Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by SamSpade »

I'll start off by saying that I don't know if Fred Meyer's apparel department is drastically different from Kroger Marketplace/Smith's Marketplace offerings at this point. A few years ago, I would have ventured that it was.

Today, I had to visit a Fred Meyer and it was a mid-sized store in the Portland area that was renovated to allow for the addition of more grocery space and aisles in 2018-19 time frame. They no longer sell Levis! Instead they sell the lower level "by Levi Strauss and Co." jeans that Walmart sells. Many years ago, it was one of the big stories told about Fred Meyer about how Mr. Meyer himself had to convince the Strauss company that their product should be sold in his stores. It always kept them a notch above true 'discount' retailers like Walmart, Target, Shopko, and other long passed names. It branded Fred Meyer as a true 'department store,' like JCPenney, Sears, and so on.

In late 2020 or early 2021, Target is now selling actual branded LEVIS denim and associated soft goods. Their stores have slightly repositioned apparel and displays to allow for the brand to have the required floorspace and showcase.

I heard last year during the big fall of department store chains into Chapter 11 (or worse) that sales from department stores have fallen from 10% of retail goods to now around 1%, which may explain some of these changes.

Target really seems to have left the 'discount' part of their department store model behind.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by storewanderer »

Fred Meyer's clothing operation is really lacking at this point. I mean, there are items there. Lots of items. But they don't seem to be the right items, or at the right prices. I think many of their items would struggle to move even at 80% off. They are lacking low priced basics like Wal Mart, and lacking stuff that looks "stylish" like Target has. Previously as you point out Fred Meyer carried a lot of branded clothing so it sort of seemed so fit in between the generic basic Wal Mart type clothing and the more "trendy" Target stuff. Now I don't know where Fred Meyer's clothing program fits into the mix.

Similar thing in the home goods department. Fred Meyer is a confused mess of generic brands, some brands like Martha Stewart that some people may recognize, still some HD Designs (private label) hanging around but not nearly as much as they once had, and some DIP stuff that looks a couple years off trend that nobody is buying and costs way too much for what it is. I did not see any Everyday Living stuff. Before they had some mid level brands, HD Designs was the "nice" private label and EDL was the "basic" private label and the department just seemed to flow better and be put together better when the branding went in that manner. In this category I felt the products they had looked pretty good, presented well, pricing seemed quite "off" on many items and signs up all over advertising they price match online seemed to be basically baiting the customer into pulling out their smartphone and looking up a product online and redeeming the price match offer. The issue is the branding- odd generic brands nobody has ever heard of with generic packaging do not inspire much confidence even if you peel beyond the package and realize the actual product is fine. They need to do a private label (HD or EDL) like before.

Also the current Fred Meyer does not seem to clearance its merchandise very aggressively. The stores look overstocked and clearance items seem too expensive for clearance items. This reminds me of JC Penney. This is not really good what has happened... even Sears/Kmart had an effective clearance program for clothing to make it go away quick (mark the whole rack $3 six months after the season).

Kroger had a unique gem with Fred Meyer and its general merchandise mix/program with vendor relationships other discount stores did not have because Fred Meyer was a "multi department store" and not a discount store. They had a great opportunity in the 00's to expand the format to additional territories and the limited general merchandise marketplace stores should have been a bridge between operating supermarkets in a given region and then moving to the full Fred Meyer format. I thought they were getting there when they added additional clothing departments in marketplace stores which in the 00's did not have clothing but it has become clear the past few years that what seems to be happening at least from my eyes as a consumer visiting both the Fred Meyer Stores as well as some of the various "marketplace" stores in the midwest or southwest, it seems to be to dumb down the Fred Meyer general merchandise mix into something more like what the marketplace stores offer.

Fred Meyer should have been selling online for the past 20 years all of its general merchandise. Kroger brags how much great customer data they have. How many of those customers shop online for general merchandise in the past 20 years (at places other than Kroger)? How much share (and additional data) could have been captured had those customers been directed to Fred Meyer to purchase general merchandise online? That may have also enabled Fred Meyer to continue selling Nike products as Nike is leaving them (also leaving a lot of other chains, even Big 5), and some of the other clothing brands they used to carry that were more in line with department stores. And it would have created additional brand awareness to expand the format to other regions.

So many lost opportunities.

The biggest hope at this point is a nationwide expansion of Meijer. But Meijer's non food program is pretty lousy compared to Fred Meyer (even current Fred Meyer). A real step down in mix, lower price but I think you get what you pay for. Meijer's non food program is designed to compete with Wal Mart or Kmart (old Kmart). Not really even at the level of Target let alone being at the level Fred Meyer used to be at. There was a reason Kmart was so scattered in the Pacific Northwest and Target had so few stores in the Pacific Northwest in the 90's and 00's- Fred Meyer did so well, those stores would not survive there at that time.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by Romr123 »

We particularly noted the decrepitude of FM when we stayed in Newport, OR right behind the Fred Meyer---it looked like a bunch of Family Dollar/Dollar Generals all strung up together. Driving up the coast--I didn't see any FM in any of the smaller cities (Astoria, ...) which was as finished looking as the worst Meijer--they've remodeled the 40 year old ones and kept building. Meijer definitely has had "eras" of store design, but I was seriously surprised. I also think you're a little down on Meijer non-food--basics are executed well (mens flannel shirts/chamois shirts/hoodies are well coordinated; kitchen wares appear to have a reasonable good-better-best positioning (T-Fal sets/Grand Gourmet house brand cookware separates/low end Calphalon). I don't shop baby wares...outdoor goods as you state at parity with WM
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by veteran+ »

Kroger destroyed what was great about Fred Meyer.

