The Barstow Safeway was a Super S if I remember correctly and built in the late 60's or early 70's. It had no competition in it's early years and despite that was never a very high volume store. It had a very low rent which allowed it to be somewhat profitable on low volumes for many years. I'm actu...

Self distribution can be risky for smaller retailers. Part of the undoing of Hughes Markets here in SoCal was their decision to spend a lot of money building a full service distribution center in Irwindale. As a result, they added a lot of debt and didn't spend as much money on building and remodeli...

One of the first meal kits to be available at retail was Chef'd which went out of business late last year. They are supposedly back and now only doing retail with a launch at Gelson's, although I have gone in twice recently to look for them and could not find them and the store manager had no idea w...

"Organic Slurpees and a quick-service taqueria menu from its Laredo Taco Company highlight the offerings at 7-Eleven Inc.’s new testing-ground store in Dallas." Article: https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/7-eleven-debuts-food-focused-lab-store Photo gallery: https://www.supermarketnews...

storewanderer wrote: ↑

March 8th, 2019, 11:11 pm

The stores pay cardboard haulers to come and haul the boxes away

I think they sell the cardboard bales, don't they? Not 100% certain but I seem to remember it working that way in the past. We didn't leave them outside because people would steal them in the middle of the night using pick up trucks.

It is going to be businesses vs. Visa. According to this article you are right: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-06/walmart-visa-resume-lobbying-battle-over-credit-card-standards "Lobbyists for Walmart Inc. and other retailers are joining forces with companies that process payments i...

Whole Foods has declined considerably under their watch (cannot believe the produce situation there now) and prices there are higher than ever. I know a number of people who used to always shop Whole Foods and loved to word drop it. They don't shop there often anymore and don't word drop it. They w...

I can even see a situation where they might dismantle or sell Whole Foods entirely. Why would they do that? Whole Foods is a well established brand with a customer base that is willing to spend a lot of money. They would be foolish to do that IMO. They recently announced that they are discontinuing...

I am sure there has been a big celebration in Boise today when this news broke. Because it is such a stupid move. ... I think Kroger should just end Visa acceptance at all stores. See how it works out. They will lose customers, but maybe the loss in customers will be made up for in profitability by...

submariner wrote: ↑

February 24th, 2019, 3:56 pm

This weekend marks the 10th Anniversary for RetailWatchers!

Congratulations! It's hard to believe it's already been 10 years.

submariner wrote: ↑

February 24th, 2019, 3:56 pm

What are your favorite retail memories from the past 10 years?

The Haggen meltdown, for sure.