Supply chain issues in the Northwest easing?

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Super S
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Supply chain issues in the Northwest easing?

Post by Super S »

For the first time in quite a while, I noticed that the items I regularly purchase were fully stocked and plentiful. The pandemic led to a lot of supply chain issues and random out-of-stocks. WinCo seems to be back to normal on their private label items, certain varieties of cereals are now back in stock, and Fred Meyer is back in stock on a variety of Stouffers frozen dinners I have not found elsewhere locally.

I have noticed though that pricing is all over the place....WinCo is doing what it can to control costs, but those frozen dinners at Fred Meyer have surpassed the $5.00 mark. Walmart seems to be doing very well with center store items, but is high on some of their frozen foods as well as dairy items. We just had another heat wave, and while it wasn't anything like last year where the region set all-time record highs, we had a few days in the upper 90s. Gallons of drinking water were quite plentiful and no limits.

One oddity I am seeing is a lack of specials on pop, and only certain varieties at times. A couple weeks ago WinCo had a sale on Mountain Dew ONLY and no other Pepsi products, last week nothing was on sale, this week most Pepsi products. Walmart oddly enough has the highest prices in this category.

As for milk, Fred Meyer is competitive with WinCo, but Safeway and Walmart are significantly higher. Walmart is not competitive in this area.

Fred Meyer seems to be gradually raising their shelf prices as they evolve into a store that relies on the card/apps/etc. for sale prices and is becoming more and more like Safeway, so I have not been shopping there as much.
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Re: Supply chain issues in the Northwest easing?

Post by SamSpade »

Super S wrote: June 28th, 2022, 8:18 am Fred Meyer seems to be gradually raising their shelf prices as they evolve into a store that relies on the card/apps/etc. for sale prices and is becoming more and more like Safeway, so I have not been shopping there as much.
Yeah. I never thought I'd like Walmart Neighborhood Market, but it's just easy/convenient. (WinCo if I'm feeling ambitious)
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Re: Supply chain issues in the Northwest easing?

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: June 28th, 2022, 9:51 am
Super S wrote: June 28th, 2022, 8:18 am Fred Meyer seems to be gradually raising their shelf prices as they evolve into a store that relies on the card/apps/etc. for sale prices and is becoming more and more like Safeway, so I have not been shopping there as much.
Yeah. I never thought I'd like Walmart Neighborhood Market, but it's just easy/convenient. (WinCo if I'm feeling ambitious)
Kroger in general is taking a lot of price increases lately, and they are huge increases. $4.99 Deli Wraps are now $7.49. Their terrible deli chicken strips are now 8.99/lb (were 7.49/lb). Cake slices that used to be $2.99 are now $3.99 (they did ease the increase with a $2.50 sale price for a month after the increase came down). I was looking at some shaving products at Kroger which in the past were priced real close to Wal Mart, then less when Kroger ran a sale, and now their pricing is more in line with CVS or Walgreens.

I am still seeing hundreds or thousands of out of stocks at Safeway in NorCal (blue tape on shelf tags=warehouse outs). Smiths is poorly stocked in center store but I think that is due to an employee shortage. WinCo Stores are very well stocked. Save Mart and Raleys are really varying by location, some look great, some don't.

Wal Mart Neighborhood Market isn't bad at all for packaged goods. Also due to the lack of customers they are stocked pretty well in my experience. If you are looking for great fresh products they aren't the place to go, but at this point, I am not sure what store I'd say has "great" fresh products. Labor issues have really hurt execution in the departments.
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Re: Supply chain issues in the Northwest easing?

Post by babs »

In Oregon and Washington, Walmarts are not well stocked in food. It's like they just don't care about their NW stores. No retailer is really afraid of them anymore. The Walmart that seems to do well is their Neighborhood Market in the Murrayhill area. They lucked out with a location surrounded by multiple Safeways and nothing else. They just remodeled the store, walled off a large section for Pickup fulfillment. For a Walmart, it does look nice and seems to stay busy. But pricing is only slightly below Safeway.
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Re: Supply chain issues in the Northwest easing?

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: June 28th, 2022, 12:32 pm In Oregon and Washington, Walmarts are not well stocked in food. It's like they just don't care about their NW stores. No retailer is really afraid of them anymore. The Walmart that seems to do well is their Neighborhood Market in the Murrayhill area. They lucked out with a location surrounded by multiple Safeways and nothing else. They just remodeled the store, walled off a large section for Pickup fulfillment. For a Walmart, it does look nice and seems to stay busy. But pricing is only slightly below Safeway.
I've been into more Wal Mart units on trips into the Northwest and Wal Marts in the Northwest are not really any different than elsewhere. Stores in neighborhoods like Troutdale are pretty bad, messy, poorly staffed, questionable safety in the evening, and poorly stocked. Stores in smaller places like Battle Ground are generally pleasant, orderly, staffed adequately, and relatively well stocked. Stores in better suburb areas (let's go with West Vancouver) are also generally pleasant, orderly, staffed adequately, and relatively well stocked. Stores in rural areas (let's go with St. Helens) are about what you expect- pretty downscale operation and not great.

The one common trend I see with Wal Mart in the Northwest is the stores are just not as busy as they are in other regions if Fred Meyer is nearby. Fred Meyer appears to run far higher food volumes than Wal Mart and holds its own well enough on non food in most cases too.
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