Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

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Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by storewanderer »

This will leave one Food Source, in Stockton.
Also the Sak N Save in Reno which they didn't re-banner but it is basically a Food Source Store.

Not clear if Raleys lined up a buyer for Hayward or if it is just closing. Unfortunate Kroger did not take this and convert it to a FoodsCo, it is a good sized store and opened as a warehouse format (opened as a warehouse format either Cost Less or Sav Max in the 90's, Raleys took it over in the mid 90's).
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: May 29th, 2021, 12:10 pm This will leave one Food Source, in Stockton.
Also the Sak N Save in Reno which they didn't re-banner but it is basically a Food Source Store.

Not clear if Raleys lined up a buyer for Hayward or if it is just closing. Unfortunate Kroger did not take this and convert it to a FoodsCo, it is a good sized store and opened as a warehouse format (opened as a warehouse format either Cost Less or Sav Max in the 90's, Raleys took it over in the mid 90's).
What will Raley's do with the remaining Food Source and Sak N Save?
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: May 29th, 2021, 3:40 pm
storewanderer wrote: May 29th, 2021, 12:10 pm This will leave one Food Source, in Stockton.
Also the Sak N Save in Reno which they didn't re-banner but it is basically a Food Source Store.

Not clear if Raleys lined up a buyer for Hayward or if it is just closing. Unfortunate Kroger did not take this and convert it to a FoodsCo, it is a good sized store and opened as a warehouse format (opened as a warehouse format either Cost Less or Sav Max in the 90's, Raleys took it over in the mid 90's).
What will Raley's do with the remaining Food Source and Sak N Save?
Well they are both open and operating normally.

Sak N Save used to be a busy place when Scolaris ran it. It was not a great environment, and there seemed to often be domestic issues in the parking lot, especially in the evening. It was 24 hours but Raleys has cut hours a couple times, I think it closes at 11 PM now. It was also not unusual to see two plainclothes loss prevention chase people and cuff them against the front entry when Scolaris ran the store. Since Raleys took over the store, and closed the contract post office, store operated money order/money transfer/check cashing center, service deli, and pharmacy, the foot traffic in the store has declined significantly, the amount of staffing present is cut by probably 67%, but the safety "issues" have stopped... the store is a shadow of what it was under Scolaris but the "issues" that used to be present have stopped and the store feels much more calm/safe.
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by HCal »

Very sad. I wonder why Raley's had trouble with this format while FoodMaxx was so successful. I've never been to a Food Source but I'm going to try and swing by the last one some time this summer before it inevitably closes.
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: May 31st, 2021, 4:24 pm Very sad. I wonder why Raley's had trouble with this format while FoodMaxx was so successful. I've never been to a Food Source but I'm going to try and swing by the last one some time this summer before it inevitably closes.
Food Source has been poorly performing for years. Back in the 90's it was performing poorly after they built a few new stores and that is why a number of those stores were closed by the mid 00's. They converted a store in Las Vegas to Food Source and it was closed within months of the conversion. Nob Hill also had a discount format called Price Low Foods which was more like a Grocery Outlet type of operation under Nob Hill but was ultimately converted to Food Source for not long before closing; to be fair this store was a real dump. Back when they built stores from scratch, it accomplished them building stores in neighborhoods they would not have opened a conventional Raleys around Sacramento... these areas were underserved in the 90's but since then more ethnic stores have opened and they are not quite so underserved anymore.

My observation of Food Source over the years was Raleys always ran it with lower quality perishables than a normal Raleys and in some cases this stuff was so poor of quality it should not have even been sold. Pricing was never great and merchandising in the store was always just a bit odd and lacking in the larger stores; the stores purpose built as Food Source always felt empty and under merchandised.

Then when you hit 2010 or whenever it was, they started to revive Food Source by converting stores from Raleys, the first being the store in Elk Grove along 99, and it didn't last long, it was awful. The stores converted from Raleys- as it goes- you have a poorly performing conventional store in a declining neighborhood. You convert it to a box store in hopes of salvaging it (or riding out the lease in a format with a lower expense structure). You know how this will go. Yet additional conversions followed in Pittsburg (closed), North Highlands (taken over by Food Maxx who closed its nearby store), Reno (attempted as a Hispanic format which was a complete flop due to garbage product quality, then reverted to a standard Food Source and did have traffic but still ultimately closed), then the final conversion was Stockton (still open).

Up until the mid 00's, the Food Source Stores were run separately from Raleys. They had a separate corporate office in Citrus Heights, separate buying for perishables, even a different POS system was in use. When Raleys pulled from Las Vegas, they put the old used POS from Las Vegas into the Food Source Stores so they at least ran on the same POS as the rest of Raleys.

