Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. No non-grocery posts.
User avatar
retailfanmitchell019
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 891
Joined: November 10th, 2019, 11:17 am
Location: 760 area code
Has thanked: 39 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: February 4th, 2021, 4:32 pm The Troy Kroger is a pretty large store and was probably remodeled around 2008. Maybe it was expanded at some point. It wasn't a bad store, and I was surprised with it (I went there after Rolla and Warrenton both of which I was thoroughly impressed with; not just the condition but the quality of the operations in general). The Rolla Kroger is a Superstore era model but it is a dump. Both of those looked to be doing some volume. The Warrenton store was very small, very old, and didn't look to be doing much volume; I am not surprised it closed.

That store Dillon's closed in Columbia didn't seem to be in great condition and Hy-Vee really rolled over them there. Dillon's also pulled out of Springfield, MO (5 stores I think) not long after Hy-Vee built one store there (Dillon's had a store across the street from the Hy-Vee). Dillon's also never replaced Joplin after it was destroyed in the tornado though they ran a freestanding pharmacy for a couple years so it appeared as if they were at least considering rebuilding, then ultimately did not. Dillon's seems to be contracting in MO in general. Conversely in Topeka, Hy-Vee built on the site of a former Albertsons (demolished it I assume) and in that market Dillon's spent a lot of money expanding and renovating its existing stores around the same time Hy-Vee showed up. In Topeka, for some reason-maybe due to a store swap with AWG where Dillon's picked up stores in Topeka around the same time, Dillon's put up a fight against Hy-Vee. Unlike in Columbia where they shut down the store across from Hy-Vee and in Springfield where they just bolted from the town entirely. Dillon's is a little confusing- I find their product freshness to be above average for Kroger and very above average for the regions they operate in. I don't understand why they pull out of any markets- they should be the strongest player in any market they are in as they have the best freshness and strong pricing. As you point out they are cheaper than Hy-Vee and have better produce and meat (probably not better bakery and deli though, and certainly not better center store mix).
The former Albertsons in Topeka is still standing, as some government building.
Dillons also had some stores in the KC suburbs, but those are also gone too.
Romr123
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 693
Joined: February 1st, 2021, 4:26 pm
Has thanked: 37 times
Been thanked: 56 times
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by Romr123 »

I lived in Kansas City 30 years ago and shopped frequently at the Dillons on 63/Quivira in Shawnee. They also had at least a couple stores in Olathe. At that point the Dillons was quite a big store--even had a travel agency in the lobby. Think, though, that they didn't have any other stores in KC than those few in Johnson County. At that point Schnucks was nosing around with a couple stores, plus Hy-Vee coming down from Des Moines, plus Super Target (they opened all their stores as Super Target) coming into KC new and novel (there was only Venture in Kansas City until about 1995, even though Target had been in St. Louis since 1968!) I can imagine that Kroger said "naaah, let's withdraw" and exited to broader prairies in outstate Kansas.
User avatar
retailfanmitchell019
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 891
Joined: November 10th, 2019, 11:17 am
Location: 760 area code
Has thanked: 39 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

Albertsons even thought about buying the KC Schnucks stores in the mid 90's. Albertsons also had some land sites in St Louis, but they backed out of that idea before the ASC acquisition.
arizonaguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1107
Joined: July 12th, 2013, 6:07 pm
Been thanked: 35 times
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by arizonaguy »

Romr123 wrote: February 6th, 2021, 4:27 pm I lived in Kansas City 30 years ago and shopped frequently at the Dillons on 63/Quivira in Shawnee. They also had at least a couple stores in Olathe. At that point the Dillons was quite a big store--even had a travel agency in the lobby. Think, though, that they didn't have any other stores in KC than those few in Johnson County. At that point Schnucks was nosing around with a couple stores, plus Hy-Vee coming down from Des Moines, plus Super Target (they opened all their stores as Super Target) coming into KC new and novel (there was only Venture in Kansas City until about 1995, even though Target had been in St. Louis since 1968!) I can imagine that Kroger said "naaah, let's withdraw" and exited to broader prairies in outstate Kansas.
Kansas City is a weird market. It's HyVee, a bunch of AWG affiliated locally owned chains, Walmart, and SuperTarget.

