DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

Looks like Washington Post picked this story up too.

Really not the kind of coverage you want to be getting... even if these sorts of things could likely apply to many urban grocery stores of various operators.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc ... f5788aa0a1
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

Personally, between this and the Couer d'Alene Albertsons, it should put the feet to the fire regarding Albertsons and its operations of the individual stores, which is ultimately a good thing since Albertsons hasn't rolled over and played dead like some department stores we know. On the actual operations, it probably isn't specifically Safeway and a wrong inspection at a Giant could yield similar results, but given I what I've seen at other Safeway operations I may be giving Safeway too much credit...
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by wnetmacman »

I don't know about the laws in DC, but where I live, council members doing this is considered illegal, and overstepping boundaries. Only a health inspector can do what he did.

Not to say it didn't need to be done. I know of good stores that miss expired meats and moldy produce. That falls solely on the employees. Hopefully, Albertsons wakes up and fixes this.
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by mjhale »

Safeway runs stores from pretty nice to chronically mediocre bordering on bad in the DC area. The issues have existed for a long time and though better under Albertsons they still aren't where they should be. The problem is that in DC proper Safeway has the largest presence and in some areas they are the only traditional grocery store. Harris Teeter has opened stores in DC as well as the three Wal-Mart stores that are open. Beyond that there isn't a lot of traditional grocery competition beyond Safeway and Giant. In addition there is little to no interest in the low income areas in SE and east of the Anacostia River. Even Wal-Mart pulled out of a project on Naylor Road SE during their big store closing stint a couple of years ago. Safeway can and should do better if the allegations are true. Everyone deserves access to good, healthy, affordable food choices. The community needs to support the store and the store needs to support the community in return. As for a City Council Member making an "inspection", anything is possible in DC. This is the city who had "Mayor for Life" Marion Barry in government for 20+ years.
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not.

Then of course the problem feeds on itself. Things like fresh produce are already a tough sell in inner city locations for one reason or another, be it people having limited time to cook, or limited space to cook, or are just too busy... but of course if you don't execute it well, you turn off the few people who are interested in the stuff.

Then you lose customers. Then you end up being used like a big convenience store so you have issues staffing because you have smaller average transactions than suburban locations. So then you end up with poorly rotated departments due to low turnover and low labor, and long lines due to low labor. And then you open yourself up to this sort of PR...

How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by mjhale »

storewanderer wrote:How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
What is ironic is that the Safeway at the Waterfront Metro station is exactly like this. When they rebuilt the store they included a very large prepared foods area next to the deli with full meals like Wegmans does plus pizza (never seen that in a Safeway), subs, sushi and chicken wings/tenders/pieces. Safeway also included a good size sitting area where you can eat your meal. The store is near multiple office buildings and DC government offices. It is also within walking distance or a short bus ride from the surrounding neighborhoods. When I've been in this store (mainly at lunchtime or on weekends) it seems the majority of people are picking up the sorts of things that you suggest Safeway should focus on. There are also a good number of people doing larger shopping orders too. The Waterfront Safeway seems like a good example of what they could do in the other areas if they were willing to try. This I think is the problem with huge mutli-store chains. They want to do what makes them efficient which leads to sameness not serving your community.
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote:I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not. ...

How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
There's also the concept of delivering smaller quantities and doing so more frequently. Moldy produce is a sign that it has been on the shelf too long, which is a sign that the inventory replenishment system is sending too much stuff at one time. I used to shop at a relatively small Jewel whose produce and meat were far better than at the behemoth store in the same community. That was because the inventory turned very frequently. Same thing at the even smaller VONS I shopped at.

Regarding whether a Safeway is the right fit, one of the complaints is the community feels it is being treated differently than others in the District. If then Safeway were to be replaced by another banner or were it to be a different format than in other neighborhoods, Safeway would be accused of unfair treatment.

It would be wise for Safeway to meet with the community and discuss potential solutions rather than try to solve this in a vacuum.
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

rwsandiego wrote:
storewanderer wrote:I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not. ...

How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
There's also the concept of delivering smaller quantities and doing so more frequently. Moldy produce is a sign that it has been on the shelf too long, which is a sign that the inventory replenishment system is sending too much stuff at one time. I used to shop at a relatively small Jewel whose produce and meat were far better than at the behemoth store in the same community. That was because the inventory turned very frequently. Same thing at the even smaller VONS I shopped at.

Regarding whether a Safeway is the right fit, one of the complaints is the community feels it is being treated differently than others in the District. If then Safeway were to be replaced by another banner or were it to be a different format than in other neighborhoods, Safeway would be accused of unfair treatment.

It would be wise for Safeway to meet with the community and discuss potential solutions rather than try to solve this in a vacuum.
Perhaps, and this is why Safeway needs to diversify its stores more. I don't know what the demographics of this store are but it's uneconomical to demand certain features of a store that isn't sustainable, like organic produce or fresh food that has to be thrown away because no one is buying. I think that Safeway (at least pre-Albertsons) was too proud to actually cut off services and features (which Kroger and H-E-B have done, ultimately leading to a better and healthier store base) leading to a lot cut corners in its stores it did operate.

Moldy produce and other problems aren't acceptable but not every store can be a class "A" store. It's a balancing act.
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Re: DC City Council Member "surprise inspection" of Safeway

Post by rwsandiego »

pseudo3d wrote:
rwsandiego wrote:
storewanderer wrote:I think there is a problem where the chains want to do one thing and the neighborhoods warrant something else. Safeway and lifestyle stores in neighborhoods of inner DC? Organic produce? Does it really make sense there? Probably not. ...

How do you fix the problem? Merchandise and price appropriately to the neighborhood. Do whatever it takes to bring more customers in to the specific location. Inner DC is not the suburbs but there are lots of people there who all need to eat. So if the inner city location is perhaps not near fast food places, and if it is near a lot of housing that may not have large kitchens, maybe something to do is $5 everyday 8 piece fried/roasted chicken to drive foot traffic that will also come in and buy sodas, snacks, etc., do it, and make that chicken well. Things need to be done to make the surrounding neighborhood like the store. Ready to eat food is a great way to get people in every day, if it is priced appropriately and executed well. But you have to invest in labor. And you can't price like it is the suburbs.
There's also the concept of delivering smaller quantities and doing so more frequently. Moldy produce is a sign that it has been on the shelf too long, which is a sign that the inventory replenishment system is sending too much stuff at one time. I used to shop at a relatively small Jewel whose produce and meat were far better than at the behemoth store in the same community. That was because the inventory turned very frequently. Same thing at the even smaller VONS I shopped at.

Regarding whether a Safeway is the right fit, one of the complaints is the community feels it is being treated differently than others in the District. If then Safeway were to be replaced by another banner or were it to be a different format than in other neighborhoods, Safeway would be accused of unfair treatment.

It would be wise for Safeway to meet with the community and discuss potential solutions rather than try to solve this in a vacuum.
Perhaps, and this is why Safeway needs to diversify its stores more. I don't know what the demographics of this store are but it's uneconomical to demand certain features of a store that isn't sustainable, like organic produce or fresh food that has to be thrown away because no one is buying. I think that Safeway (at least pre-Albertsons) was too proud to actually cut off services and features (which Kroger and H-E-B have done, ultimately leading to a better and healthier store base) leading to a lot cut corners in its stores it did operate.

Moldy produce and other problems aren't acceptable but not every store can be a class "A" store. It's a balancing act.
Agree. Tell that to a politician who 1) represents a poor neighborhood and 2) wishes to get re-elected.
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