Baker's - Omaha, NE

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Baker's - Omaha, NE

Post by SamSpade »

So this store name is part of the Dillon's division and they don't make a lot of effort to hide it in certain ways. There were in-store signs trying to recruit potential employees, as well as milk and eggs branded Dillon's.

The name outside was Baker's as is that on the receipt, etc. Their current branding is "Great food. Low prices."
Attached are a few photos I took.

The decor was the standard Kroger decor they've been using across all divisions until recently / in some locations. The "Garden" was quite large and the store was quite large.

For sparkling water, they had one flavor not available at Smith's or Fred Meyer, a berry - lemon. Almost all store brand products were labeled Kroger except for the categories mentioned above.

Pricing seemed to be virtually identical to Fred Meyer. I haven't been in a Smith's for a while. Natural choices was its own large area near the pharmacy. Grind your own peanut butter is priced quite a bit lower than Hy-Vee and in line with what I'm used to seeing out west. Ethnic foods had a decent depth and was displayed better than many mainstream grocers.

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Re: Baker's - Omaha, NE

Post by storewanderer »

Dillon's generally seems to do a good job with its stores. Gerbes in MO was pretty unimpressive, though. Given the limited competition, they seem to have fair prices and given the geography they have surprisingly fresh products (their produce seems a lot better than Smiths).
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Re: Baker's - Omaha, NE

Post by Bakeragr »

I live near and shop often at a Gerbes location in Jefferson City, Mo. Currently there are just 7 Gerbes locations still open in Central MO, however it’s been announced that one of them in Columbia, Mo is closing at the end of the year when their lease expires. It’s in an excellent location, however it’s a little small, and directly across from a new Hy-Vee that is quite impressive. I wonder if they’re looking for a different location to build new. They should.
Kroger has updated the other two locations in Columbia and one of the two in Jefferson City. I think that little has been done to the other stores for years.
Anyway, I was in Omaha over the weekend and visited the Baker’s on Saddlebrook Rd. as well as a Hy-Vee just down the road. It was a Sunday afternoon and both were quite busy, but I’d say the Baker’s was surprisingly the busier of the two. It appeared to be a diverse crowd at both stores, given that these are the closest supermarkets in the center city.
Bakers was well maintained and had Kroger’s latest layout and decor. Reminded me of the City Market in Dillon, Colorado. Had a Murray’s cheese and an extensive wine section.
I would guess that this store came with the purchase and was built by Fleming. It had very high ceilings and there was no room for expansion. As they had limited space, it had a walk up Pharmacy window instead of a Drive-Thru outside. Also, you could see that they had recently taken off the “Open 24 Hours” sign on the front of the store.
I don’t know why Kroger hasn’t expanded Bakers more, as they appear to be successful. They had a ton of Kwik Shops (which they just unloaded) in Lincoln, but no super markets there. I know Hy-Vee is a tough competitor, but there should be enough room for both.
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Re: Baker's - Omaha, NE

Post by storewanderer »

That Gerbes that is closing was the first Gerbes I went into and I was really not impressed by the place. It hardly had any customers, perimeter areas were marginal at best, and while pricing was lower than Hy Vee, the overall quality of the store was far enough below Hy Vee that the pricing did not make up for it. Also that Hy Vee by that closing Gerbes seemed to have lower prices than the other Hy Vees I went to in Columbia (they all had different prices...).

I agree the other Gerbes are better in Columbia.

There was also a nice Schnucks in Columbia as well as Lucky's Market with a pretty nice store in some ex-conventional. Schnucks excels on perimeter quality but pricing on center store seems to be a bit high. I'm not sure how their private label program is as I haven't shopped them much but given they are on Topco it is probably pretty good.

I suspect if I were in Columbia, Gerbes would get a rather low chunk of my shopping budget.
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