Stop & Shop closures

[marketreportblog]

Food Bazaar is confirmed in Coney Island, Carlstadt, Piscataway, and one new location, Hempstead, on Long Island. Mount Vernon seems to be delayed because of permits with the city. With Food Bazaar adding Hempstead (the only renovated Stop & Shop store to close), six of the 32 stores will have replacements, assuming Mount Vernon goes through. If you're interested, you can read my posts on these stores here. I'm going to post a tour of Hempstead tomorrow.

[marketreportblog]

Ahold Delhaize USA's chief commercial officer, Roger Wheeler, has been appointed Stop & Shop president as current president Gordon Reid announces his retirement in the middle of next year. See press release.

My big question is whether this is a retirement or a "we think it's better for everybody if you retire soon". If it's a regular retirement, I doubt it'll change much. If not, it's more of a message of ADUSA's lack of confidence in S&S and Gordon Reid's strategy. I do think, though, that it's telling that they're not promoting a Stop & Shop person but instead bringing in a corporate AD person (who was previously at S&S). I find it hard to believe Ahold Delhaize corporate is on board with what's been going on at Stop & Shop.

[ClownLoach]

Ahold Delhaize USA's chief commercial officer, Roger Wheeler, has been appointed Stop & Shop president as current president Gordon Reid announces his retirement in the middle of next year. See press release.

My big question is whether this is a retirement or a "we think it's better for everybody if you retire soon". If it's a regular retirement, I doubt it'll change much. If not, it's more of a message of ADUSA's lack of confidence in S&S and Gordon Reid's strategy. I do think, though, that it's telling that they're not promoting a Stop & Shop person but instead bringing in a corporate AD person (who was previously at S&S). I find it hard to believe Ahold Delhaize corporate is on board with what's been going on at Stop & Shop.

Sounds more like he was "handed his retirement papers" without breaking his contract, because the new guy starts now (Sept 30) even though the outgoing isn't leaving until next year. So they will probably have Reid keep the seat warm in his office so they don't have to pay him out a early severance or golden parachute package by firing him.

My hunch is they're realizing how many of the problems are self inflicted and thus may be cheaper to fix versus going through the costly closure process. But the press release makes it sound like this process is going to take years. That's not good in a fast changing market because whatever strategy they try to roll out over time might look like it delivers positive results in the short term but then fizzles. This is a "rip off the band aid" operation that needs rapid change.

From what little I've seen, they're up against tough competition but then they don't even show up to the fight with empty displays everywhere and stale looking, bleak stores that nobody would want to shop in. I don't know how many are also bad locations that can't be saved, but it seems many folks there are perfectly happy to go fill their carts at ShopRite even though all those I've been in were older, darker stores but well merchandised and packed with product. The S&S pictures remind me of the poorly stocked Target food departments in stores they don't seem to care about.

[storewanderer]

Look at the initiatives and policy changes at Stop & Shop and it is clear whoever was running it at the office level was not being supervised properly by Ahold. Look at the stores and it is clear whoever was overseeing the stores was not being supervised properly for stores to look how they looked. But I think the rot started straight from the top at this division.

I also agree problems with this division, along with past history of things like Tops and Bi Lo back when Ahold owned them, make Ahold a very questionable potential partner for Albertsons.

I think aside from Giant-PA, Ahold doesn't have much in the way of strong store formats. Giant-MD really just wins on location and habit of customers plus competing against lousy Safeway units isn't very hard, so this is why the Giant-MD is successful moreso than being some kind of fantastic operator.

[BillyGr]

From what little I've seen, they're up against tough competition but then they don't even show up to the fight with empty displays everywhere and stale looking, bleak stores that nobody would want to shop in. I don't know how many are also bad locations that can't be saved, but it seems many folks there are perfectly happy to go fill their carts at ShopRite even though all those I've been in were older, darker stores but well merchandised and packed with product. The S&S pictures remind me of the poorly stocked Target food departments in stores they don't seem to care about.

ShopRite, being that they have a variety of owners, the stores tend to vary quite a bit from one location to another.

Not being sure which ones you may have seen, but there are some that are quite new, large and very good looking but they do have the smaller/older locations as well (though as you note that doesn't keep them from having items and working well for the areas they are in).

[buckguy]

From what little I've seen, they're up against tough competition but then they don't even show up to the fight with empty displays everywhere and stale looking, bleak stores that nobody would want to shop in. I don't know how many are also bad locations that can't be saved, but it seems many folks there are perfectly happy to go fill their carts at ShopRite even though all those I've been in were older, darker stores but well merchandised and packed with product. The S&S pictures remind me of the poorly stocked Target food departments in stores they don't seem to care about.

ShopRite, being that they have a variety of owners, the stores tend to vary quite a bit from one location to another.

Not being sure which ones you may have seen, but there are some that are quite new, large and very good looking but they do have the smaller/older locations as well (though as you note that doesn't keep them from having items and working well for the areas they are in).

Yeah---ShopRite seems to have lots of operators with large stores---when I've been in their territory that's most of what I've seen. I was in one in Jersey City last year that was huge despite being in a dense populated area and it probably was at least 20 years old. I went to another, newer store that was part of their return to Central Connecticut and it took up most of an old second generation K-Mart. Their stores also tend to be strong in bakery-deli which is not a Stop & Shop strength. Giant-Carlisle seems much better at this than either Landover or S&S.

[mjhale]

Look at the initiatives and policy changes at Stop & Shop and it is clear whoever was running it at the office level was not being supervised properly by Ahold. Look at the stores and it is clear whoever was overseeing the stores was not being supervised properly for stores to look how they looked. But I think the rot started straight from the top at this division.

I also agree problems with this division, along with past history of things like Tops and Bi Lo back when Ahold owned them, make Ahold a very questionable potential partner for Albertsons.

I think aside from Giant-PA, Ahold doesn't have much in the way of strong store formats. Giant-MD really just wins on location and habit of customers plus competing against lousy Safeway units isn't very hard, so this is why the Giant-MD is successful moreso than being some kind of fantastic operator.

I have long thought that Giant-PA/Martins is the crown jewel of the Ahold US operation. I might suggest that without Giant-PA/Martins Ahold would be in much worse shape here in the US. As we see Stop and Shop seems to be mired in poor operation to point of looking like it has given up in some areas. Giant-MD gets a good bit of business in areas, especially in inner ring suburbs, where there is not a lot of competition. I wonder how much Food Lion and Hannaford from the merger with Delhaize bring to the table. The few Food Lion stores in Northern Virginia seem to be much better priced than Giant-MD and Safeway (not too hard there lol) and have good customer traffic when I have been in them. If Stop and Shop is in the mess that it appears to be in based on what has been discussed here and blog posts elsewhere, is Stop and Shop heading the way of Brunos, Bi-Lo and Tops? ShopRite is a strong competitor. Despite the inconsistencies between their stores, the really draw in the crowds. Having been in a good number of ShopRite locations, I'd rather shop there than a boring, sterile Stop and Shop location. If the DC area still had another strong grocery operator who could cater to the neighborhoods they operate in that would mean trouble for Giant-MD. They already are getting it pretty good from international groceries, Aldi, Wegmans. If Food Lion and Hannaford don't bring much to the table, that can't be good for Ahold-Delhaize when the only really strong piece in their fleet is Giant-PA/Martins.

[pseudo3d]

The store closures from May are finally hitting today as a bunch of those stores are powering down now. 10 in NJ, 7 in Massachusetts and I think that's a little more than half of them.

What is Ahold Delhaize's long-range plan, anyway? Buy Albertsons? Sell to Kroger?