Retail Watchers

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 16th, 2020, 1:02 pm I think we could easily see Amazon open grocery stores across the country. There is no shortage of vacant commercial space (and expect a lot more to become available in the next couple years)

That's ironic, isn't it? They're the cause of all the vacant commercial space lol.

When you look at the plans Amazon submitted to the city really doesn't look much different than a conventional supermarket. http://ladbsdoc.lacity.org/idispublic/

cjd, storewanderer, babs above posts:

Agreed and prescient and logical observations.

My concern is that however unlikely, Amazon COULD! In our current environment of "look the other way" regarding vertical and horizontal expansion of many corporations, it is very possible. We have many examples of anti competitive activity creating UBER powerful corps (some failures as well).

No matter if 200 companies engage in this and fail, what's worrisome is when even ONE company succeeds and gains that UBER power and influence. We have several that have succeeded at the expense of consumers and employees.

I'm betting in a few years from now, Whole Foods stores will be gone and the stores will be converted to Amazon branded grocery stores. With every major grocer carrying a Whole Foods product mix these days, the stores serve no purpose, especially since Amazon has neutered the stores already to some degree.

mbz321 wrote: ↑February 18th, 2020, 10:45 am I'm betting in a few years from now, Whole Foods stores will be gone and the stores will be converted to Amazon branded grocery stores. With every major grocer carrying a Whole Foods product mix these days, the stores serve no purpose, especially since Amazon has neutered the stores already to some degree.

Maybe WFM itself is a bit extreme...the store has a certain cachet that can't be replicated with a generic Amazon name, but the 365 stores on the other hand...

pseudo3d wrote: ↑February 18th, 2020, 12:22 pm

mbz321 wrote: ↑February 18th, 2020, 10:45 am I'm betting in a few years from now, Whole Foods stores will be gone and the stores will be converted to Amazon branded grocery stores. With every major grocer carrying a Whole Foods product mix these days, the stores serve no purpose, especially since Amazon has neutered the stores already to some degree.

Maybe WFM itself is a bit extreme...the store has a certain cachet that can't be replicated with a generic Amazon name, but the 365 stores on the other hand...

If WFM goes away in its entirety I will be surprised. The chain has too strong of a reputation and too many stores running very strong volumes. They do have some not so great performers among their fleet and maybe those would be better converted to a mainstream conventional type format but I think the majority of their stores perform so solidly that there would be no reason to do anything but keep running them.

I agree with you that most major grocers are carrying the same items as WFM but the average WFM customer does not have an interest in most major grocers and it is an image/ego thing to shop at Whole Foods. Whole Foods also puts out a much larger (even if I find it to be lousy) mix of prepared foods than the major grocers specifically out west.

Also out west in a number of cases Whole Foods pricing is actually lower than that of the major grocers on the same items... especially in CA.

Another grocery and GM store expanding with grand plans and existing profitable stores is Meijer.

Meijer stores range from the 155k to 210k size with a very large grocery department with full service meat deli and bakery. They have great marketing and really play up their grocery side when advertising. They are always trying new innovations both in store and back of house. Their stores are clean and modern. They also are playing around with a smaller format grocery that competes with Whole Foods. Being family owned they don’t need to impress shareholders either.

mbz321 wrote: ↑February 18th, 2020, 10:45 am I'm betting in a few years from now, Whole Foods stores will be gone and the stores will be converted to Amazon branded grocery stores. With every major grocer carrying a Whole Foods product mix these days, the stores serve no purpose, especially since Amazon has neutered the stores already to some degree.

Disagree. I don't doubt that there are some clunkers in their fleet of stores. But I have been in a store in California that was so packed with customers that it was uncomfortable. There is a prestige to the name that continues to draw people in … and I suspect that the whittling away of the prestige under Amazon is being offset by increased marketing through the Prime program.

While this is not the same thing as the Amazon grocery concept talked about here, they are adding yet another grocery concept. Amazon Go Grocery will debut in Seattle!

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/a ... n-seattle/