Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by ClownLoach »

Any updates on this? Reading from afar it is like watching a train wreck happen. Hard to look away.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: August 9th, 2021, 11:14 pm Any updates on this? Reading from afar it is like watching a train wreck happen. Hard to look away.
Kind of gave up on the place. Haven't been in at least two weeks. But in driving by multiple times late afternoon, business looks very slow. Too much inconsistency in meat pricing/freshness, terrible produce at the worst prices in town, awful self checkout, way too many overcharges causing additional interaction with staff that I frankly do not want during the COVID, and poor ads. Also find service complaints they do not seem to care about; a website customer service form that takes 3 weeks to reply to your e-mail and dismissive store management.

It isn't just the format is bad- it is being poorly operated to a much lower standard than previously. I don't know where the store management even is, and they really need to go have a hard look at their fresh departments and spend an hour on the front end every day to see what is going on in their store.

Have noticed more non-organic produce in their ads also. Kind of strange given it is supposed to be an "Organic" format.

Would really prefer they convert this back to normal Raleys ASAP. And get new store management who actually cares. I get they have been dealt a rotten hand with this format but basic service, scanning integrity, and product freshness practices are within the control of store management and need to be handled properly and are not being handled properly. The format is a failure but it is an even bigger failure due to not being run properly at store level.

And also now since I do not receive a standard Raleys ad in the mail, just the single page ONE ad, I find when I am in other areas with a normal Raleys nearby, I do not always stop in, as I am not sure if they have anything I'm interested in buying a given week. I know I could check the website, but I don't always do that... so I also find I am shopping Raleys less elsewhere as well since this change over. And my overall opinion and perception of Raleys as a whole has absolutely been impacted.

But if the old store came back and was run like the old store with the selection and freshness and staffing levels of the old store I would go back... and be very happy. But I am not sure that is even possible; the new Safeway is executing quite well and has taken most of this store's previous customers and I suspect no matter what Raleys does, a good number of those customers are gone for good.

Oh- also need to get this store off the bay area price scale that it was moved to during the ONE conversion. Horrible price scale. Cannot believe it has everyday prices higher than even any of the Tahoe Raleys.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: August 9th, 2021, 11:44 pm Kind of gave up on the place. Haven't been in at least two weeks.
I think that sentence summed it up quite nicely. Out here in Dayton, we’re forced to use Smith’s or drive somewhere for groceries. I used to drive over Six Mile and Geiger to Raley’s and Walmart, now it’s Walmart, Winco, or Safeway. Safeway has a ton of disgruntled Raley’s customers in line from the chatter I’ve heard, and like you said, most aren’t going back.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: August 12th, 2021, 7:01 pm
storewanderer wrote: August 9th, 2021, 11:44 pm Kind of gave up on the place. Haven't been in at least two weeks.
I think that sentence summed it up quite nicely. Out here in Dayton, we’re forced to use Smith’s or drive somewhere for groceries. I used to drive over Six Mile and Geiger to Raley’s and Walmart, now it’s Walmart, Winco, or Safeway. Safeway has a ton of disgruntled Raley’s customers in line from the chatter I’ve heard, and like you said, most aren’t going back.
Yeah, the anger of former customers over what Raley's did is still being talked about. People are still mad. Safeway literally struck gold.

I don't really know what the solution is. I am not sure converting back into normal Raley's would even work. I think Raley's has essentially going from being a store that people loved in South Reno (since it was by far the nicest Raley's in the area physically, with the best fresh departments due to the high sales volume) to quickly burning its reputation in South Reno among some of the highest income least price sensitive customers in the area (translation: customers you do not want to lose).

Smiths just runs a sloppy operation with marginal quality fresh products at best (passable meat/produce/deli and terrible/unacceptable bakery), trouble staying in stock, and I am not happy with the customer service recently. The Carson Smiths has really nosedived in the past few months in every way. Pricing is definitely better than Safeway but messing around with Safeway's promotions I have found I can do better than expected. I buy some ad items and not much more. I have been buying a little more there since this Raleys fiasco took place but not much. Some visits to Smiths are actually pretty good- others are a trainwreck.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

$10 off $40 coupons mailed out. Good "only at Reno, NV Raleys ONE Market."

