Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: March 13th, 2021, 10:08 am
I really like the Susanville IGA and stop there when going through town - I also like Young's Payless off of 88 in Pioneer. I forgot that C&S was an IGA supplier - I do agree with you that Associated is a much better deal. I have been in a few of the locations they supply, and am always surprised at the variety. Hopefully IGA can make a go of it here.
C&S is the original IGA supplier in NorCal and that goes back to the Fleming days. Store like Young's, SPD, Clearlake, and Susanville are long-time and very successful IGAs; there was a group of about 20 IGAs dating back to the early 90s in NorCal Fleming (this also included the Reno IGA and that Gardnerville Ranchos IGA) and they used to do some group buys on items and ran combined monthly coupon book ads (some of which were actually quite good and more than competitive with the larger chains). They also had a plastic bag that showed the locations of all of the IGAs in the region. Also in the 90's they had a stamp program still in those IGAs, probably one of the last stores to offer that, where you filled a card with stamps and eventually redeemed for some kind of discounted item. That all seems to have stopped over the years and each of the stores has more gone their own way. There doesn't seem to be a unified loyalty card program for IGA or anything. I don't really know what IGA brings to the table anymore that the wholesaler already doesn't have an offering for. The wholesalers have merchandising, IT, store decor, private label, etc. already. IGA does all that too but it seems redundant. Still that long-term group of IGAs in NorCal seems to be relatively stable.

Newer IGAs do not seem to have been as stable. Delano IGA in San Francisco (former Kroger Cala/Bell Stores) did not last long and the two stores they still have open one in Fairfax and one in Davis have left the IGA affiliation.
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by bryceleinan »

I was looking for the official post… one of the things going in is a ghost kitchen for multiple brands, including Italian Hearts Pasta Sauce and other local companies. I know Sal & Val, and they’ll run a good operation.

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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

Raleys had installed a full kitchen for the hispanic Food Source concept that they failed to execute properly but all the equipment was kept in there (they just walled the thing off). There is a good bit of space in this store if that takes off, it could be expanded further.
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

Video about the new store:


Scolaris pushed a lot of these same products to an extent with special displays, ad space, etc. over the years... maybe this concept will work better in a single location than it did in 15+ locations.

Probably needs to watch how local that Model Dairy milk is though. Their quarts and pints are produced and bottled by Producers in California, only the half gallons and gallons are produced in Reno. Model Dairy, previously owned by Dean, is owned by Producers a California based company. There is a local dairy out from Fallon, NV called Sand Hill Dairy owned by Nevada people, Sprouts and Safeway both carry very limited amounts of that milk.

Still think this store missed a huge opportunity by not going with Associated Utah for supply.

So Reno will be gaining 3 new stores in the next couple months: this place, a Safeway, and a Sprouts. Kroger seems to be standing still as if nothing is happening. Raleys is doing a remodel on its store nearest the new Safeway (store did not need any remodeling... 18500 Wedge Pkwy in Reno... no clue why they are so scared of Safeway they felt the need to remodel a great looking store they already threw millions at not long ago).
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: March 26th, 2021, 11:36 pm Video about the new store:


Scolaris pushed a lot of these same products to an extent with special displays, ad space, etc. over the years... maybe this concept will work better in a single location than it did in 15+ locations.

Probably needs to watch how local that Model Dairy milk is though. Their quarts and pints are produced and bottled by Producers in California, only the half gallons and gallons are produced in Reno. Model Dairy, previously owned by Dean, is owned by Producers a California based company. There is a local dairy out from Fallon, NV called Sand Hill Dairy owned by Nevada people, Sprouts and Safeway both carry very limited amounts of that milk.

Still think this store missed a huge opportunity by not going with Associated Utah for supply.

