King Soopers- Downtown Denver

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storewanderer
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King Soopers- Downtown Denver

Post by storewanderer »

Kroger should be embarrassed by this store. The store is on a city block in a primarily residential area (foot traffic seems on the low side). I walked to the store from Union Station and passed a very nice, very busy, and accessible and with many windows and doors Whole Foods on the way there.

The area surrounding the store felt very clean, safe, I did not see any people loitering, no trash, etc.

Upon approaching the King Soopers it looked nice enough. I saw a door into a "wellness" area and could see a pharmacy and some OTC aisles there. The door was closed/locked and it said this door is closed for good and to use the main entrance. There was product within a few feet of this entrance so I didn't think much of it being closed. I walked a little more down that block and came to an electronic door that was covered with stickers/decals so you couldn't see into the store. It had a store hours sticker as well. But this door too was locked. There was a sign on this door that said "enter through Starbucks or parking garage." I immediately came to the impression this store has theft problems. I had no idea where either of those two entries were so I kept walking. I turned the corner at the next block and found the Starbucks. After navigating through the patio area I went to the non-electronic door to the in-store Starbucks and entered the store.

Denver also has pretty harsh winters and making people walk in circles to enter your store and in one case closing off an electronic door and forcing people to use a manual door instead does not seem like a great strategy.

I noticed the store was not particularly busy (probably had 1/6 the traffic the Whole Foods had), produce was a mixed bag but overall had some quality issues, deli was sad with dried up/crusty looking hot side items, an open package of Hawaiian Rolls for combo meals which on the menu say come with a biscuit (they are still on the Chester's fried chicken program) on the back prep counter with flies buzzing around, a poorly stocked bakery, but a center store that was generally well stocked and in good condition. Lots of markdowns on private label breads in the bread aisle.

I decided to exit using the other option the "parking garage." It wasn't exactly what I'd call pedestrian friendly to go through there and back out onto the city streets. They should probably get a sign directly outside the garage directing pedestrians to go there to enter the store. I circled the block after and while doing so saw 3 other people walking by the store from the same direction I did looking at that locked pharmacy door and covered/closed electronic door and one of them said to the other "where the F is Starbucks?" - then they kept walking around looking for how to get in.

There is ongoing growth and a lot of residential being built around this store and once that is done this store will sit literally in the middle of that. Frankly, with how it is being run, and the lousy store entry process, I am not sure how many people will shop there or just walk the extra two blocks to the much nicer and much more inviting Whole Foods.

I later went to a couple of King Soopers in other parts of Denver and found both to be far superior to this store as far as their perimeter offering and the overall quality of the stores. Both were also much older stores.
rwsandiego
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Re: King Soopers- Downtown Denver

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: September 6th, 2018, 11:21 pm...Upon approaching the King Soopers it looked nice enough. I saw a door into a "wellness" area and could see a pharmacy and some OTC aisles there. The door was closed/locked and it said this door is closed for good and to use the main entrance. There was product within a few feet of this entrance so I didn't think much of it being closed. I walked a little more down that block and came to an electronic door that was covered with stickers/decals so you couldn't see into the store. It had a store hours sticker as well. But this door too was locked. There was a sign on this door that said "enter through Starbucks or parking garage." I immediately came to the impression this store has theft problems. I had no idea where either of those two entries were so I kept walking. I turned the corner at the next block and found the Starbucks. After navigating through the patio area I went to the non-electronic door to the in-store Starbucks and entered the store. ...

I noticed the store was not particularly busy (probably had 1/6 the traffic the Whole Foods had)...
The lack of customers is not a surprise given the difficulty with which one is faced when trying to enter.

The downtown San Diego Ralphs has always had easy entry from the street, even when downtown was not a choice neighborhood. Sounds like King Soopers is not only leaving money on the table but tossing it over to Whole Foods.
storewanderer
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Re: King Soopers- Downtown Denver

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: September 7th, 2018, 6:49 pm
storewanderer wrote: September 6th, 2018, 11:21 pm...Upon approaching the King Soopers it looked nice enough. I saw a door into a "wellness" area and could see a pharmacy and some OTC aisles there. The door was closed/locked and it said this door is closed for good and to use the main entrance. There was product within a few feet of this entrance so I didn't think much of it being closed. I walked a little more down that block and came to an electronic door that was covered with stickers/decals so you couldn't see into the store. It had a store hours sticker as well. But this door too was locked. There was a sign on this door that said "enter through Starbucks or parking garage." I immediately came to the impression this store has theft problems. I had no idea where either of those two entries were so I kept walking. I turned the corner at the next block and found the Starbucks. After navigating through the patio area I went to the non-electronic door to the in-store Starbucks and entered the store. ...

I noticed the store was not particularly busy (probably had 1/6 the traffic the Whole Foods had)...
The lack of customers is not a surprise given the difficulty with which one is faced when trying to enter.

The downtown San Diego Ralphs has always had easy entry from the street, even when downtown was not a choice neighborhood. Sounds like King Soopers is not only leaving money on the table but tossing it over to Whole Foods.
I am not sure what they are doing, but they probably need to make some changes...

The Whole Foods is so much better positioned anyway, maybe it is a lost cause.
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