Well considering the prices are sky high, on a price scale that is on many items around 7.5% higher than most of the other Raleys around Reno except for about 12.5% higher than a couple lower priced Raleys locations around Sparks/Carson/North Reno for the same exact items the price hike right there eats up a chunk of the coupon's value.

Also, given the pricing, I do not think a $ off transaction coupon is likely to be something the customer they are attempting to target would even be interested in.

Here is an idea- convert store back to standard Raley's now.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

I went into the store on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. 3 checkouts open Saturday with somewhat steady traffic; 2 checkouts open Sunday with steady traffic. There may have been a slight uptick in customer traffic. Transactions still looked mostly on the small side, no cartfulls. The nutritionist kiosk in the middle of the store was not staffed. There was no staffing of any kind anywhere on the sales floor outside bakery/deli/meat/liquor. Produce was not staffed and boy do they need staff in produce to get that department rotated and pull the rotting product away. Meat and produce freshness and mix continue to need serious help to get back to the level they were at before the remodel. Staffing level in the store seems low, but more than adequate for the traffic they had. The atmosphere and vibe in the store is off- maybe it is just me- thinking back to how it was before the remodel. I have a tough time finding anything to buy given the poor freshness and high prices.

Maybe rather than $10 off $40 they should send out a 25% off coupon and put a max value of $10 on it. Might pull back in a few small spenders who may see something they like and start shopping there more routinely again. At this point they need to try whatever they can.

Safeway- absolutely packed both days around the same time. Hundreds of customers there. All checkstands open. Well staffed. Employees are happy. I think I see a few former Raleys employees there at Safeway too. More customers in the Safeway bakery and deli alone than the entire Raleys Store. Tough time keeping fresh departments full.

Also over the weekend I went into Raleys Sak N Save Store on Silverada in Reno (former Scolaris owned discount format). This is basically Food Source but they didn't re-banner it. This place had very little traffic and the store is an absolute mess inside. This is the worst condition by far I have ever seen this store in. Shelves are a disaster, drug department looks like a store going through liquidation, store is dirty, produce department has been drastically scaled back, and pricing seems to be just as high as a standard Raleys. In the parking lot I was solicited by two different panhandlers within six feet of the store door and then there was another one out in the parking lot slouching against a cart rack. Meanwhile they had a security guard in the store slouched against a checkstand staring at the slot machines and completely out of view of the store door/parking lot (they only have one door for entry/exit and no windows other than the door glass).

Raleys operation up in Nevada has really gone the wrong way in 2021. Given they are basically the market leader and dominant player and this is a growing market, they sure are making some strange decisions. I hope they get back on track, fast. But if not, no big deal; Save Mart, Smiths, Safeway, and various other operators can pick up the slack, as Safeway already did in South Reno.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by veteran+ »

Wow!

I guess the high salaries of the top brass are certainly warranted.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Executives are so overrated and so over paid.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: August 18th, 2021, 8:06 am Wow!

I guess the high salaries of the top brass are certainly warranted.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Executives are so overrated and so over paid.
I don't know. The Raleys ONE format has photographs of Mike Teel owner of Raleys and signs up with his signature and information about the concept. I think this format/concept is his idea- it is basically a large scale roll out of the Market 5-One-5 in Sacramento (which is a 12k square foot urban type format with the same "banned ingredients" concept as Raleys ONE) which Mike Teel developed as a separately managed format away from the standard Raleys. Market 5-One-5 has since been rolled more into the regular Raleys fold. Market 5-One-5 is not exactly the same as Raleys ONE but it is a very similar merchandising approach. Obviously Market 5-One-5 with a curated mix in a 12k square foot urban location likely makes sense vs. a Raleys ONE in a 60k square foot box in a not so densely populated area.

The Market 5-One-5 seems to be better organized and better focused given its small format. Raleys ONE is poorly organized, poorly focused, confusing (has a pharmacy inside yet doesn't carry standard OTC medicines on the shelf in the store), has uneven product quality (they definitely didn't taste a lot of those bakery or deli replacements)...