So Reno will be gaining 3 new stores in the next couple months: this place, a Safeway, and a Sprouts. Kroger seems to be standing still as if nothing is happening. Raleys is doing a remodel on its store nearest the new Safeway (store did not need any remodeling... 18500 Wedge Pkwy in Reno... no clue why they are so scared of Safeway they felt the need to remodel a great looking store they already threw millions at not long ago).
I get the local aspect, because that is what Dave Asher's passion is... I don't get the Model Dairy connection though. They're as local as Bandon cheese is in Southern Oregon (it's made by Tillamook now in Northern Oregon.) Like you pointed out, Sand Hill would be a better choice. I get Bonanza doing the produce - they make the most sense considering the restaurant market might be a bit slow for a while. I'm hoping this place succeeds.

As far as Kroger goes, I have no clue what they do half the time, especially with the Dayton store. Any time I go in there, the store is busy, yet they can't keep the place stocked, or have decent employees.
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: March 27th, 2021, 7:46 pm

I get the local aspect, because that is what Dave Asher's passion is... I don't get the Model Dairy connection though. They're as local as Bandon cheese is in Southern Oregon (it's made by Tillamook now in Northern Oregon.) Like you pointed out, Sand Hill would be a better choice. I get Bonanza doing the produce - they make the most sense considering the restaurant market might be a bit slow for a while. I'm hoping this place succeeds.

As far as Kroger goes, I have no clue what they do half the time, especially with the Dayton store. Any time I go in there, the store is busy, yet they can't keep the place stocked, or have decent employees.
I guess we will see what happens. What is difficult is this is a conversion of a discount format store. Raleys converted this location to a discount format for a reason- the demographics in the area did not support the normal Raleys format anymore (even after Safeway, Smiths, and Scolaris had already left the neighborhood and two Albertsons had just been downgraded to Save Mart locations).

Model Dairy does still fill the gallons and half gallon containers in Reno. I don't think much else is made in Reno anymore but maybe that will change now. Producers of California bought Model Dairy out of the Dean bankruptcy just last year. Model Dairy did not go with the rest of the Dean assets to DFA for some reason. I bought a Quart of Model Dairy Milk recently and it has an ad on the side of the carton about "local milk local cows" and Reno roots, then you have a 06-plant code up on the date stamp indicating it was packaged up in California. Kind of a joke in my opinion. No such marketing on the gallons or half gallon jugs which actually are at least made in Nevada, either. I think the only reason Model Dairy is even open at all is due to having the contract for the Washoe County school lunch milks (which almost went to Anderson in Las Vegas a number of years ago) and because they fill all private label milk for Wal Mart and WinCo in this area which are running strong volumes.

60,000 square feet is also a lot of space. Associated Utah can certainly merchandise, fill, and run promotions to generate volume in a 60,000 square foot single location independent grocery store as I have seen numerous such stores. I am not so sure about IGA supplied by C&S or UNFI/Supervalu as those are typically much smaller size stores and seem to have volume issues even with their small size due to lack of promotions and lousy pricing. C&S does support that Food 4 Less format in NorCal with larger stores but even in those pricing is all over the place (not great). I hate to say it but a Food 4 Less format may have been a better fit for this location. They could have cut all the local products in.

Smiths in Carson seems to be so hard up for staff they have a hiring sign on the door posting wages for various positions. Most are in the $12/hr - $18/hr range for the same position. Smiths inability to keep its shelves stocked has lost them so much of my business.
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: March 27th, 2021, 9:45 pm Model Dairy does still fill the gallons and half gallon containers in Reno. I don't think much else is made in Reno anymore but maybe that will change now. Producers of California bought Model Dairy out of the Dean bankruptcy just last year. Model Dairy did not go with the rest of the Dean assets to DFA for some reason. I bought a Quart of Model Dairy Milk recently and it has an ad on the side of the carton about "local milk local cows" and Reno roots, then you have a 06-plant code up on the date stamp indicating it was packaged up in California. Kind of a joke in my opinion. No such marketing on the gallons or half gallon jugs which actually are at least made in Nevada, either. I think the only reason Model Dairy is even open at all is due to having the contract for the Washoe County school lunch milks (which almost went to Anderson in Las Vegas a number of years ago) and because they fill all private label milk for Wal Mart and WinCo in this area which are running strong volumes.
Not so unusual - may be a different state but from looking at a map Reno is pretty close to the CA border. Likely something made within Nevada but on the other side of the state could travel farther.

