Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

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storewanderer
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: January 14th, 2023, 1:17 pm
storewanderer wrote: January 14th, 2023, 1:05 pm I don't know quite what L&B is doing. They seem to supply certain items from different suppliers. I remember walking one aisle and seeing all Nash Finch brands and then walking to the next aisle and seeing Supervalu/UNFI brands. They don't have a particularly heavy mix of private label items in the first place in their stores based on the format they are running, which makes it even more interesting. My guess is they are cherry picking between the two suppliers to get not only the best deals but also in an effort to have the most diverse product mix they can. Their self checkouts had Albertsons clovers in the background (NCR self checkout) so evidently their IT is from Supervalu/UNFI.

So far I don't think URM has many (any?) customers around Seattle proper. They have The Markets LLC up in Bellingham area (Anacortes, etc) but I think that company closed most of its stores around Seattle some time ago.
I can imagine L&B is what's giving Hy-Vee pressure around the Twin Cities. L&B stores have high quality perimeters. Pricing is not the best.

The Seattle area is dominated by UNFI (previously SuperValu/West Coast Grocery Co and Unified).
A footnote on West Coast Grocery Co: They were a wholesaler that SuperValu acquired in 1988 to get a presence in the Northwest. West Coast Grocery acquired the wholesale division of Fred Meyer in the late 70s. They supplied the Parade brand.
I think L&B tends to be more present in the older areas and Hy-Vee has gone more out at perimeter areas. I think Hy-Vee's issue in MSP is pricing. They went in with way better pricing than they typically have, and it completely messed up their formula. Cub and Super Target pricing is on the lower side and Hy-Vee tried to match/beat that. That pricing scale is a lot lower than Hy-Vee's typical pricing scale. Why they somehow think they can go into the hard mid-south and do better is beyond me.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by SamSpade »

(Sigh)
I got excited thinking this recent activity was somehow about Haggen stores. :)

I haven't been back to Olympia recently, but I hope it looks better than my local Safeway stores. :oops:
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