Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

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pseudo3d
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by pseudo3d »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: February 6th, 2023, 2:14 pm Albertsons/Tom Thumb/Market Street in DFW should be sold to HEB.
Absolutely Disgusting.jpg
(probably an unrealistic number for H-E-B to buy, too)
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by HCal »

marketreportblog wrote: February 4th, 2023, 7:03 am A group of consumers is suing to block the merger: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/g ... 023-02-03/
Joseph Alioto is suing to block the merger. He is well known for filing lawsuits against practically every larger merger for the last couple of decades. Most people consider these to be nuisance lawsuits. He particularly likes to sue to block airline mergers, but I don't think he has ever been successful.
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by ClownLoach »

pseudo3d wrote: February 6th, 2023, 3:20 pm
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: February 6th, 2023, 2:14 pm Albertsons/Tom Thumb/Market Street in DFW should be sold to HEB.
Absolutely Disgusting.jpg

(probably an unrealistic number for H-E-B to buy, too)
I found another good surefire divest today. The Murrieta Hot Springs Vons. This is my textbook example of why zip code divest planning is obsolete - across the street is an Albertsons and they were able to keep both with no store in the area going to Haggen last merger since each corner is a different zip. The Vons is still the Pre-lifestyle decor (round signs inside, lower case letters). They still have the old Food RX Drug signage outside that was removed in the early 2000's everywhere else. It just got what anyone else would be embarrassed to call a remodel. Literally all the walls and ceiling painted plain flat white. Same faded circular graphics left alone. No new aisle hangers. The all lower case letters painted brown. And of course the cheapest new LED strip lights on the market thrown up all over the ceiling. It makes a Food4Less look high class.
The Albertsons across the street was remodeled to colorful lifestyle a few years ago, has open ceilings and better parking, but the Vons has a gas station. Stater Bros is right up the street, Aldi across the street, Sprouts just south and both Walmart and Sam's to the west. Nobody to divest to. I'm hoping it will wind up being the first H-Mart or 99 Ranch in the area; the AAPI population is growing and one of those chains is needed there.
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: February 6th, 2023, 8:38 pm

I found another good surefire divest today. The Murrieta Hot Springs Vons. This is my textbook example of why zip code divest planning is obsolete - across the street is an Albertsons and they were able to keep both with no store in the area going to Haggen last merger since each corner is a different zip. The Vons is still the Pre-lifestyle decor (round signs inside, lower case letters). They still have the old Food RX Drug signage outside that was removed in the early 2000's everywhere else. It just got what anyone else would be embarrassed to call a remodel. Literally all the walls and ceiling painted plain flat white. Same faded circular graphics left alone. No new aisle hangers. The all lower case letters painted brown. And of course the cheapest new LED strip lights on the market thrown up all over the ceiling. It makes a Food4Less look high class.
The Albertsons across the street was remodeled to colorful lifestyle a few years ago, has open ceilings and better parking, but the Vons has a gas station. Stater Bros is right up the street, Aldi across the street, Sprouts just south and both Walmart and Sam's to the west. Nobody to divest to. I'm hoping it will wind up being the first H-Mart or 99 Ranch in the area; the AAPI population is growing and one of those chains is needed there.
These wall repaint remodels have been going on in SoCal for quite some time. Recall the strange Lucky interiors that got repainted red and black. Or that odd blue gray Albertsons in Ridgecrest that got repainted. Is it possible they put white primer on the wall and they will go through and paint the walls colors (see: Bishop Vons)?

I am not even sure these are counted as a "remodel" on the books. These feel more like a repair and maintenance type of job. Back in the 00's when Smiths was still sort of strange I saw them do projects like this to multiple stores but eventually everything they did forward was an actual Kroger remodel (for better or worse).

In other divisions these low effort remodels involve putting the modern decor on the walls but doing nothing else (no new flooring, no new displays, no new tile behind departments, nothing- basically this also means they don't need a construction permit).
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: February 7th, 2023, 12:15 am
ClownLoach wrote: February 6th, 2023, 8:38 pm

I found another good surefire divest today. The Murrieta Hot Springs Vons. This is my textbook example of why zip code divest planning is obsolete - across the street is an Albertsons and they were able to keep both with no store in the area going to Haggen last merger since each corner is a different zip. The Vons is still the Pre-lifestyle decor (round signs inside, lower case letters). They still have the old Food RX Drug signage outside that was removed in the early 2000's everywhere else. It just got what anyone else would be embarrassed to call a remodel. Literally all the walls and ceiling painted plain flat white. Same faded circular graphics left alone. No new aisle hangers. The all lower case letters painted brown. And of course the cheapest new LED strip lights on the market thrown up all over the ceiling. It makes a Food4Less look high class.
The Albertsons across the street was remodeled to colorful lifestyle a few years ago, has open ceilings and better parking, but the Vons has a gas station. Stater Bros is right up the street, Aldi across the street, Sprouts just south and both Walmart and Sam's to the west. Nobody to divest to. I'm hoping it will wind up being the first H-Mart or 99 Ranch in the area; the AAPI population is growing and one of those chains is needed there.
These wall repaint remodels have been going on in SoCal for quite some time. Recall the strange Lucky interiors that got repainted red and black. Or that odd blue gray Albertsons in Ridgecrest that got repainted. Is it possible they put white primer on the wall and they will go through and paint the walls colors (see: Bishop Vons)?