The stores here do the same - listing both items made in NY (but close to Buffalo, which is about as far west as you can get in the state) as well as items from parts of MA & VT as "Close to home" (where the ones from out of state are probably closer in some cases, being we are in NY but under 1 hour from either MA or VT).
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by HCal »

Interesting... I am starting to see some gallon milk containers from Model Dairy popping up in California as well. Saw some at Sam's Club last week and looked up the code because I didn't recognize it.
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

The Reno IGA is now open in the former Food Source. It opened yesterday and is open 8 AM to 8 PM. They have no sign on the building (only a banner).

I went into the store late afternoon today. There were two employees total in the entire 60k square foot store. About 50% of the shelves are filled. Bakery/deli/meat are not yet open. Empty cases with signs saying these come next week. Produce is open and somehow already had piles of zucchini that was limp and rotten (how... on the second day of being open...?).

Center store is C&S supplied. They kept what was left from Food Source and integrated it into their sets so some Essential Everyday items were present but did not see any Raleys brand stuff so I guess that all got pulled. IGA and Best Yet brand present in identical items on various categories. Repetitive and does not really make sense. Pricing is all over the map, mostly not very good. Did not see any sales on anything in center store, or if items were on sale they had the same shelf tags as the regular price items. 30oz Best Foods Mayonnaise 7.79 but the BY/IGA ones only 2.69. 4lb IGA/BY Sugar 4.39 and C&H 4.59. Barilla pasta varied in price by type ranging from 1 cent (Ziti- shelf was empty) to 1.79, most at 1.48. Best Yet Shredded Cheese in refrigerator area various prices 1.99 (Parmesan- usually the more expensive flavor) to 2.39.

As far as the dairy- they only have a small facing of milk from Model Dairy with half gallons at 2.99 and gallons at 4.99. They had one SKU of dozen eggs at 1.98 and 4 total SKUs of yogurt. There was some butter and a few SKUs of some gallons of juice but other than that the back wall for dairy was like 15% stocked, little to no lunchmeat, cookie dough/biscuit, etc.

The few other customers in the store seemed really confused walking around the store. No music playing.

As for DSD they had a big wall space for bread but signs say more bread coming next week. So far the only bread they had was about 4 feet worth of "Franco" (local) bread. No Bibmo or Flowers product, no private label. Basically no liquor yet either. The only soda was Coke or some off brand stuff. For Chips they just had Pringles and Kettle. It is like they did not get set up with the DSDs.

Observed issues at checkout with other customers over pricing. Unit of measure is all screwed up on produce- some items that should be by the pound are ringing by the each and items that should be sold by the each and need to have a quantity prompt do not have a quantity prompt so the cashier is just putting through a whole bag of an item that should be "each" and charging the price for one unit.

Also the checkout continues to be self bagging like Food Source was. I've never seen an IGA where the customer has to bag their own groceries. They had paper bags or California compliant 2.25 reusable bags - no thin bags. Guess C&S can't get them any of those so the store will just have higher bag costs. Scolaris uses C&S and can get thin bags so not sure what the issue with this place is or if they are just being ripped off by the supplier.

I get it is only their second day, they are not completely stocked, etc. But you only get one chance to make a first impression. A more involved wholesaler like Associated could have put together a really good store here and had it that way on day one. And would have gotten the point of sale programmed so it was collecting the amount it should be collecting from the customer and not giving produce away due to improper programming. And gotten a nice ad together for them to run and draw in customers (see: http://midwaymarket.com/ or https://khourysmarket.com/weeklyAd or https://roysmkt.com/ )...........

It will be really interesting to see how this goes. They've been closed for two months. They probably should have tried to get Food Source when it was in a more "operating" state, transition it to C&S, and not stay closed for two months.
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Re: Food Source (Raleys) closing Reno, NV

Post by klkla »

What a mess. I wonder if there was a legal reason they had to open by a certain date?
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