Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

klkla wrote: May 9th, 2021, 8:07 pm
storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 12:49 pm Was checking the latest round of negative reviews for this store that have been posted over the past few days.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/raleys-o-n-e-m ... =date_desc

5 new 1 star reviews on Yelp yesterday and today.
That's crazy. Not a single review above 1 star since March 26th. No reviews between then and May 1st but every review since then has been for only 1 star.
To say this is a flop, is an understatement. Store was almost deserted today late afternoon. It would have had 40-50 customers inside at that time before conversion. And the customers present were hardly buying anything.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by ninersdd »

storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 8:50 pm
klkla wrote: May 9th, 2021, 8:07 pm
storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 12:49 pm Was checking the latest round of negative reviews for this store that have been posted over the past few days.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/raleys-o-n-e-m ... =date_desc

5 new 1 star reviews on Yelp yesterday and today.
That's crazy. Not a single review above 1 star since March 26th. No reviews between then and May 1st but every review since then has been for only 1 star.
To say this is a flop, is an understatement. Store was almost deserted today late afternoon. It would have had 40-50 customers inside at that time before conversion. And the customers present were hardly buying anything.
El Dorado is mostly negative, though there are a few 5 stars that pop up (overall 20% positive).

This article is from last month, but the plan is to convert all eventually to the ONE format. https://chainstoreage.com/raleys-conver ... new-banner

Hopefully they rethink that based off of the mostly negative reviews. Like I stated earlier, opening a new store or two would've been more wise over conversions of existing stores.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

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ninersdd wrote: May 9th, 2021, 9:19 pm El Dorado is mostly negative, though there are a few 5 stars that pop up (overall 20% positive).

This article is from last month, but the plan is to convert all eventually to the ONE format. https://chainstoreage.com/raleys-conver ... new-banner

Hopefully they rethink that based off of the mostly negative reviews. Like I stated earlier, opening a new store or two would've been more wise over conversions of existing stores.
Yes, last year and again last month they were saying the plan was to convert all stores to the ONE Format.

Actually they have said in the past few weeks that they have no further ONE Stores planned beyond a new construction store somewhere in Roseville next year and after that will plan future conversions based on customer demand.

I suspect El Dorado's results caused them to pause a little, Reno's results and the high volume of customer complaints and negative social media comment being directed to them may cause them to scrap the entire thing entirely. And when that new Safeway opens on May 19 in Reno, things won't get any easier for this ONE Store in Reno. Have never seen people so excited over a Safeway, as the folks in South Reno who used to shop at Raleys are. This is all on Raleys.

The bigger problem is Raleys has really pissed off its fan club in Reno. That 50's and 60's aged upper middle class customer who has shopped Raleys in Reno for decades and always thought Raleys was "better" than other stores. A good number of those folks had concentrated/moved out closer to the ONE Raleys over the years. They are very angry with this store conversion and not happy with Raleys as a result. It is possible Raleys previous sterling reputation with these folks is damaged beyond repair at this point.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by veteran+ »

klkla wrote: May 9th, 2021, 8:07 pm
storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 12:49 pm Was checking the latest round of negative reviews for this store that have been posted over the past few days.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/raleys-o-n-e-m ... =date_desc

5 new 1 star reviews on Yelp yesterday and today.
That's crazy. Not a single review above 1 star since March 26th. No reviews between then and May 1st but every review since then has been for only 1 star.
Interesting..........right?

;)
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 9:49 pm
Yes, last year and again last month they were saying the plan was to convert all stores to the ONE Format.

Actually they have said in the past few weeks that they have no further ONE Stores planned beyond a new construction store somewhere in Roseville next year and after that will plan future conversions based on customer demand.

I suspect El Dorado's results caused them to pause a little, Reno's results and the high volume of customer complaints and negative social media comment being directed to them may cause them to scrap the entire thing entirely. And when that new Safeway opens on May 19 in Reno, things won't get any easier for this ONE Store in Reno. Have never seen people so excited over a Safeway, as the folks in South Reno who used to shop at Raleys are. This is all on Raleys.

The bigger problem is Raleys has really pissed off its fan club in Reno. That 50's and 60's aged upper middle class customer who has shopped Raleys in Reno for decades and always thought Raleys was "better" than other stores. A good number of those folks had concentrated/moved out closer to the ONE Raleys over the years. They are very angry with this store conversion and not happy with Raleys as a result. It is possible Raleys previous sterling reputation with these folks is damaged beyond repair at this point.
If they were to convert all stores to the ONE format, that would be a disaster in the making.
Maybe Stater Bros should buy Raley's.

When I read Google and Yelp reviews, there is a lot of mention of Safeway. Somebody even mentioned the word "Albertsons" in ONE review (pun not intended). Raley's took a lot of customers from Albertsons when Save Mart bought and ruined their stores.
It's weird how this format can't even work in a place like Truckee.
As for Reno's new Safeway, that place will definitely rock n' roll with volume. Might also be time for them to buy Save Mart's Reno stores and bring Albertsons back to Reno.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: May 10th, 2021, 11:26 am
If they were to convert all stores to the ONE format, that would be a disaster in the making.
Maybe Stater Bros should buy Raley's.

