Retail Watchers

Another beautiful day in the OAK.

Shall we talk about Walgreens and Village Medical?

You can find things at an Ace store that you can’t find at the Blue and Orange boxes. There is also more help there than the big boxes. Plus a lot of people prefer going to a smaller store than dealing with the hordes in the big box DIYs .

A lot of Fry’s stores seem to be dumpier nowadays….dirty floors, out-of-stock during weekends, more disheveled looking. Meanwhile the Safeways where I live are brighter and cleaner looking- produce department looks good, bakery looks tempting, deli well stocked.

I wonder why the Australian government hasn’t forced divestitures on these two operators. They do have Aldi down there, how much of a market share does Aldi have?
Is there any interest for other International retailers to get into Oz? Like the Japanese retailers? Costco?

I think this change was made in an attempt to sway public opinion. Most people don't understand the details, all they see is that the number of divested stores went from 413 to 579. That looks like a big increase, so people will think that Kroger is being reasonable and addressing the government's ...

I assume those stores in AZ and CO include the Albertsons/Safeway warehouses and truck fleets-they would just be duplicate facilities for Kroger in those markets.

Safeway is putting money in Phoenix…. Remodeled stores and several new stores in Surprise and one planned in Buckeye. I prefer going to Safeway as the Fry’s stores seem to be getting more shabbier, especially the floors.

And probably no actual maple in it.

Blecch.