Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

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storewanderer
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Scolaris continues to operate two stores (very very old stores with no bakery/deli) and last week as they finished transferring the other stores to Raleys there were some changes to the two stores they continue to operate.

First, they started to run a 1 page (double sided) ad vs. the old 4 page ad. The ad had some very attractive meat and produce specials like nothing I've ever seen them do before, which got my attention. Upon visiting one of the stores, I observed the following:
1. All produce prices (regular and sale) decreased substantially; pricing looked like Sprouts produce pricing, if not a little lower.
2. Meat is no longer Harris Ranch, but still mostly USDA Choice (some of the ad meat was USDA Select, as has been their practice in the past sometimes)
3. All remaining "Sunnyside" Dairy items have been discontinued (they had already left Sunnyside for fluid milk about 10 years ago but still used them for some other things like ice cream, yogurt, whip cream, etc.).
4. They were stocking center store and it seemed stocked better than this particular location had been stocked in the recent past
5. They seem to have more sales/promotions in center store again (previously these two unsold stores had hardly any promotion beyond the weekly ad)

I went looking for their new ad tonight and I see their website is gone. They updated their Facebook to delete the old website link. I guess they decided no more website for just two locations. The website was how I saw their ad, so bummer for me.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Another update: pharmacy in the Sparks Scolaris is closing June 20. Files transfer to Raleys down the street. Maybe this had something to do with the sale of the other six stores. Or it did not make sense for them to operate a single pharmacy.

Sparks Scolaris also has been without a roadside sign for a month but they now have a banner out by the road stating that they are open and a new sign is under construction.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Well, Sparks Scolaris roadside sign is back. The new sign has a logo saying "food company" rather than the previous "food and drug company" logo they had used for the past 25+ years. Digital sign is displaying messages for the store (one photo), their slot machine bar (the other photo), and their sports book.
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They also have another new sign on the door next to the one about closing pharmacy. This sign says they are discontinuing their senior discount (I think it was 5% off, and only one day per week) effective next week. Lurking around the store a bit I found another sign posted by the employee timeclock that said they will also be discontinuing their employee discount effective next week as well. At this point I'm not sure what more they can take away...

Produce department looks fantastic and has many great specials. I am hoping what they are doing with produce will be successful in building up volume as they historically had great produce in the stores they sold off to Raleys, but these two stores they have kept, it was always lousy produce due to low volume.

The pharmacy is now closed and the store director and the (only one on duty) courtesy clerk were disassembling shelving in that department today. Kind of interesting...

This is a weird store. It doesn't seem to matter what time of day I go or day of the week. There are usually 10-20 people in the slot bar/sports book and the store has a steady flow of 5-10 customers at a given time. Not dead, but sure not busy. I suspect most of the profit comes from the slot bar/sports book.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Yet another change in the two remaining Scolaris. All greeting cards 50% off "until they are gone."

Great produce specials continue, but rotation of product specifically in that Sun Valley Store sure leaves everything to be desired. A couple big rotten zucchini among the .50/lb zucchini too (the other 12 on the cooler were in great shape). Rotten bags of 2lb mini carrots in the bottom of the display that were there last Friday night, still there tonight (appears to be a refrigeration problem with the 30+ year old refrigeration around where they are displayed).

Then there was the Sparks Store that had zero nectarines, peaches, white peaches, white nectarines, apricots, etc. out... can't tell if they are truly out of product or just pulling it into the back cooler when the produce department employee goes home in the early evening...

Really hard to figure out what is going on with these two stores. Whatever the case may be I am sure enjoying these beyond words cheap produce specials and the quality is great as long as you get stuff that isn't obviously rotten (.50/lb fuji apple, .69/lb honeycrisp apple, .50 large mango, .25/lb yellow onion, .25 cucumber, .50/lb zucchini, etc.).
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by pseudo3d »

Seeing as how Scolari's has deleted the website, has ZERO stores with a bakery or deli (standard since before I was born), and can't even keep greeting cards in stock, I'm going to guess that they're planning to wind down business and close.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

pseudo3d wrote: July 9th, 2018, 5:31 pm Seeing as how Scolari's has deleted the website, has ZERO stores with a bakery or deli (standard since before I was born), and can't even keep greeting cards in stock, I'm going to guess that they're planning to wind down business and close.
It definitely does not look too good... but I wonder why they put up that new sign in Sparks... they own that entire shopping center (the real estate) but the Sun Valley location is leased.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

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Always something new with these Scolaris. I went in today and they had no hand baskets. Previously they had a great supply of hand baskets probably 100 of them, both by the doors and also some on the sales floor toward the back. Sparks Store had 2 other customers inside at 4 PM. Anyway, was told they no longer offer hand baskets because people were using them to shoplift.

Unbelievable. What makes matters worse is this store has old cashier unload checkstands with a little latch that pulls in and out to put a hand basket on for the cashier to scan items. But you can't really put items down on that latch because 3 sides of it have no barrier so things fall off. I enjoyed handing my items to the cashier one at a time to pay. Not. The hand baskets stayed on the latch, but even those were a bit wobbly. I believe the store in Sun Valley has the same cashier unload checkstands.

Why is this suddenly a problem now but not for the past 30+ years?
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Hand baskets are back as of tonight. I have also been advised that various operators in California are now not offering hand baskets in stores with shrink problems. Not something I've observed.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Scolaris replaced the building sign on the Sparks Store this week. It was a very old faded "food and drug company" sign and has been replaced with a "food company" sign.
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Re: Raleys to buy 6 of 8 remaining Scolaris Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Raleys is running some additional deep discount specials just at the 5 former Scolaris locations (2 in Reno, Fernley, Yerington, and Tonopah).

It is pretty bad when you are the only grocery store for like a 1 hour radius (as is the case in Yerington and Tonopah) and you are having to put these stores on special promotions like this. I guess Family Dollar is tough competition when you've alienated a town of customers in rural Nevada with lousy in-stock conditions and outrageous prices.

I wouldn't print those "save up to" amounts in the ad either. 4.99 strawberries, 3.39/lb fuji apples, 10.99 bathroom tissue...?

The two Reno ones continue to be poorly stocked, undermerchandised, in need of a good scrub and wax on the floors, and nowhere near the usual Raleys standard in quality of product, merchandise mix, or store presentation, or even close to where they were as Scolaris. Raley's should be very embarrassed with how they have handled this. I really miss the Caughlin Parkway Scolari's; it was a great store; the replacement Raley's is just so lacking in product. Center store remodels needed to be done immediately in June. The ongoing excuse of "needing to capture customer sales data to tailior the store to the area" is no excuse. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
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