When I read Google and Yelp reviews, there is a lot of mention of Safeway. Somebody even mentioned the word "Albertsons" in ONE review (pun not intended). Raley's took a lot of customers from Albertsons when Save Mart bought and ruined their stores.
It's weird how this format can't even work in a place like Truckee.
As for Reno's new Safeway, that place will definitely rock n' roll with volume. Might also be time for them to buy Save Mart's Reno stores and bring Albertsons back to Reno.
Raleys would be a terrible fit for Stater Bros in all aspects- culture, store size, customer base, store location. Save Mart would be a better fit.

I don't expect Save Mart to exit Reno at this time. Save Mart has experienced significant benefit the past couple years on infill/higher density development near multiple of their stores and more such development is coming. They have limited competition in the middle of Reno. They sold the real estate on most of the stores last year and have 20 year leases on the stores. They have remodeled 4 stores and those 4 stores are doing fine. The 2 Food Maxx locations do not do well but I don't think are in any danger of closing. They still have 3 other stores they have not yet remodeled- those stores are struggling.

The new Safeway in Reno is an Albertsons in all but name anyway. Nothing like a Safeway in layout or even product placement. Actually nearly identical to a Save Mart in Grass Valley, CA in layout (former Albertsons) right down to placement of frozen, pharmacy, etc. Self serve meat and service meat are reversed and bakery placement is slightly different but the rest of it is dead on, 80's Albertsons store.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 9:49 pm...
Yes, last year and again last month they were saying the plan was to convert all stores to the ONE Format...
Even if these stores were successful, converting the entire chain to this format would not have ended well. Unlike what PriceChopper is doing with Market 32, this is not simply a conventional grocer adding "clean" foods and going upscale. This is taking away their core business. If they followed PriceChopper's or Mariano's models, they would probably be OK.
storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2021, 9:49 pm...Actually they have said in the past few weeks that they have no further ONE Stores planned beyond a new construction store somewhere in Roseville next year and after that will plan future conversions based on customer demand....
Smart move. I'd advise them to convert this store BACK.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

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rwsandiego wrote: May 12th, 2021, 7:40 pm Smart move. I'd advise them to convert this store BACK.
Maybe it is some sort of a nasty test to see if they can somehow squeeze the same or more profit out of a way lower volume of overall higher margin sales. Problem I see is their execution is lousy. Raleys needs to stick to the format they know best- traditional Raleys. Food Source, Food Source Hispanic version, and this ONE are all disasters. They miss the mark on merchandising, pricing, and fresh departments in these "other" formats for some reason.

For fun tonight I went to Whole Foods and then went to this place. There is just no comparison. Whole Foods has a larger mix of produce and far better presentation/freshness, lower pricing, same goes in meat, deli, and bakery. For instance Whole Foods has soft summer fruit in great supply and it smells great- peaches, white peaches, nectarines, apricots, in regular or organic (3.49/lb and 4.99/lb respectively). Raleys- has a few non-Organic peaches (at 3.89/lb) and that was it for their soft fruit. Looking at meat, the variety of sausages, among other things, available in the service case at Whole Foods, which is open until 9 PM, again there is no comparison. Raleys service case closes before 7 PM. Also the Raleys pre-packaged fish is back down to only salmon again just like before the conversion, the variety of pre-pack fish is already gone. Cannot believe they gave that up after... a week? Also at Whole Foods when I went to the self checkout there was an employee there who greeted me and thanked me as I left. At Raleys self checkout, there was not even an employee there watching anything and one of the 4 self checkouts was broken (again...), which seems to have become more common since this conversion to ONE.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

Went to this place again.

This time, meat department had at least 120 packages of "Rocky" fresh chicken in various parts marked down with expiration date 5/16 mostly $3 and $5 off (when the packages are $8-$15 it isn't a great deal). Less than 10 packs of beef marked down except the pre-packed air filled burger patties had at least 20 packs marked down and the Raleys Purely Made Sausage which is now in the meat case (used to be next to the Jimmy Deans) had about 12 packages marked down as well. They have way, way less beef out than before.

Produce had a nice looking end of organic peaches, at 3.39/lb- 94038 code. The non-Organic 4044 code is off to the side still, odd the Organic is priced below the non-Organic. Also typically do not see Raleys selling the 4038 code in the past except at Food Source- typically they only sell the 4044 code since that is the higher quality tree ripe code. Odd to see them going with a lower quality item in this store.

Mix in this place is such a total and complete joke. I was looking for some Mahatma Jasmine Rice. They don't have any Mahatma Rice at all. They had Jasmine Rice in a few other brands (all more expensive and not Organic even). They do sell Minute Rice and two SKUs of Raleys Brand Instant Rice. Why do they have those lousy processed instant rice products yet no Mahatma products? It may not be fake but it sure isn't good. I probably saved $2 buying it over at Wal Mart anyway, so fine.

Store had far fewer customers than it used to have at this particular time, and seemed overstaffed, with employees largely standing around talking to one another. Also they now have a security guard standing around by the produce/bakery doors (oddly, not the door near liquor, which is wide open with nobody watching anything there). Other than during the weird COVID period where the shelves were empty when Raleys installed security in all stores, this store never had a security guard present in the past. It makes the store look like it is in a bad area (it isn't). I can count on one hand the number of grocery stores around Reno that have uniformed security guards present, even after adding this one.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by ninersdd »

2 weeks in, the Yelp reviews(including the ones that aren't recommended) are 36-0 in terms of negative to positive. The "best" one of those is a 3 star one that is lukewarm at best. Colossal failure all around.
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