I am not even sure these are counted as a "remodel" on the books. These feel more like a repair and maintenance type of job. Back in the 00's when Smiths was still sort of strange I saw them do projects like this to multiple stores but eventually everything they did forward was an actual Kroger remodel (for better or worse).

In other divisions these low effort remodels involve putting the modern decor on the walls but doing nothing else (no new flooring, no new displays, no new tile behind departments, nothing- basically this also means they don't need a construction permit).
I've seen the wall repaint remodels in many "arch" sign package lifestyle stores, these along with new aisle hangers and maybe some strip lights go in such as the South Corona Vons off I-15. They did take down wall signs and repaint them too, primed and painted the walls, then put the repainted signs and graphics back up. They add quite a bit of color and look "okay" when they're done. Even in the repaint only ones they find local historical pictures and get them enlarged and scattered around the store. But they also do full merchandise resets, add or subtract merchandise and even though the physical plant isn't changed much the store is fully updated and they hang Grand Reopening banners.

This particular one is just awful and looks like nothing changed but paint and lighting. All color is basically removed from the store because it is just flat white. It appears to be finished this way because the lettering on the walls was painted. The oval/circle graphics on the walls with illustrations are so faded they look like a sepia filter, these should have been pulled off the walls and replaced with something, literally anything. And the removal of diffusers from the lights adds glare and makes it look worse. It is hands down even worse than the infamous Haster St Vons near Disneyland that had Walmart style hanging cardboard cutout wall decor for years. The only excuse I can think of is that maybe they ordered the modern decor package but ran into production delays at the fabricator? The white paint indicates that they probably would be using those modern decor cheap graphics with some boring green accents behind department signs. There were no construction trailers or posted permits on the property and no sign that I saw in a brief walk in/out that any work was still actively occurring. If they do intend to install modern decor then it would probably be an easy installation for the graphics specialists that set these up, just a quick patch/sand/paint where the old signs were then screw the new ones onto the wall, hang aisle hangers and its a "remodeled" store.

My guess is this would be a store they would happily offer up as a divestiture if for no other reason than they never should have been allowed to keep two stores at the same intersection in the last merger. It is probably at the furthest distance in the area from a Kroger owned store too. I'm sure they would love to have the Albertsons across the street which greatly resembles a modern open ceiling Ralphs build. Albertsons is definitely the stronger brand in the valley vs. Vons which has only two stores both dingy and disappointing inside. I'll bet that there are more of these "sacrificial" locations that will start popping up where only the absolute minimum maintenance is done and they basically clear out the existing decor to make it easier for a new operator to rebrand with a new banner.
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by storewanderer »

Did they grand reopen this Vons? From what I am seeing a lot of these really poor remodels don't grand reopen.

I don't think Bishop Vons ever did a grand reopen after their lifestyle repaint.

Safeway did a low budget decor change to "modern" decor in Sparks (did not pull a construction permit, reset aisles or change out fixtures at all) and did not do a grand reopening on it ever. Conversely they did a more major remodel to the 1989 Reno Safeway, requiring them to pull a construction permit, a few months after (moved around seafood department, relocated Starbucks, some new refrigeration, but kept old flooring and completely reset center store) and that one did a grand reopening.
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: February 8th, 2023, 11:36 pm Did they grand reopen this Vons? From what I am seeing a lot of these really poor remodels don't grand reopen.

I don't think Bishop Vons ever did a grand reopen after their lifestyle repaint.

Safeway did a low budget decor change to "modern" decor in Sparks (did not pull a construction permit, reset aisles or change out fixtures at all) and did not do a grand reopening on it ever. Conversely they did a more major remodel to the 1989 Reno Safeway, requiring them to pull a construction permit, a few months after (moved around seafood department, relocated Starbucks, some new refrigeration, but kept old flooring and completely reset center store) and that one did a grand reopening.
Not sure. I don't get out that way often, I try to avoid the traffic. The Vons and Albertsons at some point are going to be competing with a new Whole Foods a couple miles North on CA-79 in a center that has been delayed at least a decade plus waiting for Clinton Keith Rd. to be extended. Once that Clinton Keith extension is finally done they can break ground on that center although I'm not sure who else will be in there. They've had and lost Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, Staples and probably every other possible box store.
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by marshd1000 »

Looks like there is movement on the divestiture front:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/k ... 023-02-10/
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

marshd1000 wrote: February 10th, 2023, 12:37 pm Looks like there is movement on the divestiture front:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/k ... 023-02-10/
250 to 300 stores is a low baller. That lack of stores being divested could ultimately kill the deal.
I think more like 500 stores should be divested for the deal to go through.
I expect this SpinCo project will be the divestitures, which will be Save Mart. Save Mart will be a temporary vehicle for the divestitures until Ahold or Loblaw scoops them up. I expect the divest list to be out by late summer.
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Re: Kroger to merge with Albertsons?

Post by arizonaguy »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: February 10th, 2023, 12:54 pm
marshd1000 wrote: February 10th, 2023, 12:37 pm Looks like there is movement on the divestiture front:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/k ... 023-02-10/
250 to 300 stores is a low baller. That lack of stores being divested could ultimately kill the deal.
I think more like 500 stores should be divested for the deal to go through.
I expect this SpinCo project will be the divestitures, which will be Save Mart. Save Mart will be a temporary vehicle for the divestitures until Ahold or Loblaw scoops them up. I expect the divest list to be out by late summer.
There's a 650 number which is thrown around as the "upper limit" which I actually think is the number they actually need to divest.
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