HyVee is a decent operator but their pricing isn't the greatest, the AWG affiliated chains seem ridiculously high priced compared to what I'm used to here in Phoenix (and many of their stores seem relatively dated), and Walmart and SuperTarget are their typical unimpressive selves.

A Kroger division or even an current iteration of Albertsons/Safeway would seem to be an upgrade over most of the AWG affiliated stores on pricing and presentation.

I know HyVee is a strong operator but I can't imagine those AWG affiliated chains are all that frightening to potential entrants and it wouldn't take much effort to do better than some of those stores.

The overall quality of the locally owned grocers in the St. Louis area (Dierberg's and Schnucks) is a canyon away from the locally owned AWG chains in Kanas City.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by storewanderer »

arizonaguy wrote: February 6th, 2021, 5:47 pm
Kansas City is a weird market. It's HyVee, a bunch of AWG affiliated locally owned chains, Walmart, and SuperTarget.

HyVee is a decent operator but their pricing isn't the greatest, the AWG affiliated chains seem ridiculously high priced compared to what I'm used to here in Phoenix (and many of their stores seem relatively dated), and Walmart and SuperTarget are their typical unimpressive selves.

A Kroger division or even an current iteration of Albertsons/Safeway would seem to be an upgrade over most of the AWG affiliated stores on pricing and presentation.
Some of the AWG Price Choppers aren't bad, it depends a little on the operator. I agree pricing isn't the greatest. Hen House is a very nice store however, very high quality. That is run by Ball who also runs quite a few Price Chopper units.

However the Kansas City AWG-affiliated stores are some of the best AWG-affiliated stores I've seen. Comparing those to the AWG-affiliated stores around Oklahoma for instance, is like night and day, the stores in Kansas City are much better.

With that said and considering Hy-Vee is there I think both Safeway/Albertsons would flop in Kansas City and the current Kroger operation would do just okay in Kansas City. Safeway/Albertsons doesn't really have anything to offer that the AWG operators don't already have covered (not great center store pricing and not a very interesting product mix). Some of those AWG operators actually have pretty strong bakery and deli operations (scratch bakeries, Boar's Head in deli, etc.). Not at the level of Hy Vee on mix but certainly an impressive effort and good quality products. As noted up-thread Dillon's had a handfull of stores around Kansas City but got rid of them by 2010 (I think they did a store swap with AWG, where Dillon's gave up its few far west Kansas City suburb stores and in exchange AWG gave up its corporate stores in Topeka and Lawrence area, this was before they spun Homeland off). There is still a Dillon's up in Leavenworth, KS (about 30 miles out of Kansas City- basically a far Kansas City suburb as that is a rather spread out metro area) and a few Dillons in Lawrence, KS about 40 miles out of Kansas City so they aren't in Kansas City, but they aren't far out of it either.

With all of that said if there is anywhere that would be ripe for an Albertsons/Safeway entry or a Kroger entry, due to lack of competition and level of store in the market, it would be Oklahoma. Both Tulsa and Oklahoma City. But Albertsons made that decision to leave that market (a mistake) and I think that pretty much sets that tone. At least WinCo entered, though I am not sure how well they are doing.
Romr123
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 693
Joined: February 1st, 2021, 4:26 pm
Has thanked: 37 times
Been thanked: 56 times
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by Romr123 »

FWIW, AWG does an unusually good job at segmentation in Kansas City which would tend to crowd out an expansion by a Kroger/Dillon or Safeway/Albertsons. They have (as stated) operators of low-end, mid-range (Price Chopper) and high-end (Hen House) . Both Price Chopper and Hen House are very plausible operators within their genres (even if they are operated by separate families), with Price Chopper particularly doing quite a good branding/sponsorship program with the Chiefs. Price Chopper just replaced a 80s-era store in Lees' Summit with a real showplace an exit further out on the highway....the operators seem generally well capitalized and appropriately competitive.
arizonaguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1107
Joined: July 12th, 2013, 6:07 pm
Been thanked: 35 times
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by arizonaguy »

