Save Mart to remodel 50 stores

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storewanderer
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Save Mart to remodel 50 stores

Post by storewanderer »

https://abasto.com/en/news/save-mart-remodeling-plan/

Earlier this year, Save Mart implemented a price cut program to help get its pricing in line. Their pricing is now where it always should have been (slightly below Safeway and Raleys). They have also been running stronger ads. The stores still don't look very good and the quality in their fresh departments is somewhat suspect, but these improvements, should really help them. They are clearly in a much better position now than they were a year or two ago and it will be interesting to see how this works out in a few years.
Alpha8472
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Re: Save Mart to remodel 50 stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

I visited the newly remodeled Lucky California store in Martinez, California a few weeks ago as well as the San Bruno store in the Fall.

The new remodel added new wood flooring and all new refrigerators. The meat department also received new cases. Previously they had old Albertsons equipment that was breaking down from the last Albertsons remodel about 16 years ago.

The new equipment and decor really improved the whole shopping atmosphere. The customer count was up and the store looked much better. Previously the meat cases were leaking water and the flooring looked like a pothole lined street.

I was pleasantly surprised and hope more of these stores are remodeled. Although, I have to admit that the NCR self checkout machines are notorious for being unfriendly. The machine constantly says "Item removed from bagging area" for small items. Those machines are the worst. The regular checkout lines were faster and well staffed. The only thing the self checkout person did all day was attending to the self checkout problems. In this case, I have to say get new machines from a different company.
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Re: Save Mart to remodel 50 stores

Post by storewanderer »

Save Mart did similar work to two stores here. A third store got the new refrigeration, but did not get any new flooring or decor. I would expect the third store to get the full remodel soon, I think it does okay.

In the local remodels, they did solely cosmetic work. The tiles behind the fresh departments did not get replaced. They still have the horizontal drug aisles. It just feels like 1990's Albertsons with a new floor and some new paint. We are in Reno and there are multiple references to "Central Valley" on the walls. I wouldn't put that on the wall in Sacramento let alone 4 hours away in Reno. The one thing I like about the remodel is the amount of white on the walls. I think especially on old stores with a drop ceiling that a lighter color on the walls is the way to go.

Save Mart has made some real strides the past couple years with improving pricing and product mix. Their store offering at the present time is much better than it was 3 years ago. For some reason, those improvements haven't really been much for what I want to buy, but I notice the improvements every time I walk one of their stores. I think the customer they are targeting with the price cuts is long gone to Wal Mart and WinCo to buy soda, chips, and heavily processed foods and they are not going to get that customer back no matter how far they try to cut prices on their few selective items because WinCo and Wal Mart will just keep beating them. Their meat is not great and their produce is lousy and extremely overpriced which is odd as that used to be one of their best departments, and their bakery/deli program is understocked, overpriced, and just sad looking.

Plus their price cuts are uneven. With for instance a cut on Hamburger Helper or boxed Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to $1 or $1.25, but then the whole soup category like Progresso or Chunky all at above Safeway pricing like 3.19-3.29/can. In order to have a successful price cut program that brings the customer back to do a full cart shop throughout the center store, you have to cut prices evenly across categories so there is at least one price cut offering in each major category (one brand at minimum). You can't have price breaks on selective categories then other categories running at all full price. Save Mart has been competing with Smiths (not successfully, their main solution has been Food Maxx conversions to go against Smiths which has also been a real flop) in the Reno Market now for 12 years and should know how this sort of format works. It also doesn't help when you have a very weak and confused private label program (is it Sunny Select or Market Essentials? is one of those a budget brand and one a standard private label? why do some categories only have a ME item and no SS item)?

Then with the product mix improvements they have added thousands of speciality/Organic/Gluten Free/Regional items from Kehe and are way over-SKUed on these items and the items are frequently expiring and being sold at deep discount prices a few weeks before expiration. Their regular prices on these items are well above any other store (even Whole Foods for the same items) and these items have not been part of their price cut program. They continue to not come across with a clear, consistent, coherent message as to what customer the are trying to pick up and as a result continue to do a lousy job.

Not sure how to get the photos to show in the right direction... tried to rotate them before uploading and re-tried but they keep posting the wrong way.
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rwsandiego
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Re: Save Mart to remodel 50 stores

Post by rwsandiego »

Funny how a small chain like SaveMart plasters "Central Valley" on stores located in Reno yet Albertsons can figure out to put "Chicago's Freshest Produce Shop" on a Jewel located on the Chicago side of the border with Evanston, IL and "Evanston's Freshest Produce Shop" on a Jewel located on the opposite side of the city limits a few miles away.

I could maybe, sort of, kind of see the "Central Valley Fresh" sign in the produce department if all of the produce was, in fact, grown in the Central Valley. However, the "Central Valley Grown" sign in the front of the store and the "Local" sign hanging from he ceiling a few feet away speaks to a lack of communication between the store design and marketing departments.

Also, I don't like the decor. The white is fine, but the lettering on the wall ruins it for me. Looks like Lucky/Acme circa 1995, which would make my eyes bleed when I looked at it for too long.
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Re: Save Mart to remodel 50 stores

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: March 24th, 2019, 11:18 am Funny how a small chain like SaveMart plasters "Central Valley" on stores located in Reno yet Albertsons can figure out to put "Chicago's Freshest Produce Shop" on a Jewel located on the Chicago side of the border with Evanston, IL and "Evanston's Freshest Produce Shop" on a Jewel located on the opposite side of the city limits a few miles away.

I could maybe, sort of, kind of see the "Central Valley Fresh" sign in the produce department if all of the produce was, in fact, grown in the Central Valley. However, the "Central Valley Grown" sign in the front of the store and the "Local" sign hanging from he ceiling a few feet away speaks to a lack of communication between the store design and marketing departments.

Also, I don't like the decor. The white is fine, but the lettering on the wall ruins it for me. Looks like Lucky/Acme circa 1995, which would make my eyes bleed when I looked at it for too long.
Compared to Save Mart's old decor, this is pretty good. I still think I'd rather just have the blue gray Albertsons back over either the previous or current Save Mart format and interior, but that ship clearly sailed off over a decade ago.

I don't think we have much local beer and wine here in Nevada. We have some...

The California operators here in Reno think anything that comes from California is "local" to us. Smiths does a good job scrubbing the "local" label from the vegetables and other items they bring in here from Utah.
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