Retail Watchers

However if it weren't for the Albertsons merger I don't think Safeway would still be around today as a stand alone entity. I expect Safeway would have sold off East to someone else, exited Denver Division and Texas Division, sold off Phoenix to someone else, exited NV entirely, and then the smaller...

There was a note in an investor article about the Kroger-Albertsons deal that said the Albertsons pharmacy operation is on fire... Up 23%. Costco pharmacy has longer and longer lines every time I go, and the store I visited yesterday had just reconfigured the counter to add terminals and space for ...

I am not sure Bashas would be open if they hadn't bought it... but they really need to do some serious work on Bashas banner. Food City is probably okay as it is but it could be so much better. I suspect Yucaipa Companies would’ve bought Bashas and done a ‘Fresh & Easy maneuver’ (aka liquidatio...

The worst distances from Lancaster, CA for some of the remote stores they've kept open: Crescent City, CA 12 hours (Des Moines is only 8 hours- maybe they will serve this store from there) Yreka, CA 9.5 hours (Des Moines is only 8 hours) Alturas, CA 9.5 hours (Des Moines is 9 hours) Quincy, CA 8.5 ...

Safeway used to be dominant in Colorado Springs but over the past 25 years as Wal Mart has expanded and King Soopers keeps expanding, Safeway has not kept up. I'm not sure when the last new build Safeway opened in Colorado Springs, but I think it has been a while, and competitors have been opening ...

Finally- now we have evidence they are trying to quit sitting on empty sites and give them to parties who want to do something with them. Hopefully some idle sites out west can also get released. As much as I wanted to see how they'd do in Sacramento... it is pretty obvious... so best to just relea...

I don't know what the issue with Needles is. When I was there when Bashas was open, the Bashas seemed like a typical Bashas. A drab outdated store but it was a store and it was well staffed and seemed to have traffic. More traffic than I saw at any of the still open Bashas in Phoenix suburbs I went...

I also do not see a Trump FTC approving this merger either due to what it will do to the industry and its impact on smaller players. Remember Trump is rather "friendly" with the owner of Gristdes in NY that Catsimidas guy. The only way I see this approved is if the unions do an about face...

I'm also going to throw this out there- could Aldi be the solution for some of the problem Safeway assets such as the Denver Division? Recall Sobeys has done this very thing with numerous former Safeway units converting them to that format FreshCo. FreshCo is pretty similar to an Aldi. But I'd much...

EVERY divest activity by Albertsons has resulted in losses of jobs due to failure of the parties buying stores: Buttrey: stores in MT/WY divested to Smiths under Fred Meyer- many stores closed- some like Cheyenne got mixed up in the Kroger/Fred Meyer merger and divested again and then failed- but t...