Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by pseudo3d »

marshd1000 wrote: October 12th, 2017, 7:38 pm I've never been in a Gelsons but while the decor was different, to me Gelsons concept seems to be very much like the legacy Haggen stores. I often wonder if Haggen could have made it in some areas, if only they had NOT done the quick conversions and NOT tried to court the Safeway and Albertsons customers? Here in Washington, I keep thinking of the Gig Harbor Safeway/Haggen/Safeway. Demographically speaking, it is a high income area where Haggen should have done well in but didn't. People were expecting another Safeway style store. Gelsons seems to have done it right. Haggen closed down, then Gelsons took their time in remodeling the store. I am sure there was plenty of publicity. Haagen's only advertising was their circulars and the internet. No radio, tv or billboards! I know, would've, could've, should've!
What they should've done is introduced a mid-line brand that would work with the quick remodels, then convert some to Haggen later for the stores that would do well, and flip the ones that didn't.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

I agree with the above.

First thing they should have determined is which stores could have been successful with the upscale Haggen brand and which ones couldn't. They could have used the Tops brand for the stores that would not work out as Haggen.

Secondly, they should not have closed the stores. The previous brand (Vons, Pavilions, or Safeway) should have closed at midnight and the original owner should have been responsible for selling all perishables or getting rid of all perishable merchandise before midnight. An inventory would have then been done over night. At the same time Haggen would stock the perishable departments to their standards (High quaility in Haggen and medium quality at Tops). They would also replace any Vons/Pavilions/Albertsons signage in the store.

The stores would have opened at the regular time the next morning with the same prices. This would have prevented Albertson's from doing data-dumps that dramatically raised prices without Haggen's knowledge. Not buying the perishables from the previous owner would have prevented Albertson's from dumping expired and damaged products on them.

They could have done these conversions with five different teams, each doing two or three stores a week.

They probably also should have started a rewards program at the very beginning. Something like 2% back in the form of a gift card when a certain level is reached. This would have been easy to implement and would give customers the impression that they added an extra level of savings.

Once all the conversions were done they could start with the mini-remodels (similar to what they did when they closed for conversion) overnight in the Haggen branded stores only. At this point they also could have started marketing the Tops stores to Smart & Final and the ethnic markets. They probably would have had to sell the stores in small batches because each store would have to sit empty for 30 days to break the union contracts. So probably five a month.

Once all the Tops were gone Haggen would have had 20-25 core stores in WA-OR and 35-40 core stores in CA-NV-AZ and would have been in a much better position to grow as a regional upscale chain.

But remember, hindsight is always 20/20.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by steps »

klkla wrote: October 14th, 2017, 10:25 am I agree with the above.

First thing they should have determined is which stores could have been successful with the upscale Haggen brand and which ones couldn't. They could have used the Tops brand for the stores that would not work out as Haggen.

Secondly, they should not have closed the stores. The previous brand (Vons, Pavilions, or Safeway) should have closed at midnight and the original owner should have been responsible for selling all perishables or getting rid of all perishable merchandise before midnight. An inventory would have then been done over night. At the same time Haggen would stock the perishable departments to their standards (High quaility in Haggen and medium quality at Tops). They would also replace any Vons/Pavilions/Albertsons signage in the store.

The stores would have opened at the regular time the next morning with the same prices. This would have prevented Albertson's from doing data-dumps that dramatically raised prices without Haggen's knowledge. Not buying the perishables from the previous owner would have prevented Albertson's from dumping expired and damaged products on them.

They could have done these conversions with five different teams, each doing two or three stores a week.

They probably also should have started a rewards program at the very beginning. Something like 2% back in the form of a gift card when a certain level is reached. This would have been easy to implement and would give customers the impression that they added an extra level of savings.

Once all the conversions were done they could start with the mini-remodels (similar to what they did when they closed for conversion) overnight in the Haggen branded stores only. At this point they also could have started marketing the Tops stores to Smart & Final and the ethnic markets. They probably would have had to sell the stores in small batches because each store would have to sit empty for 30 days to break the union contracts. So probably five a month.

Once all the Tops were gone Haggen would have had 20-25 core stores in WA-OR and 35-40 core stores in CA-NV-AZ and would have been in a much better position to grow as a regional upscale chain.

But remember, hindsight is always 20/20.
Unless the intention was never to be successful in the first place. I'm sure former Haggen execs made a bit of money before it was all said and done.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

steps wrote: October 14th, 2017, 12:22 pmUnless the intention was never to be successful in the first place. I'm sure former Haggen execs made a bit of money before it was all said and done.

That's always a possibility, too. One of the first things they did was sell all the real estate from the stores they owned and lease them back. Because they were a privately help company there wasn't any public accounting of what happened with that money.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

This caught me by surprise. Bob Mariano is joining Gelson's BOD:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 47654.html

Gelson's is privately held so it doesn't have a typical board of directors structure. But I think this is a good thing. While Gelson's product quality is excellent their presentation is not all that inspiring. Maybe he can bring a little of the Mariano's 'Food Theater' flare to the company.

