My observation in a couple Fred Meyer Stores a couple weeks ago was this new Dip clothing program is a complete dog. It is not selling. They did seem to still have quite a bit of space dedicated to other brands of clothing and Dip nowhere in sight if you were shopping those areas of the clothing departments. Overall clothing was overstocked, clearance pricing seemed on the weak side, and the Dip items appear to be of poor quality (very thin materials) and perhaps better suited for a place like Arizona than the Pacific Northwest.Super S wrote: ↑April 24th, 2019, 10:10 pm I went into my local Fred Meyer tonight (which just completed a major remodel) and noticed that the Dip line is prominently displayed. However, I did notice that certain other areas of apparel have been scaled back. Across the board, they have gotten rid of a lot of big & tall sizes. I noticed that the Carhartt and Dickies work clothing still available is not offered in anything above a 2XL, and selection on Levi's and Lee jeans is much more limited. The limited selection could simply be due to the apparel department downsizing during the remodel, but it doesn't seem like the best idea to not offer larger sizes. I also noticed a general lack of customers making me wonder if this line is even having an impact. While I can't speak for the Kroger Marketplace stores with apparel, I will say that Fred Meyer is known to carry some name brand apparel. If you mess with the formula too much it will send people away.
Fred Meyer was always known to have a better than average assortment of large size clothing, wide size athletic shoes, etc. As you point out it is not a good idea to mess with a long-term formula that has built up a customer base over the years. But lately it seems Kroger is willing to throw everything out the window to help support their "digital efforts." Actually a better integrated Kroger would cut these SKUs in store but then still offer the hard to find larger sizes online to at least pick up a little business that way. Yet they aren't doing that. Why not? Their digital efforts are just not good. Lots of talk, poor results. Money pit.