Save Mart Distro Center Layoffs

[storewanderer]

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2011/02/12 ... qus_thread

Not the type of move you'd see from a company that is looking to increase volumes in its stores... at least that is what they are telling the stores. Their ads, prices, and merchandising say otherwise.

Save Mart Management needs to take a field trip down to Southern California and look at every single Albertsons/Lucky Store that Stater Bros. bought back in 1999. They need to look at the merchandising (especially the meat, bakery, and deli), the pricing, and the appearance of the stores. They need to take a lot of notes. Then they need to copy all those ideas and bring them up to these stores they bought. They'd be unstoppable. Actually, they'd be like the 1990's ASC Lucky with sharper pricing and a better perimeter offering because that's exactly what Stater Bros. is.

I believe Stater Bros. and Save Mart were once very similar chains. They ran smaller, older stores catering to working class customers in some of the less dense, lower income areas of California often avoided by larger chains. Both have, as a result of buying Albertsons Stores, found themselves entering areas with larger and more sophisticated operators and at the same time found themselves with larger stores than they were used to running in the past. But it seems as Stater Bros. has responded to the adventure by refining itself, pushing its points of differentiation like its meat and its pricing, and made drastic improvements to store appearance and product mix to step up to the game in the more competitive markets, Save Mart has drifted in an opposite direction of way higher prices, way less merchandise, and as a result less volume.