Retail Watchers

Another story on the closure
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/loc ... /83812256/

Sprouts has signed and been approved for this former Ralphs location.
Unfortunately, this story is behind a paywall as is the story in the Desert Sun today.
https://www.costar.com/article/15954196 ... dian-wells

Surprised Sprouts is in the condition to be opening anything. I guess their new pricing strategy is working out for them.

Maybe Sprouts gets it. By jacking their prices up as much as they have, running lousy ads, they have reduced how much product volume/tonnage they have and thus need less labor. It is tough to get labor in the stores right now. Maybe Sprouts has the right formula for time time. I won't know since I am near Sprouts every day yet only enter the place once or twice a month and struggle to find anything worth buying every time.

Sprouts has closed many stores in the busy San Francisco Bay Area. When they first opened, people flocked to the stores for low prices and more natural seeming products.

The prices have gone way up and the quality in Produce gas gone down. Customers have disappeared. Many of the stores do very little business now. The parking lots used to be packed full. Now you are lucky if you have a handful of people in the store.

I go there all the time just to look. The only thing I buy might be the clearance 99 cent cake slices. They often do not sell at full price. Then the manager will reduce them to 99 cents when they are nearing their sell by dates.

You can go to Whole Foods and find better things for a lower price.

The Coachella Valley is a struggle for most retailers.

The seasonal nature is extreme and challenging to manage (IMO, beyond the skill set of most).

The high end areas like Indian Wells seem to have the most problems for retailers.

I believe (as far as grocers go) that Stater Bros. gets this area the best. They do not seem to bother with the high end neighborhoods at all and leaves that to others to try and fail.

KESQ 3 posted a story. Coming Spring 2023.
https://kesq.com/news/2022/09/15/indian ... ring-2023/