I find it fascinating they had such success with the Market 5-One-5 but this Raleys ONE is such a miserable flop and a lousy store to shop in from my view as a customer.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: August 18th, 2021, 8:47 pm
veteran+ wrote: August 18th, 2021, 8:06 am Wow!

I guess the high salaries of the top brass are certainly warranted.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Executives are so overrated and so over paid.
I don't know. The Raleys ONE format has photographs of Mike Teel owner of Raleys and signs up with his signature and information about the concept. I think this format/concept is his idea- it is basically a large scale roll out of the Market 5-One-5 in Sacramento (which is a 12k square foot urban type format with the same "banned ingredients" concept as Raleys ONE) which Mike Teel developed as a separately managed format away from the standard Raleys. Market 5-One-5 has since been rolled more into the regular Raleys fold. Market 5-One-5 is not exactly the same as Raleys ONE but it is a very similar merchandising approach. Obviously Market 5-One-5 with a curated mix in a 12k square foot urban location likely makes sense vs. a Raleys ONE in a 60k square foot box in a not so densely populated area.

The Market 5-One-5 seems to be better organized and better focused given its small format. Raleys ONE is poorly organized, poorly focused, confusing (has a pharmacy inside yet doesn't carry standard OTC medicines on the shelf in the store), has uneven product quality (they definitely didn't taste a lot of those bakery or deli replacements)...

I find it fascinating they had such success with the Market 5-One-5 but this Raleys ONE is such a miserable flop and a lousy store to shop in from my view as a customer.
From start to finish the disaster in Reno has hubris written all over it. Hearing that the CEO needed to erect a shrine to himself in the store tells me everything I needed to know about why this is such a colossal flop. He would rather listen to the voices in his head instead of the voices of his customers. I rode on this train early in my retail career. The CEO knew better than the customer, better than the store associates, and even better than Wall Street. The ensuing losses from the changes made to our company weren't because we were headed down the wrong path - we just weren't far enough down that path yet! Every bad decision was the result of a new chapter in his arrogance. Until the day that they reached Chapter 7, in the U. S. Bankruptcy Court.
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Re: Raleys converting Reno Store to ONE Market Format

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: August 19th, 2021, 2:48 pm From start to finish the disaster in Reno has hubris written all over it. Hearing that the CEO needed to erect a shrine to himself in the store tells me everything I needed to know about why this is such a colossal flop. He would rather listen to the voices in his head instead of the voices of his customers. I rode on this train early in my retail career. The CEO knew better than the customer, better than the store associates, and even better than Wall Street. The ensuing losses from the changes made to our company weren't because we were headed down the wrong path - we just weren't far enough down that path yet! Every bad decision was the result of a new chapter in his arrogance. Until the day that they reached Chapter 7, in the U. S. Bankruptcy Court.
The sign in Reno I am referring to looks very similar to the sign photographed here with similar language on it:
https://progressivegrocer.com/video-tour-market-5-one-5

To be fair- maybe it is a good thing they did this in Reno. It is a very hard reality check for them as to what their upper middle class usual Raleys customer in Reno, in Modesto, in Redding, in many Sacramento suburbs- basically the customer base for probably 90% of their stores that are largely quite successful as the stores currently sit- is going to think of this concept.

I think there may be a few stores in the bay area where this concept may work. Those stores don't look like they are exactly high performers to begin with so what do they have to lose converting them?

My biggest gripes with this not very well run Reno ONE Store are the lousy fresh products, poor customer service, and highest in market pricing. And I think all of the problems are inter-related. They converted the store- product mix was not to the customer's liking so right off the bat a big chunk of customers leave; then for customers like me who were generally okay with the modified mix, prices are too high, foot traffic drops way off. Freshness issues occur. Next come morale issues as staffing is cut, and the poor service that comes from that.

They need to give a little here. They need some good signature products for the format (not the inedible cake slice and not the so salty I could barely eat it "made in house" sausage links) and they need to have some bargains to drive traffic and promote product freshness. They need to study how Sprouts made itself so popular with a similar mix over the years and attempt to emulate a similar strategy.
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