The present and future of Randalls

[veteran+]

I wonder if Starbucks will have a pass through to Hobby Lobby. Maybe only if Starbucks shuts off their scanners.

Hobby Lobby isn't going to have anything to do with Starbucks and will block that door immediately with something like a new Christmas tree display in February...

...or a creche

[ClownLoach]

They seem to have a pattern of closing recently remodeled stores but typically the remodels are low budget type remodels.

This seems to be a more in depth remodel to the formal Colorful Lifestyle interior. The low budget one was 5 years ago when they repainted the lifestyle walls.

Or things just got worse and worse for them trying to compete against HEB. HEB is a very tough competitor, I can see how they (and anyone else) have significant problems competing against HEB. HEB Dallas Expansion will not be pretty for competitors.

I wonder if Starbucks will have a pass through to Hobby Lobby. Maybe only if Starbucks shuts off their scanners.

It just makes too much sense that they tried to keep the store with the full remodel expense, but the landlord had already made up their mind. It takes time for things like blueprints and construction plans to be put together, no way this Hobby Lobby conversion wasn't a done deal well over a year ago. If you were a landlord in that market where there is a history of store closures, and you were approached by a stable tenant like Hobby Lobby, you would be hard pressed not to take the deal and boot Randall's. Nobody wants to get stuck with a dead store, and if the landlord didn't have the money to make their loan payments etc. then that is even more likely. OR it's an owned store and marginally profitable, and they were approached by Hobby Lobby with a sublease offer that was good enough to warrant closing down.

Hobby Lobby isn't going to have anything to do with Starbucks and will block that door immediately with something like a new Christmas tree display in February...

I'm sure the new Christmas Trees will be 33% off right from the start too.

I'm surprised Hobby Lobby is willing to pay more rent than a grocery store (or are they).

My guess is they won't pay as much, but they're willing to accept full responsibility for the building. Let's say you're an older person who happens to be the property owner, you're looking at retirement coming up, and you want to ensure decades of stability without surprise expenses - then Hobby Lobby might be a better tenant for you. Especially when the perception of Randall's is they could disappear any day and a replacement tenant might be demanding millions of dollars in up front construction expenses and such. I guess with Hobby Lobby you're not going to get rich but you're not going to go broke either?

Every time I see a sign at Hobby Lobby that says something like "Shirts are always on sale" I am just puzzled as to how they don't get sued by the California AG. You can't have items that are always on sale; I know Ross and TJMaxx had to pay a fortune when they were sued for similar pricing issues.

[storewanderer]

It just makes too much sense that they tried to keep the store with the full remodel expense, but the landlord had already made up their mind. It takes time for things like blueprints and construction plans to be put together, no way this Hobby Lobby conversion wasn't a done deal well over a year ago. If you were a landlord in that market where there is a history of store closures, and you were approached by a stable tenant like Hobby Lobby, you would be hard pressed not to take the deal and boot Randall's. Nobody wants to get stuck with a dead store, and if the landlord didn't have the money to make their loan payments etc. then that is even more likely. OR it's an owned store and marginally profitable, and they were approached by Hobby Lobby with a sublease offer that was good enough to warrant closing down.

Hobby Lobby isn't going to have anything to do with Starbucks and will block that door immediately with something like a new Christmas tree display in February...

I'm sure the new Christmas Trees will be 33% off right from the start too.

I'm surprised Hobby Lobby is willing to pay more rent than a grocery store (or are they).

My guess is they won't pay as much, but they're willing to accept full responsibility for the building. Let's say you're an older person who happens to be the property owner, you're looking at retirement coming up, and you want to ensure decades of stability without surprise expenses - then Hobby Lobby might be a better tenant for you. Especially when the perception of Randall's is they could disappear any day and a replacement tenant might be demanding millions of dollars in up front construction expenses and such. I guess with Hobby Lobby you're not going to get rich but you're not going to go broke either?

Every time I see a sign at Hobby Lobby that says something like "Shirts are always on sale" I am just puzzled as to how they don't get sued by the California AG. You can't have items that are always on sale; I know Ross and TJMaxx had to pay a fortune when they were sued for similar pricing issues.

This is an issue especially for Kohl's and my understanding is they can prove the items were sold at full price for even one day, California is okay with saying "always on sale."

I'm not sure how Hobby Lobby can prove anything was sold since they have no scanning data but I really need to get over that don't I?

[architect]

This Randalls has struggled with traffic for years, plus it is one of the largest stores in the chain. The recent renovation was likely a last-ditch effort to prop up sales and draw in shoppers, particularly those turned off by the ongoing construction at the HEB across the street. Ultimately, this closure is not surprising, and the box will be a great location for Hobby Lobby.

With that being said, this is also a high-profile closure for Randalls, as the remainder of their stores in the Austin area are either smaller (many former Safeway/Appletree locations), or are located in the suburbs. If the Albertsons-Kroger merger falls through, I wonder what the long term operator (if any) will be for these stores? WIll the remainder close piecemeal, or will a full market pullout be considered?

