Retail Watchers

Supposedly the divested stores will be placed in a company temporarily called “SpinCo” If I'm reading into this correctly, it looks like Albertsons assets will be the only ones that will be spun. https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2022/10/14/kroger--albertsons-grocery-stores-announce-merger...

My takes on this: Kroger will most likely have to divest stores on the West Coast where Kroger owned stores and Albertsons owned stores are the only game in town. The wild card is what they'll do in areas where they have overlapping store brands but won't be a monopoly. I'm thinking places like VA/D...

Whole Foods under Amazon converted all their baggers into online order pullers (my speculation). Most chains are doing that now, and with cashiers too. At my last grocery job, half the cashiers we're turned into order pullers. It's honestly a better job. You walk around with a cart, sipping on your...

It looks like Harris Teeter's homepage has been merged with the rest of Kroger's. It's now just the kroger.com layout with the HT logo in the corner.

Just an update. Some jobs at this warehouse are showing up under Harris Teeter, as opposed to Kroger (they still run separate HR systems). Looks like Ocado deliveries may be branded as HT in the DMV area. They also may be using the facility as distribution center for their brick and mortal stores.

https://twitter.com/theHillisHome/status/1467202556199948289 It looks like the Harris Teeter on Potomac Ave in DC might be closing. Harris Teeter in the DMV area has really seemed to go stale. They haven't opened a new store in quite a while, and the updates to older stores are minimal. My hunch is ...

Their store density is pretty heavy, especially in urban areas. At one point my city had two literally across the street from each other. With more people getting 90 day supplies on medications, there's not as much reason to even go into a CVS that much (especially given their high prices on groceri...

Shorter hours might actually help a lower volume store if it can reduce its costs relative to sales. They have stores in DC that probably aren't losing many sales by closing at 9 and I wouldn't be surprised if this was true, too, in inner Northern Virginia. Stores with a mostly walk-in trade don't ...

mjhale wrote: ↑September 14th, 2021, 6:09 pm ...trying to save money for whatever reason.

The reason is probably to save money on benefits. They could keep the stores properly staffed if they increased part-timers' hours, but then those workers would be eligible for health insurance, mandatory paid sick leave in Maryland and DC, etc.

So it seems as if this sale could bring Harris Teeter further into the Kroger mold, stripping away most of the individuality it's had. That was bound to happen sooner or later. Kroger does that with all its acquisitions. I mean, yes, but I don't know if it was pushed on by Kroger to make HT more li...