Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

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Re: Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

Post by jamcool »

EG just announced it is buying Cumberland Farms, which is a major c-store operator on the East Coast-and plans to keep the Cumberland name.
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Re: Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

Post by pseudo3d »

That's definitely news, but I have a bad feeling that Cumberland Farms will suffer as EG tries to integrate the chain. I think what should happen is that EG should sell the West Coast stores and focus on spreading Cumberland Farms across the Eastern United States.
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Re: Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

Post by drpep »

I think Cumberland Farms will suffer. I’ve been in two new, in the last three years, Turkey Hill stores after the sale to EG and there was a difference. Shelf conditions were sloppy and the people behind checkout looked like they were meth users. Maybe when I’m back in Wilkes Barre later this month I’ll stop in and see if conditions improved.
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Re: Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

Post by storewanderer »

drpep wrote: July 31st, 2019, 5:39 pm I think Cumberland Farms will suffer. I’ve been in two new, in the last three years, Turkey Hill stores after the sale to EG and there was a difference. Shelf conditions were sloppy and the people behind checkout looked like they were meth users. Maybe when I’m back in Wilkes Barre later this month I’ll stop in and see if conditions improved.
This is big; this is a purchase of something that is actually a really good asset. This is EG's chance to unify all of its stores under a single brand that has a pretty good reputation. I am hopeful they take a serious look at what they are doing in the US and change course a bit.

Cumberland Farms is no Wawa, Sheetz, or Quik Trip by any stretch, but they seem to run a clean operation with a well developed mix of fresh items.

At this point, EG would be wise to just take Cumberland Farms corporate structure, programs, and banner and just roll that out across the entire store base. Forget "EG America." They would need to remodel most of the stores to be like a Cumberland Farms inside. Every Cumberland Farms I've ever been to has been pretty nice inside, even old old looking ones on the outside. They seem very clean with clean cut staff and overall seem like the type of place that is well run. Scrap the old Kroger banners, the old Kroger programs, the various fuel brands that Minit Mart brings in, and go all in with Cumberland Farms program.

Kroger's c-store operations were in a real decline for a year or so before the sale to EG Group. EG Group has definitely not improved things any.
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Re: Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

Post by drpep »

I checked out two Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania Turkey Hill Stores this weekend, one that is about 3 years old that I mentioned in a previous post and an older one that I used to visit many times before the sale to EG. The older one was the same as it always had been, even looks like many of the same employees. The new one wasn’t as bad as it was on my last visit about a year ago, which wasn’t awful, the shelf conditions are still a bit messy, not dirty, just a bit disorganized. Most obvious difference is the Kroger brand product is no longer carried.
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Re: Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill

Post by storewanderer »

Went to EG Group Quik Stop tonight. Pumps full of various notices, including "debit cards must pay inside." Also if you want to use EG Group loyalty enter 1+area code+phone number. Kroger loyalty still works the old way area code+phone number.

These are old pumps and I usually go pay inside anyway. I went in. Store is well stocked and clean. Now, every last Kroger product replaced by CVP Brand at double the old prices. Employee not in any kind of uniform, doesn't even look like they are on shift. Prices are outrageous. 1.49 32oz fountain drink? And they have one clerk and 3 people in line. I stand there for a minute and the guy at the front of the line, card keeps declining. They determine the system is down, cashier takes a piece of paper out from under the counter, then goes from behind the counter and posts this handwritten evidently pre-made "CASH ONLY" sign on the door then announces to the, at this point, 5 of us in line they are cash only for the next 8-10 minutes because their card system is down.

At this point I go back outside. I attempted to use the pay at the pump to see if that was down too. That part of the system was not "down" at all. The Kroger loyalty picked up and asked me to select discount amount, then credit card processed no problem and fast. So have no idea what the deal inside the store was since it is all the same system. It sounds like their card processing goes down somewhat often given that they have a pre-made "cash only" sign to quickly post on the door.

Too bad Kroger sold these off. I won't return anytime soon.
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