Winco Operations

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Alpha8472
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Winco Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

I went to a Winco in Brentwood, California, and it seems to have been remodeled recently. The outside was repainted in practically the same colors so it was hardly noticeable. The interior used to be an old Cub Foods decor with orange letters on the walls. The old coffin refrigerators have been ripped out and replaced with refrigerated aisles with doors. The white painted concrete floors now have ugly sections of gray concrete where they ripped up the old refrigerator lines. The walls now have a different style of wall letters in red. The entire store looks bland and industrial. It used to have character before, but now it is just dull and plain. The floor is very dirty in some places and looks really damaged and patched up.

If this is supposed to be a remodel, it failed. The store looks like a wreck. The Cub Foods interior had a perfect white floor with no marks. Now it is scuffed up like heavy construction equipment scraped it all up. The once wide aisles are even narrower and in all sorts of random uneven configurations. It was orderly before.

The only improvement might be that they now have modern closed door refrigerators that might use less electricity. The front end is a crowded mess. You have no room to wait in line now. All the lines are crammed together and you are now inches away from other people. They sacrificed the empty space for check out lines just to make room for more shelves for merchandise.

storewanderer
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Well I did see yesterday WinCo is hiring at $12/hr to start in Reno. Up from the previous $10/hr.

One of the things in Reno I've noticed looks particularly dirty is the floors (also the self checkout units- I hate having to touch them- really dirty- but if you go to a regular cashier then the belts are all dirty). Bakery/deli also do not look overly clean anymore. Looking at this remodel the floors also don't look real clean.

This remodel- I fail to see the point of it. The old Cub decor looked better. It may be cheaper to maintain this new interior however. The Cub wall letters needed to be dusted from time to time, this painted on wall decor does not need that.

This store however does look more "finished" than new build WinCo stores with this interior (see Texas and Oklahoma). The new build WinCo stores are very, very industrial looking. This store in the photos also looks very neat and orderly.
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by babs »

I think the newer industrial look for WinCo looks good in new build stores. I was at the new WinCo in Bend a few weeks ago and that store looks really nice. But the remodels I've seen don't look as good, just like the example you have above. The worst application I've seen of this decor is at the Keizer,OR small size WinCo (it's goes by Waremart by WinCo). Its an old Albertsons and this industrial decor looks awful there.
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by pseudo3d »

When did California ever have Cub Foods? I thought that the last of the non-Minnesota stores closed around 2007.
Super S
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by Super S »

pseudo3d wrote: July 26th, 2021, 4:57 am When did California ever have Cub Foods? I thought that the last of the non-Minnesota stores closed around 2007.
WinCo operated many stores under the Cub Foods name under a franchise agreement until 1999. However, the Cub interior continued to be used in new-build stores for many years after they stopped using the Cub name, and there are many WinCo stores (that opened as WinCo) which had the Cub interiors. I believe there were a few stores under the Cub name open in California at the time of the name change to WinCo.
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by Super S »

I was at my local WinCo last night and noticed that they have all-new self-checkout equipment...the cabinets, scanners, stands and everything have been replaced. I also noticed that one side is now "card only" where the other side takes cash. The hardware appears to be an updated version of the existing POS system. Time will tell if the new setup eliminates many of the "bugs" that WinCo has had with their self checkouts. I also noticed that they have repaired all of the lights that were out and seem to be doing other maintenance. It seems as they were slacking off for a while but are now getting stuff caught up.
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: August 29th, 2021, 7:02 am I was at my local WinCo last night and noticed that they have all-new self-checkout equipment...the cabinets, scanners, stands and everything have been replaced. I also noticed that one side is now "card only" where the other side takes cash. The hardware appears to be an updated version of the existing POS system. Time will tell if the new setup eliminates many of the "bugs" that WinCo has had with their self checkouts. I also noticed that they have repaired all of the lights that were out and seem to be doing other maintenance. It seems as they were slacking off for a while but are now getting stuff caught up.
The new self checkouts have been in place for a few months up here in Reno and don't fix anything. The employee sitting on a stool in front of the self checkouts will eventually remotely clear whatever error comes up. Also beware of the way the pinpad is set up on those self checkouts if you pay them using a debit card- it is flat/facing the ceiling. The security camera is recording everything there and based on the angle of the pinpad I think they could pull tape and see what numbers you enter as you type in your PIN number if you don't cover the pinpad up. Winco's pinpads do not have the elevated soft plastic around the edges of the number area as most stores using the same pinpad have, or maybe they tore that off up here in Reno for some reason.
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Re: Winco Operations

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: August 29th, 2021, 11:06 am The new self checkouts have been in place for a few months up here in Reno and don't fix anything. The employee sitting on a stool in front of the self checkouts will eventually remotely clear whatever error comes up. Also beware of the way the pinpad is set up on those self checkouts if you pay them using a debit card- it is flat/facing the ceiling. The security camera is recording everything there and based on the angle of the pinpad I think they could pull tape and see what numbers you enter as you type in your PIN number if you don't cover the pinpad up. Winco's pinpads do not have the elevated soft plastic around the edges of the number area as most stores using the same pinpad have, or maybe they tore that off up here in Reno for some reason.
The question is, why would they do that? Seems that would pretty easily get them in trouble.
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