Fred Meyer in Boise

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storewanderer
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Fred Meyer in Boise

Post by storewanderer »

I wonder what the plans are for Fred Meyer in Boise. So far only Nampa has been remodeled and gotten the cuts to GM mix. The other stores still have a complete non food mix and mostly have a 2010 era remodel (cement floors) except the one by the airport has the 2000 era white wall interior (still looks good though).

With Albertsons vastly improving its operation in Boise and other new entries like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Natural Grocers, etc. I feel like a lot of advantages Fred Meyer had 10 years ago in regard to food mix and product quality are being much more seriously challenged at present than in the past.

Pricing also skewed on the high side but their produce and meat looked pretty good. They seem to be getting dairy from Smiths but other items still from Fred Meyer. They seem to close deli at 8pm (hot food earlier) in most if not all locations despite what seems to be decent customer traffic and Albertsons keeps deli including hot food open well past 8.

Also the Garden City Fred Meyer closes at 10pm. I have never seen that other than in rural areas. Also almost no traffic for non food, a lot of markdown items, and definitely a different vibe than the usual Fred Meyer. Not sure what the situation there is.
Super S
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Re: Fred Meyer in Boise

Post by Super S »

I think Fred Meyer has room to grow. I am somewhat surprised that they have virtually no presence in eastern Oregon, yet have stores in Idaho. Some towns such as Ontario, Pendleton, and LaGrande seem like they would be a good fit for Fred Meyer.

Boise has changed considerably since Fred Meyer first appeared by taking over the existing Grand Central stores in the 1980s. Fred Meyer actually did not have a full-line store (Garden City) until a year or two after that. So they did not have a strong grocery reputation at first, and at one point there was talk about eliminating the food department in Garden City about a year after the store opened.

Fred Meyer can do well in grocery, especially with Kroger's resources. Sourcing dairy from Smith's makes some sense in this region as the stores are physically closer to Utah. But they are struggling on the GM side. With the demise of both Kmart and Shopko, they have potential to make the GM side stronger but seem to be heading in the opposite direction.

What I still do not understand though is why Fred Meyer hasn't opened a few more stores in Eastern Oregon. I think the area from Pendleton to Ontario seems like a good fit for new stores, and in Idaho, possibly Mountain Home.

As for 10PM closing, they have done that at times in Portland, and I wouldn't be surprised if this happens at stores such as Gateway and other locations that appear to be higher theft as time goes on.
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Re: Fred Meyer in Boise

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: September 18th, 2019, 5:48 am I think Fred Meyer has room to grow. I am somewhat surprised that they have virtually no presence in eastern Oregon, yet have stores in Idaho. Some towns such as Ontario, Pendleton, and LaGrande seem like they would be a good fit for Fred Meyer.

Boise has changed considerably since Fred Meyer first appeared by taking over the existing Grand Central stores in the 1980s. Fred Meyer actually did not have a full-line store (Garden City) until a year or two after that. So they did not have a strong grocery reputation at first, and at one point there was talk about eliminating the food department in Garden City about a year after the store opened.

Fred Meyer can do well in grocery, especially with Kroger's resources. Sourcing dairy from Smith's makes some sense in this region as the stores are physically closer to Utah. But they are struggling on the GM side. With the demise of both Kmart and Shopko, they have potential to make the GM side stronger but seem to be heading in the opposite direction.

What I still do not understand though is why Fred Meyer hasn't opened a few more stores in Eastern Oregon. I think the area from Pendleton to Ontario seems like a good fit for new stores, and in Idaho, possibly Mountain Home.

As for 10PM closing, they have done that at times in Portland, and I wouldn't be surprised if this happens at stores such as Gateway and other locations that appear to be higher theft as time goes on.
I am sure Fred Meyer has a profitable third or fourth place position in Boise in terms of market share. Now that Albertsons is renovating stores, added those former Paul's Stores (which are drastically improved now), and opened an actual brand new store that Market Street format one in Meridian (and what a great new store), Fred Meyer needs to add more stores too. Not remodel stores. Add stores.

Lots of places such as those you point out, would be a great fit for Fred Meyer but there has been very little growth the past decade under Kroger in terms of new stores. Similar situation for Ralphs and QFC and it comes off like there is some issue with the immediate west coast in terms of not wanting to build many new stores there. But, I think Idaho is a fairly low cost spot to develop stores so I am surprised Kroger has not been willing to invest much there. They have invested considerably in new stores in lower cost Utah and Arizona in the past 5-6 years. I wonder if Idaho would have seen more new stores had the operation of those stores been shifted over to Smiths.

I am also wondering if in the case of Boise, the Shopko liquidation sales that have been going on for quite a few months of 2019 may have potentially caused Fred Meyer's non-food sales to slow down...
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