Aldi lists job openings at multiple warehouses and nearly 30 stores in Northern California

[ClownLoach]

To be fair most Asian grocers are a messy hodgepodge of whatever they think people may buy too... it is usually difficult to find items and this includes the chains especially 99 Ranch, SF Supermarket, and some H Marts everything is just thrown around. There are obviously no planograms. Seafood City seems a bit more structured but also has far less assortment and way more UNFI items every time I visit them. Actually the addition of these items to Smiths have largely stopped me from picking them up at the chain Asian grocers out of town. The smaller Asian stores around Reno don't mark prices clearly and one seems to like to do interesting things with expiration dates, a couple of then charge credit card fees, they're all on my avoid list- most on my avoid at all costs list. Two are on my avoid but go if desperate list. I haven't been to them in months.

Exactly my experience.

I just will not take the time (or the Gas) to find the exceptions to the above.

The newer stores for these companies, especially H-Mart and 99 Ranch, are built and merchandised in a manner you might find surprising. In fact I think it could be argued their newer stores are superior builds to anything that the conventional chains are putting up. They seem to be applying all the modern techniques including planograms, uniform layouts and good space planning. Irvine has the two new H-Mart stores that both replaced oversized Albertsons units, and although at first I was surprised at how plain they appeared I realized that they had taken a new approach to store design that was much more professionally done. 99 Ranch has a new unit in Eastvale that also represents their future stores. The worst chain that I can think of locally, Zion, is constructing a completely new store from the ground up in San Diego to replace their original (which I think is carved out of a dead Kmart). I am unaware of any Zion that has ever been built from scratch. All the other semi-chains mentioned are what I call space fillers and they just go purchase used fixtures, refrigeration, etc. and try to fill the space in a building, slopping it together.

The problem is H-Mart and 99 Ranch are so hyper focused on growth they are never going to take the time to go back and fix the old stores. And the old stores vastly outnumber the new ones. Even fairly recent openings that are about 5 years old are inconsistent, two former Ralphs taken by H-Mart (Lakewood and Mira Mesa) look like two totally different chains in design and execution. Lakewood is awful including a large section of the floor that is basically fenced off as their warehouse, while Mira Mesa is so well designed that it feels like they upgraded many aspects of the Ralphs design. Neither are similar to the new prototype in Irvine.

But I see the evolution of the Asian markets to be similar to what we have seen with Hispanic markets. Even ten years ago they too were primarily space fillers that reused closed stores and old fixtures for the most part. Now you have some true leaders in the industry who again excel at store design and space planning, and they spare no expense to deliver a store that makes the customer jaw drop like that Northgate Mercado in Costa Mesa (which is still completely jam packed with people, if it hadn't been built with top-notch everything it would probably look completely shot by now just from the everyday traffic). Northgate and Vallarta new stores (not old ones, to be clear) stand tall against the American stores. I expect that H-Mart and 99 Ranch are both just a few years away from reaching similar levels. And there are some others out of state like Uwajimaya that could decide to find their way into California and really shake things up.

[veteran+]

Too bad I do not see all that in my shopping radius and of course I and many others are not going to take a chance and travel to find out if it is true (for food purposes).

[ClownLoach]

Too bad I do not see all that in my shopping radius and of course I and many others are not going to take a chance and travel to find out if it is true (for food purposes).

I would agree with that statement in that their newer stores are still in suburban areas. The more urban areas are older stores usually opened with all used equipment. They should be big supporters of the merger and especially the C&S deal as it will result in a lot of good sites they can take over when they close. Could be many opportunities to upgrade their order, original stores. The only H-Mart I've ever seen remodel is a very old Alpha-Beta in Garden Grove that was redone a few years ago and conditions became tolerable. In new stores H-Mart is using the same luxury fixtures with in-gondola overhead lighting and suspended soffits that the "Papyrus" or "Wegmans style" ultra luxe Albertsons scattered around SoCal used in Santa Monica, Corona Del Mar, Belmont Shore, and Rancho Palos Verdes (unfortunately all gone in various mergers, they would likely all fly the Pavilions banner today).

