkers who live in Damonte Ranch and near Rio Wrangler... they said with traffic it can take upwards of 20 minutes to get to Walmart or Smith’s, so it makes sense to have a grocery store at Steamboat / Veterans. One of the coworkers used to work for Safeway, and the S...

Fry’s is a hot mess, especially Wilsonville. I wound up driving around the corner for a computer because Fry’s was out of most systems. Shelves were empty too. I think Micro Center would do well if they located in the same markets as Fry’s (if Fry’s does declare bankruptcy as is the rumor). There ar...

I’m guessing Scappose was being eaten alive by Fred Meyer, ditto with Vancouver. I know the Coos Bay, North Bend (OR), La Pine and Winston pharmacies are always jammed with people. La Pine is Bi-Mart’s busiest store, so doubt they would close the pharmacy there. Kuna, ID does have a pharmacy - it’s ...

Are these the self checkout machines that Target made themselves? Those are not the NCR ones with the automated money accepting slots. NCR self checkout machine bill acceptors are notorious for breaking down and not working, so Target created their own self checkout machines for some stores. I beli...

That store used frozen donuts- not like other Dunkin’ stores I’ve been to that fried the donuts in-store. It was pretty bad - they were out of donuts quite a bit.

DQ is really loose with its operators. There isn't much of a standard. I hesitate to call it a dying brand, but it kind of feels like one from my viewpoint. They are out of Reno proper entirely. We had 3 locations a decade ago. One in the mall closed (probably failed). One was demolished in downtow...