Retail Watchers

i suspect kmart might be gone once sears is forced to file bankruptcy. the remaining stores will liquidate by then. I would like to think Kmart still has a chance somewhere. More closures are a given, but they do still have handfuls of locations that are (somehow) extremely profitable. Notice how a...

I'm not sure if all you guys are realizing that the reason there is no rhyme or reason to which Kmarts are closing is that it's being based on when leases expire and not on any business or geographic considerations. This chain is being shut down store by store so that he doesn't lose out in BK court...

Let's remember why grocery stores install gas pumps. It's either a key part of their loyalty program or convenience. Selling gas on it's own is a low margin business. Little wonder Albertson's got out of the business. Most traditional gas stations make much of their profit selling coffee, soda, hot ...

I can answer some of your questions. Fred Meyer never bothered to sell general merchandise online and as far as I know even today the Kroger Clicklist in Fred Meyer Stores does not offer Fred Meyer General Merchandise but only offers groceries. Why? It's because the only area of the country where Fr...

I'm not as up to speed on the Seattle stores but in the Portland area most stores has their home departments downsized and food grew in size in recent months. These locations include Tualatin, Beaverton, Sunset, Walker Road, Johnson Creek, Raleigh Hills, Glisan, Peninsula, and Stadium. It's clearly ...

Target is riding on a past image of being "better" than Wal Mart and having success in areas like larger cities in California that have either an anti-Wal Mart sentiment and/or have really bad Wal Marts due to safety issues. Areas where Wal Mart has been able to operate decent stores all ...

LOL, that train has left the station! Have you been to any Fred Meyer this year? Just about all their stores have been remodeled to shrink the home section and expand food. Joe has been leading this change. Next up is a complete revamp of apparel with a focus on their own private label brand. Black ...

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. First of all, I am not employed by Fred Meyer but am very familiar with their operations. If you look around the Portland market they have been remodeling many stores to expand the food department with additional space for Nutrition (in most cases dou...

Actually they are not leapfrogging over Oregon. They have received planning approval to convert the King City (Tigard) Oregon Albertson/Haggens store to a Sprouts: https://aca.accela.com/TIGARD/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Planning&TabName=Planning&capID1=16MMD&capID2=00000&capID3=00034...

Einstein quality isn't terrible if you set your expectations right. For a place that is selling bakeoff frozen dough products it is pretty good; as good as a high quality supermarket bakery that does the same things, and not much more expensive (Safeway 89 cents for a bagel; Einstein 1.09 for a bag...