Re: Ukrops for sale?
Posted: September 30th, 2009, 8:56 pm
Kroger has been in Roanoke a very long time. Many of the people in Roanoke have been there a very long time. Families with roots in the Roanoke Valley tend to think as Kroger as "their" store, with any other chain being a new kid on the block. There's a sense of hometown pride in Roanoke, and well up into the fifties and early sixties, Kroger and Mick-or-Mack were home-grown stores in the minds of Roanokers. [This could have been perpetuated by the fact that until the late sixties, many of the Kroger-brand products - especially meat and dairy - said "The Kroger Company, Roanoke, Virginia" on the labels.]
The large distribution center on the west end of Salem gave the same impression. Mick-or-Mack is down to one lone store in an intown residential area of four-square homes.
The person who referred to Food Lion as basically a convenience store was right-on-the mark. Winn-Dixie served this same purpose for years. When folks really buy groceries, they go to Kroger just like they always did.
Ukrop's...being from Richmond had a lot to do with their lack of success, for it's a given fact that anything west of that first mountain is a different Virginia, especially in the southwestern part of the state. Additionally, the rest of the shopping center where Ukrop's was located never really materialized, and traffic in the area was very congested. I was in the store last year...a huge place, and I felt like I was rattling around in there all by myself. It was nice, but some of the newer Food Lion store come close to looking the same way. There was something wrong...because Roanoker magazine mentioned that Ukrop's even offered a $25-off store coupon to customers one week, and it didn't improve sales.
It's too bad Wegman's couldn't have gotten into the Ukrop's sale. Of course, they wouldn't have made it in Roanoke, either, but they might have done well in eastern Virginia.
The large distribution center on the west end of Salem gave the same impression. Mick-or-Mack is down to one lone store in an intown residential area of four-square homes.
The person who referred to Food Lion as basically a convenience store was right-on-the mark. Winn-Dixie served this same purpose for years. When folks really buy groceries, they go to Kroger just like they always did.
Ukrop's...being from Richmond had a lot to do with their lack of success, for it's a given fact that anything west of that first mountain is a different Virginia, especially in the southwestern part of the state. Additionally, the rest of the shopping center where Ukrop's was located never really materialized, and traffic in the area was very congested. I was in the store last year...a huge place, and I felt like I was rattling around in there all by myself. It was nice, but some of the newer Food Lion store come close to looking the same way. There was something wrong...because Roanoker magazine mentioned that Ukrop's even offered a $25-off store coupon to customers one week, and it didn't improve sales.
It's too bad Wegman's couldn't have gotten into the Ukrop's sale. Of course, they wouldn't have made it in Roanoke, either, but they might have done well in eastern Virginia.