For many years after Raleys discontinued Sunny Select items and switched to Raleys brand, Food Source kept selling Sunny Select items. The Reno Food Source did always have a few odd random items in Raleys brand from day one which was different from what I saw in CA, also a few random Western Family items showed up. It wasn't until 2-3 years ago that Food Source finally discontinued Sunny Select for good and started to slot mostly Raleys brand items (along with a few Essential Everyday items).

I always felt like Raleys did not want to make it obvious they owned Food Source. Back when the Reno Food Source was open, I spent more there in a month than I've spent at Food Maxx in years. I find Food Maxx to be simply horrible up here in NV- there are just too many other options that are better stores with lower pricing (Smiths for one).

So we will see what happens. I thought Food Source would be gone by the early 00's. It lasted a lot longer than I would have expected and even had that expansion in the 10's through converted poorly performing Raleys locations. So I would not say it is completely out of the cards that it could have yet another expansion somehow.

I think Raleys current plan is to plunge a lot of resources into the ONE Market format. But at the same time they need to keep supporting the standard Raleys format. So seeing the Food Source count down to 1 and Sak N Save at its acquired count of 1 store isn't real surprising as this format is sort of a distraction from other priorities they seem to be more interested in. It was never enough stores (like Food Maxx) to be doing a serious enough volume that it helped the overall buying power of the chain much in my view- maybe it moved them into a higher bracket with some CPGs (yet kicking so many items from the ONE Format goes counter to that) but a few new conventional Raleys could have accomplished the same thing in that case.
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

I wonder if Food Source has a different wage structure than the regular Raley's stores? That explains why Pak N Save somehow still exists, and why Albertsons operated Super Saver/Max Foods stores in California, forgetting about those stores until they closed or converted to Albertsons.
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: June 15th, 2021, 9:46 pm I wonder if Food Source has a different wage structure than the regular Raley's stores? That explains why Pak N Save somehow still exists, and why Albertsons operated Super Saver/Max Foods stores in California, forgetting about those stores until they closed or converted to Albertsons.
Yes, Food Source runs under a different wage structure/different position titles than the regular Raleys. In CA, the utility clerk vs. courtesy clerk distinction is a big one.

When stores converted from Raleys to Food Source, the more senior employees ended up transferring to other Raleys. Some of the less senior employees transferred to Food Source though. Also when a Food Source closed, the hourly employees had to go re-apply as new hires at Raleys though were given preference since they had experience.
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by Zaxxon »

:roll: This was my neighborhood grocery store and it's closure was unexpected and with little notice. What a shame. The local area used to be home to pretty good Hispanic grocery stores as well. There was one off Mission which suddenly shut down and was replaced by an auto zone and then they threw up this insanely expensive condo unit (the legacy at Hayward) which is both an eyesore and thorn in the fact they closed a lane to an already congested two lane street/highway.

Food source always had reasonable prices and discounted items to be had. They also seemed to keep a good stock of Hispanic and ethnic foods. It was just shut down and sits there currently. The plaza it was in already lost the recycling center it had for many years which closed in 2000. It also lost a furniture/appliance rental place next to the food source which then became a Gym (Fitness 19). The gym itself also closed after less than 4 years in operation in 2019. It's not been good for grocery stores in the east bay. I hope someone opens up a new grocery store in the same spot even if it is another grocery outlet. The one that is just up the street is in a bad location accessibility wise. The closed food source was very near a bus stop and I'm certain this has hurt many local seniors
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by storewanderer »

It is interesting to me nobody took the Hayward Food Source. I thought that was an okay performing store. Well, maybe someone did take it but it isn't known who yet.

It is set up in configuration to easily flip to be a standard issue discount format store- Food Maxx, FoodsCo, etc. Could just open right back up.

WinCo once took a liquor license out for this store in the 90's but it did not ever open and Food Source ended up opening after the F4L operator went away.
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Re: Food Source Closing- Hayward, CA 6/4

Post by SeaWolfFan »

I haven't checked these forums in a few months so this is the first I heard of Food Source closing.

I live a few miles away yet according to Google maps I only shopped there three times last year and none this year.

Food Source often had ground beef on sale for much cheaper than anywhere else. However very few of their sales fliers appealed to me so I saw no point in going there much, especially after Grocery Outlet opened up a third store in Hayward in 2018. Moreso after K-mart closed in early 2020.

I can't imagine FoodMaxx going in there as there are already two other FoodMaxxes within 2 miles.
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