The merchandise we received at Ralphs was high quality and good price. Customers waited in anticipation for each season's product and gobbled it up. Even markdowns flew out so fast! (not that there were that many to markdown).
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by Super S »

Fred Meyer's apparel departments have been lacking for several years. The first thing I noticed was eliminating big & tall sizes. As well as pretty much anything above a 2XL. I used to buy Carhartt shirts there as they were reasonably priced and more convenient for me. But I stopped when I could no longer find 3XL. I noticed the same thing with jeans, as well as when I needed a couple pairs of shorts last summer. More recently I needed a new pair of shoes, one of the last things Fred Meyer still had that fit me. Nike is gone, and you have to play games as their regular prices have gone up and they extended the card requirement storewide for sales, something which has not happened at Target or Walmart. Fred Meyer is now off the list for stores where I shop for clothing (as well as just about anything else) thanks to the card requirement.

Fred Meyer also has had some theft issues. We have discussed this on here already...Some locations in recent years have actually kept Levi's as well as other clothing items in locked cases, which people aren't going to wait for if a store is understaffed, discouraging those who want to make honest purchases. With that said, I have started to see this at a few Walmart locations in the Portland area, but Walmart hasn't gone so far to wall off an entire apparel department and force you to make apparel purchases before leaving the department as in the case of the Gateway Fred Meyer.

As for Target, in recent years they have made many changes and have updated many of their locations. Their pricing has been better recently, but is still higher than Walmart. They also don't have much in the way of big & tall, but this varies by location. I do think having a few more well-known brand names sprinkled in would complement their way of running the stores.

The changes at Fred Meyer could make people a lot more welcoming of Walmart, not to mention provide a good opportunity for any chain that wanted to compete with a supercenter format. Kmart is out of the picture, but I do wonder if Target might revisit this idea, as they continue opening new locations where Fred Meyer has become stagnant.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by babs »

You may talk about how great the apparel department at Fred Meyer was but it has been a money loser or at best a break even operation since the 90s. Very little clothing was ever sold at or near regular price. It's why the Marketplace concept has so little clothing, it didn't make financial sense to add it. Clothing tended to do better in rural stores where there are few other places nearby.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by SamSpade »

Romr123 wrote: April 5th, 2021, 5:08 am We particularly noted the decrepitude of FM when we stayed in Newport, OR right behind the Fred Meyer---it looked like a bunch of Family Dollar/Dollar Generals all strung up together. Driving up the coast--I didn't see any FM in any of the smaller cities (Astoria, ...) which was as finished looking as the worst Meijer--they've remodeled the 40 year old ones and kept building.
Thanks for posting here, Romr123.
The Newport store is very unusual, I am not sure why it was built the way that it is (triangle shaped, with apparel upstairs) and was remodeled in the past decade to "better" use the floorspace. There are two more stores on the north coast, Tillamook, which is basically the only multi-department retailer in that area; and Warrenton, near Astoria. The Warrenton store was expanded and extensively remodeled shortly before Walmart came to town and is pretty well laid out, actually.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by kr.abs.swy »

I don't agree with the statement that the Newport Fred Meyer is decrepit. It is undoubtedly laid out a bit different from other Fred Meyer stores, but the building is reasonably modern and has been remodeled within the past decade. It doesn't have the product depth of a Fred Meyer from 20 years ago, but you don't go in and think "What a decrepit store."

The only coastal Fred Meyer that I would describe as decrepit is the one in Coos Bay. It boggles my mind that they continue to operate that store in that condition.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by Romr123 »

I beg your pardon--it WAS indeed Coos Bay that I saw. We were driving north on Hwy 1 and stopped at the Safeway for a restroom...saw the FM (which was the first we'd encountered) and was shocked.
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Re: Fred Meyer & Target changes - 2021

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: April 5th, 2021, 8:37 am You may talk about how great the apparel department at Fred Meyer was but it has been a money loser or at best a break even operation since the 90s. Very little clothing was ever sold at or near regular price. It's why the Marketplace concept has so little clothing, it didn't make financial sense to add it. Clothing tended to do better in rural stores where there are few other places nearby.
What percentage of clothing at Macy's, Kohls, or JC Penney is sold at regular price? I suspect that metric is not much different than Fred Meyer. These stores all charge MSRP which is rather inflated. Kohls really fueled this fire and competitors have followed over the past 20 years.

I am going to give you an example of something. Back around January at Wal Mart they had some Reebok shorts. They were on clearance for $1. The shorts had a Reebok tag on it and there was a sticker on top of it and the little sticker said 12.44. Most Wal Marts don't sell any Reebok so I'm not sure what the deal with this was, maybe a return or something, but they had about 18 pair. This Wal Mart also had an endcap of Reebok socks and some other Reebok clothing items. After I bought it and got home, I peeled back the little 12.44 sticker. The sticker was covering up the MSRP. The MSRP was $42.
Last edited by storewanderer on April 5th, 2021, 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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