Romr123 wrote: February 6th, 2021, 8:57 pm FWIW, AWG does an unusually good job at segmentation in Kansas City which would tend to crowd out an expansion by a Kroger/Dillon or Safeway/Albertsons. They have (as stated) operators of low-end, mid-range (Price Chopper) and high-end (Hen House) . Both Price Chopper and Hen House are very plausible operators within their genres (even if they are operated by separate families), with Price Chopper particularly doing quite a good branding/sponsorship program with the Chiefs. Price Chopper just replaced a 80s-era store in Lees' Summit with a real showplace an exit further out on the highway....the operators seem generally well capitalized and appropriately competitive.
I'll admit I may be basing my opinion of AWG operators on a limited sample size.

I've been to 4 Hen Houses: Westwood, Corinth Square, Leawood, and Olathe and Hen House, to me, feels like a high-end operator stuck in the 1990s. The décor, pricing, selection, and services seem to be what a high-end operator would have started in the 1990s but hasn't really evolved beyond that like high-end operators in other cities such as Central Market, Market Street, Lunds & Byerlys, Dierbergs, or even the Reasor's in Brookside in Tulsa offer. The pricing is certainly in line with the other high-end chains but the product and execution is not.

The only AWG affiliate that appears to knock on the door of those other chains (per what I have seen online) is Cosentino's Market (but they only have 3 locations).

I'll admit I haven't been in any Price Chopper locations (my relatives in the KC area seem to shop at either Hy-Vee or Hen House exclusively) but from what I've seen online they seem to compare with Kroger and/or Albertsons/Safeway stores (although historically Kroger's pricing may have been lower).

I did just see photos online of that Price Chopper and it does look like a nice store comparable with the newer Kroger / Fry's stores that I've been in in other markets.

I guess it just is surprising that Kroger never really tried to do anything in the Kansas City market as it the demographics of the market seem so similar to Indianapolis and Cincinnati where Kroger is the dominant operator. Kroger also is the dominant grocery operator for the rest of Kansas outside of the Kansas City metro area (and it's an easy, short truck ride to Hutchinson). I understand that Hy-Vee is a strong operator (that Kroger really doesn't compete with in all that many places) but Kroger has better pricing.

Then again I've never understand why Kroger can't make Pittsburgh and Cleveland work either (seeing how close those markets are to Cincinnati).
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by storewanderer »

arizonaguy wrote: February 6th, 2021, 10:10 pm
I've been to 4 Hen Houses: Westwood, Corinth Square, Leawood, and Olathe and Hen House, to me, feels like a high-end operator stuck in the 1990s. The décor, pricing, selection, and services seem to be what a high-end operator would have started in the 1990s but hasn't really evolved beyond that like high-end operators in other cities such as Central Market, Market Street, Lunds & Byerlys, Dierbergs, or even the Reasor's in Brookside in Tulsa offer. The pricing is certainly in line with the other high-end chains but the product and execution is not.
I agree the Westwood and Olathe Hen House are not upscale looking (especially Olathe- that thing looks like a Price Chopper)... but I think Corinth Square is an exceptionally nice looking and laid out store and though I have not been to the Leawood one it looks very nice in the photos online as well. What do you think is missing from them for a high end store? They have extensive service operations, high end beef (dry aged, etc.), large produce areas, extensive fresh cut fruits, extensive prepared foods, Starbucks in some locations, higher end bath and body items, etc.
Romr123
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 693
Joined: February 1st, 2021, 4:26 pm
Has thanked: 37 times
Been thanked: 56 times
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by Romr123 »

Hen House at the Prairie Village Shops does a great job with the space they've got to work with--store was initially Safeway when built in the '50s.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Kroger closing: Nokomis, IL

Post by storewanderer »

There was a Hen House a ways south of KC Airport just off the freeway by a newer Hy-Vee which I believe was a former Safeway as well (I think it must have been expanded as it was good sized). I thought it was a very nice store. But I guess the newer Hy-Vee was too much for it, because it shut down. Kansas City and its lack of density especially as you get more and more out from downtown creates what seems to be a challenge when two stores are close together like that, there just isn't enough business.
Post Reply