Another little Gelson's tidbit. I thought it was kind of odd that they did not remodel their store in Westfield Century City, which is near the end phase of a $1 billion renovation. It turns out that Gelson's filed a lawsuit against Westfield in February 2016 concerning a new tenant called Eataly (owned by celebrity chefs Mario Bataly and Lidia Bastianich). Gelson's was mad because Bataly apparently said that Eataly derives 50% of it's revenue from grocery sales. Gelson's lease gives them the exclusive right to operate a grocery store in the shopping center.

https://therealdeal.com/la/2016/02/19/g ... city-mall/

The lawsuit was settled on August 31st, 2017 although I haven't been able to find out details of the settlement. Eataly will open their 67,000 square foot store this Friday. And Gelson's is now doing a major remodel to their store in the center so I would guess that Westfield probably made some sort of an accommodation to Gelson's.

There are some cool photos of the new Eataly on this page. It looks pretty amazing.
https://la.eater.com/2017/10/27/1655954 ... ing-photos
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

I've been by the Santa Monica Gelsons almost daily for the last few weeks. The parking lot is very empty compared to when it was an Albertsons. I've noticed over the last few weeks, since September, in some local free Santa Monica and Marina del Rey newspapers (such as the weekly Argonaut) they've had $10 off $50 coupons for the Santa Monica & Marina del Rey locations in each of the papers every week.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by storewanderer »

A big difference between Gelson's and Mariano's is that Mariano's had a lot of attractive price points. Gelson's doesn't. I would wager that Gelson's quality is probably better than Mariano's, but I think the better price to quality-value ratio was at Mariano's.

This could mean some changes for Gelson's...

Interesting to me that Kroger did not retain him. Given how many division presidents have been retiring out of there... then again since Kroger seems to be more focused on "technology initiatives" these days than growing their store base, or addressing their CHRONIC out of stock problem, maybe it was not the right fit.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

It looks like they have set a date of November 16th as the opening date of the new Rancho Mission Viejo store. This will be the first Gelson's built from the ground up since the ill-fated Pasadena store that opened up the day after 9/11, 16 years ago.

https://progressivegrocer.com/new-orang ... nnovations

"Set to open Nov. 16, the store features such unique offerings as Gelson’s Kitchen, where customers can build personalized breakfast items such as omelets and meal bowls with Mediterranean-inspired ingredients for enjoyment at the store or as takeout, and the Wolfgang Puck Build-Your-Own-Pizza counter, offering a la carte toppings for customizing store-baked pizzas. Additional unique features include a charcuterie station with sliced-to-order imported meats and suggested entertaining platters, a tapas bar with wine and craft beer service and shareable small plates, and daily-prepared sushi.
In addition to a Renaud’s Bakery and a coffee bar, the new store will include features common to other Gelson’s stores, including an extensive soup and salad bar, a full-service deli with daily store-made salads and entrées, a gourmet cheese area, a hot-food bar, an olive cart, and a self-serve poke bar. further, a new cutting and juicing kiosk in the produce department will offer fresh-cut fruit, and fresh-squeezed and premium bottled juices, while a full-service floral department will provide fresh floral offerings along with custom and ready-made gift baskets."
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by buckguy »

Eataly has stores in NYC and Chicago. If the Century City store is like those, probably less than half the revenue would come from groceries, unless they count things like take out sandwiches and the like. The groceries are quite uneven--the pasta selection is less than i would have expected but the range of cheeses is excellent.
klkla wrote: November 1st, 2017, 5:14 pm This caught me by surprise. Bob Mariano is joining Gelson's BOD:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 47654.html

Gelson's is privately held so it doesn't have a typical board of directors structure. But I think this is a good thing. While Gelson's product quality is excellent their presentation is not all that inspiring. Maybe he can bring a little of the Mariano's 'Food Theater' flare to the company.

Another little Gelson's tidbit. I thought it was kind of odd that they did not remodel their store in Westfield Century City, which is near the end phase of a $1 billion renovation. It turns out that Gelson's filed a lawsuit against Westfield in February 2016 concerning a new tenant called Eataly (owned by celebrity chefs Mario Bataly and Lidia Bastianich). Gelson's was mad because Bataly apparently said that Eataly derives 50% of it's revenue from grocery sales. Gelson's lease gives them the exclusive right to operate a grocery store in the shopping center.

https://therealdeal.com/la/2016/02/19/g ... city-mall/

The lawsuit was settled on August 31st, 2017 although I haven't been able to find out details of the settlement. Eataly will open their 67,000 square foot store this Friday. And Gelson's is now doing a major remodel to their store in the center so I would guess that Westfield probably made some sort of an accommodation to Gelson's.

There are some cool photos of the new Eataly on this page. It looks pretty amazing.
https://la.eater.com/2017/10/27/1655954 ... ing-photos
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

buckguy wrote: November 5th, 2017, 1:19 pm
I think they were more worried about Eataly selling fresh fruits and vegetables, prime meats and a large selection of wine.
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