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.veteran+ wrote: ↑April 28th, 2024, 8:22 amExactly my experience.storewanderer wrote: ↑April 27th, 2024, 11:15 pm 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.
I just will not take the time (or the Gas) to find the exceptions to the above.
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.