Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

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klkla
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Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by klkla »

Raley's opened a new flagship store on April 15th that will replace an older store. The old store will continue to operate until all of it's inventory was depleted. The Grand Opening celebration will be scheduled for a later date.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/store-d ... sacramento

There's a video here:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/business/ar ... 30851.html
storewanderer
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Re: Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by storewanderer »

I see this is a little bigger than the other new builds they have done recently (Rancho Cordova and I forget the other one somewhere in Sacramento I think). I am glad to see they moved the size up a little bit. Pharmacy was kept too. Also unlike the other recent new builds which did not have pharmacy.

Also neat they took the retro sign from the old location and put it up at the new location.
rwsandiego
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Re: Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: April 18th, 2020, 10:07 pm I see this is a little bigger than the other new builds they have done recently (Rancho Cordova and I forget the other one somewhere in Sacramento I think). I am glad to see they moved the size up a little bit. Pharmacy was kept too. Also unlike the other recent new builds which did not have pharmacy.

Also neat they took the retro sign from the old location and put it up at the new location.
Looks like a nice store. You will have to give us a full report when you visit.
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Re: Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: April 20th, 2020, 6:15 pm
storewanderer wrote: April 18th, 2020, 10:07 pm I see this is a little bigger than the other new builds they have done recently (Rancho Cordova and I forget the other one somewhere in Sacramento I think). I am glad to see they moved the size up a little bit. Pharmacy was kept too. Also unlike the other recent new builds which did not have pharmacy.

Also neat they took the retro sign from the old location and put it up at the new location.
Looks like a nice store. You will have to give us a full report when you visit.
I wonder when that will be, given the current situation.

Truckee Raleys construction is also well under way.
lake
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Re: Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by lake »

They did it again, this time with a Bel Air in Rancho Murietta. Store looks great and I’m sure they’re glad to be done with the 15kish square foot store they’ve been operating for a few years there. I believe this is the first new Bel Air store since Natomas. Other than the Truckee store and the rumored West Roseville store, this rounds up this period of expansion for Raleys at the moment.



Interesting to note that this store has a Chocolate Fish Coffee instead of Peets. This is the second store (actually both Bel Airs) to do this, although their new Land Park store had a Peets. Seems to be a case by case basis?
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Re: Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by lake »

Actually, I looked into it a bit more, the Land Park location also has a Chocolate Fish rather than a Peet's. So that makes it three, and their three newest stores if you count Folsom Bel Air as new (considering they touched every inch of that store, I'll say it was a bit more than a "refresh"). Raley's has always struggled with the coffee department, but for whatever reason, they do not want to switch to Starbucks. Maybe to differentiate from Safeway and have a local brand. I also think Starbucks may require full-time staffing at the store which Raley's is not willing to do. At first, it was Java City, then Peet's, and now Chocolate Fish at their flagship stores.

Going the route of bringing in local coffee houses may be the best move. Raley's has a substantial portion of many of their stores dedicated to the "coffee house" so getting traffic to that part is necessary. Peet's was not accomplishing that.
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Re: Raley's opens new flagship store during pandemic...

Post by storewanderer »

lake wrote: May 20th, 2020, 2:48 pm I also think Starbucks may require full-time staffing at the store which Raley's is not willing to do.

I think this is the issue. And I do not understand why Raley's dedicates so much space to a coffee operation when they do not seem to want to staff it.

Also Peet's has kind of dropped the ball and isn't supporting its licensed stores very well anymore. I can say this as there are a couple of these licensed Peet's up here in Reno outside of Raleys, one in the airport and one in a casino, and they are not really supported well at all anymore.

Raley's runs two kinds of Peet's: they have "limited partner" (most) and they have "partner licensed store" (just a few of these). The "limited partner" is where they have an espresso machine sitting somewhere around the bakery and have coffee drinks but not the full menu you would see in a corporate Peet's. They have a few that are actually partner licensed stores and those are supposed to have a full Peet's menu, dedicated staffing (not staffed by bakery), and run Peet's seasonal promotions.

Raleys is hiring now for Truckee and it will open soon. Grocery Outlet will open in Truckee around the same time. Big haircut coming for that high profit Truckee Safeway- actually too bad because that Safeway is run pretty well and has great quality products, way better than the Reno/Sparks ones as the store moves so much product, so it excels at freshness; also very good execution in the deli and bakery. I hope Safeway can maintain its quality in Truckee even after these competitors open. Also expecting the Truckee Raleys to have an impact on the piss poorly run Kings Beach Safeway, a terrible operation; lousy execution in the fresh departments and a perpetually understaffed and slow front end.
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