[storewanderer]

The newer stores for these companies, especially H-Mart and 99 Ranch, are built and merchandised in a manner you might find surprising. In fact I think it could be argued their newer stores are superior builds to anything that the conventional chains are putting up. They seem to be applying all the modern techniques including planograms, uniform layouts and good space planning. Irvine has the two new H-Mart stores that both replaced oversized Albertsons units, and although at first I was surprised at how plain they appeared I realized that they had taken a new approach to store design that was much more professionally done. 99 Ranch has a new unit in Eastvale that also represents their future stores. The worst chain that I can think of locally, Zion, is constructing a completely new store from the ground up in San Diego to replace their original (which I think is carved out of a dead Kmart). I am unaware of any Zion that has ever been built from scratch. All the other semi-chains mentioned are what I call space fillers and they just go purchase used fixtures, refrigeration, etc. and try to fill the space in a building, slopping it together.

But I see the evolution of the Asian markets to be similar to what we have seen with Hispanic markets. Even ten years ago they too were primarily space fillers that reused closed stores and old fixtures for the most part. Now you have some true leaders in the industry who again excel at store design and space planning, and they spare no expense to deliver a store that makes the customer jaw drop like that Northgate Mercado in Costa Mesa (which is still completely jam packed with people, if it hadn't been built with top-notch everything it would probably look completely shot by now just from the everyday traffic). Northgate and Vallarta new stores (not old ones, to be clear) stand tall against the American stores. I expect that H-Mart and 99 Ranch are both just a few years away from reaching similar levels. And there are some others out of state like Uwajimaya that could decide to find their way into California and really shake things up.

I've seen a couple really nice professionally merchandised H-Mart Stores in CA. I went to one in TX that was newer and merchandising was a mess; they spent a lot of money, had a big food court, etc., total mess on merchandising. Same systems there as CA so I assume it is run by the same management. Went to one in IL that was in a strip mall and good use of space but it seemed like an independent asian store not a chain (same systems as CA there too so again think it is part of the main chain). The newest one in CO in Westminster is laughably merchandised/organized/assorted (it is that "other" H-Mart chain- uses different systems than the CA/TX ones and everything).

99 Ranch has a newer unit in Folsom in Sacramento in 1/2 of a former Ralphs and it was very promising when it opened; good merchandising, organization, and assortment. Since opening it has steadily gone downhill and as of last week when I went in there the assortment is a mess, placement is sloppy, the store is almost unbearably cold inside, employees are rude, and it is a place I won't return to anytime soon. They just can't maintain these stores it seems. Produce is a mess of good product and rotting product; hot food/bakery barely assorted; seafood looks okay I guess. One checkout open mid afternoon and I waited 10 minutes to check out (no bagger working). The employee then rolled a bag of oranges I had out of the bag and all over the counter (customer ahead of me had multiple bags of seafood that had been sitting right in the spot they rolled down to and it was still wet down there from the seafoods) and picked them all up with her gloved hands and rebagged them into my bag (same gloved hands she handled cash with and handled previous customer's fish) - forget the oranges just void them - needed a manager for that. Then had to write it down on a clipboard and initial it and manager had to initial it. Over a $2 void. What a mess.

So what I see is these Asian operators will occasionally spare no expense on a new store and put out a really nice store (H-Mart being the most common to do this) but then when you get to center store merchandising it completely falls off months after opening. They still keep up the perimeter and food court areas, but not center store. That H Mart in Mira Mesa in San Diego is like that specifically; perimeter is maintained, center store is a clusterf- mess of whatever thrown wherever and not organized well or thoughtfully.

But the Kroger program I describe is thoughtfully selecting the items based on most popular items of the supplier... even if it looks like a clusterf- mess, there is thought to why what is there, is there. But again this is not fool proof. The supplier may move a ton of these items but with the Asian demographics being so varied it is meaningless. If one of their top moving items is some Japan import (or China import, or Philippines import, or whatever) yet the store is in an area with few to no Japanese (or Chinese, or Filipino, etc.), that item won't sell... and you can say well the chains should find and use demographic data and figure out how to merchandise these categories. But the Census just has "Asian" and "Other Pacific Islander" categories. So really you can use Census data to figure out if many there may be interested in Filipino food as they would fill it out as "Other Pacific Islander" since those demographic groups consume a lot of Filipino type foods, but that is about it... very difficult to get a break out of the actual Asian groups residing in a given area.

[veteran+]

I visited that HMart in Mira Mesa.



It confirmed all my biases about markets in this category.