Lastly, this closure is also concurrent with the closure of a Tom Thumb in Grapevine and the conversion of a nearby Albertsons to the Tom Thumb banner: viewtopic.php?t=4171

[storewanderer]

This Randalls has struggled with traffic for years, plus it is one of the largest stores in the chain. The recent renovation was likely a last-ditch effort to prop up sales and draw in shoppers, particularly those turned off by the ongoing construction at the HEB across the street. Ultimately, this closure is not surprising, and the box will be a great location for Hobby Lobby.

With that being said, this is also a high-profile closure for Randalls, as the remainder of their stores in the Austin area are either smaller (many former Safeway/Appletree locations), or are located in the suburbs. If the Albertsons-Kroger merger falls through, I wonder what the long term operator (if any) will be for these stores? WIll the remainder close piecemeal, or will a full market pullout be considered?

Lastly, this closure is also concurrent with the closure of a Tom Thumb in Grapevine and the conversion of a nearby Albertsons to the Tom Thumb banner: viewtopic.php?t=4171

It is also strange to close a large store like this when a larger store is exactly what Kroger is better at operating. At this point these smaller stores left in Austin are not the type of store Kroger is particularly good at operating, so I am not sure what the logic here is. I guess they can't wait for the merger to go through and Kroger to take control of this larger store and improve its performance. Then again if what I saw in Houston is any indication, Kroger isn't all that great at competing against HEB anyway. But they are much better at it than Albertsons/Safeway is. At least Kroger makes some attempts on price.

[Greggo]

The closing Austin store on Research Boulevard doesn’t look like it’ll make it all the way to the middle of February. Bargain hunters have already snatched up almost all the store’s initial inventory … probably 90 percent as of today.

Most of what’s left is crap that had been sitting around the DC or other nearby stores … Halloween candy, Thanksgiving essentials (3 pallets of canned pumpkin alone, plus an insane mount of roasting pans and marshmallows, as well as some stuffing, French onions, etc.), the obligatory dump of floral decor including some COVID-era “healthcare hero” vases, Tom Thumb reusable bags (why not blow these out at DFW stores instead?), lots of powdered milk and 6 (!!!) entire pallets filled with 27-packs of Signature Select styrofoam bowls. 25 cents per pack. Tens of thousands of bowls, collectively!

Hundreds of leftover green and silver 2023 Starbucks holiday cups priced at $22.95-$29.95 were dropped to $5 initially, then $4. Those things flew out the doors. I bought several on 2 different visits and would’ve bought even more today if they’d had any.

Tried attaching some pix, but they kept erroring out. So long, #2490.

[storewanderer]

Try the photos again. I think some other posts I did took up all the upload space. Upload should work again.

I went in and deleted most of those those ugly photos.

[HCal]

Every time I see a sign at Hobby Lobby that says something like "Shirts are always on sale" I am just puzzled as to how they don't get sued by the California AG. You can't have items that are always on sale; I know Ross and TJMaxx had to pay a fortune when they were sued for similar pricing issues.

I think vague statements like "always on sale" are fine, because they won't cause any confusion. It's when you make specific claims like "20% off" that you can have issues if it's not 20% off from the "normal" price.

[storewanderer]

Every time I see a sign at Hobby Lobby that says something like "Shirts are always on sale" I am just puzzled as to how they don't get sued by the California AG. You can't have items that are always on sale; I know Ross and TJMaxx had to pay a fortune when they were sued for similar pricing issues.

I think vague statements like "always on sale" are fine, because they won't cause any confusion. It's when you make specific claims like "20% off" that you can have issues if it's not 20% off from the "normal" price.

Furniture is always on sale, Seasonal is always on sale....

I think they keep changing the percent off also.

Most chains do not use these "always on sale" tactics anymore because customers find them misleading and also if it is "always on sale" then why should I buy it today? A sale typically creates urgency telling me the customer you better get this now since it's on sale. Oh but if is it "always" on sale, then so what, I can just get it "on sale" next time...

[pseudo3d]

This Randalls has struggled with traffic for years, plus it is one of the largest stores in the chain. The recent renovation was likely a last-ditch effort to prop up sales and draw in shoppers, particularly those turned off by the ongoing construction at the HEB across the street. Ultimately, this closure is not surprising, and the box will be a great location for Hobby Lobby.

If I recall, the store was a replacement store for a Simon David that was located in the Arboretum.

With that being said, this is also a high-profile closure for Randalls, as the remainder of their stores in the Austin area are either smaller (many former Safeway/Appletree locations), or are located in the suburbs. If the Albertsons-Kroger merger falls through, I wonder what the long term operator (if any) will be for these stores? WIll the remainder close piecemeal, or will a full market pullout be considered?

Even if the merger goes through in six months (dubious) Kroger's not interested in Albertsons for Randalls. With the exception of Midtown and a few others, most of the Randalls stores in Houston have a bigger and larger Kroger nearby.

I don't see the stores going anywhere once the merger fails, at least not immediately. They haven't built a new store in the former Houston region (Austin/Houston/Louisiana) since 2016, though...and there aren't too many independents that they can pick up to bolster the store count.

Every time a landlord has a new tenant announced before the current one closes its doors it's probably a lease issue.