Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

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Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by SamSpade »

This store is immediately near a natural foods store (small) and WinCo Foods. Idaho Falls' Fred Meyer store is currently receiving the Kroger Marketplace decor and reset.

The highlight? The company is offering jobs at FM to the 90 or so Smith's employees.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/03/s ... ext-month/

Idaho Falls is receiving a Costco in the near future, but this is the first grocery to close in several years.

With this closure, there are 3 Smith's remaining in Idaho: Chubbuck (Pocatello), Twin Falls, and Burley.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by Super S »

I am surprised the Smith's name still exists in Idaho. Under Kroger ownership, It just doesn't mean what it did when Smith's had a much larger presence in the 1980s.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by storewanderer »

Ouch. Smiths does not often close stores... was this store actually struggling? The reviews on Google are very positive. Or are they trying to prop up the higher priced Fred Meyer that they are in the process of remodeling?

Also the stores are about 8 minutes apart and 2.5 miles apart. Albertsons, WinCo, and Wal Mart Supercenter are all closer to the closing Smiths than the Fred Meyer is.

That Fred Meyer was original to its mid 90's opening, so based on how long it took them to do a remodel there, I am thinking it was not the best performing store...

So- one Kroger operated store in the Idaho Falls market. Albertsons has 3 stores and Wal Mart runs 2 supercenters. Smiths and Fred Meyer co-existed here for what, 22 years? What changed here...? I think if the Smiths customers had wanted to shop at Fred Meyer, they would already have been shopping there...

One thing is this seems to firm up that Fred Meyer will remain in Idaho and we won't be seeing "Smiths Marketplace" there.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by pseudo3d »

I know I made a comment in the "What happened with Kroger" thread about Kroger exiting smaller markets where it isn't gaining a lot of ground, and this seems to be more of the same.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by kr.abs.swy »

This store has co-existed with a WinCo store that is essentially across the street for about 20 years. Now Kroger is throwing in the towel ...

I agree with StoreWanderer. It is silly to think that the Fred Meyer is positioned to capture the majority of this store's business.

The Smith's would have opened somewhere around 1989-1991. I have no idea whether that is owned real estate, but it could be that a 25-year lease with a five-year extension or a 30-year lease has come to an end.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by submariner »

I split off the discussion about Smith's and California to a new topic.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by Bagels »

This closure is interesting. A Loopnet listing for the adjacent shopping center notes that Kroger owns their location outright. Per some Yelp reviews, it appears to have underwent a complete remodel less than five years ago. Complete remodels are obviously insanely expensive -- there are few stores that have closed after undergoing a complete remodel, and almost all were Ralphs. Typically, when it happens, it's because the lease renewal swelled beyond projections. This may be the first owned location that Kroger closed after a complete remodel. Check out the other stores Kroger has closed recently -- some haven't been renovated since the time that this Smith's opened, although they may have received a light refresh (updated paint, signage, some new furniture and fixtures, etc.).

Kroger must've felt that these stores were underperforming. Fixed expenses are a huge hurdle in this business, and it's pretty common to see one store in close proximity of another to close after the other's been renovated, expanded or replaced... but generally not when both were.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by storewanderer »

So there was a period a number of years ago where Smiths finally remodeled the "remote" stores that still had pre-Kroger interiors. This Idaho Falls before that had original flooring/shelving, a mid 90's interior and some equipment from the SoCal exit that was brought in. The remodel a few years ago was a clean up of fresh departments (new tiles and similar) and re-doing the walls. Not much else was done (the old floor and shelving from opening stayed in place).

Most Smiths are owned real estate so I am not at all surprised they own this store. I think the closure is to prop up the Fred Meyer. The store probably performed okay, but not great. The Fred Meyer was probably in a similar situation. Rather than see if the remodel would drum up business at Fred Meyer, they decided to just close this thing instead in hopes that its displaced customers will give the Fred Meyer the lift it needs to make its remodel look like a success.

I would guess Smiths spent less than $600,000 on that remodel a few years ago.

The current Fred Meyer remodel is much more major, millions of dollars. It was an original Fred Meyer that still had its mid 90's interior inside. The store was quite run down for a Fred Meyer. Still clean and orderly, just dated and run down.
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by Bagels »

storewanderer wrote: March 17th, 2020, 12:06 am So there was a period a number of years ago where Smiths finally remodeled the "remote" stores that still had pre-Kroger interiors. This Idaho Falls before that had original flooring/shelving, a mid 90's interior and some equipment from the SoCal exit that was brought in. The remodel a few years ago was a clean up of fresh departments (new tiles and similar) and re-doing the walls. Not much else was done (the old floor and shelving from opening stayed in place).

Most Smiths are owned real estate so I am not at all surprised they own this store. I think the closure is to prop up the Fred Meyer. The store probably performed okay, but not great. The Fred Meyer was probably in a similar situation. Rather than see if the remodel would drum up business at Fred Meyer, they decided to just close this thing instead in hopes that its displaced customers will give the Fred Meyer the lift it needs to make its remodel look like a success.

I would guess Smiths spent less than $600,000 on that remodel a few years ago.

The current Fred Meyer remodel is much more major, millions of dollars. It was an original Fred Meyer that still had its mid 90's interior inside. The store was quite run down for a Fred Meyer. Still clean and orderly, just dated and run down.
That's very interesting. I think you're heavily underestimating the cost of the renovation, though :). From the pictures, this particular location received new (standard modern Kroger) furniture and fixtures, although I misjudged the scope of the renovation project. To Kroger's credit, they've gotten really good at renovating stores that they plan to divest -- they do a thorough cleaning job, update the signage, replace worn out flooring and ceiling titles, polish the flooring, etc. These projects are similar to how Albertsons renovates its best performing stores. My only criticism is that Kroger isn't consistent. Here's a picture of a location that recently closed in Ohio: the store has the modern aisle signage, but 1980s decor:

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... CnoECB4QBg
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Re: Smith's shuttering Idaho Falls store

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: March 17th, 2020, 5:55 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 17th, 2020, 12:06 am So there was a period a number of years ago where Smiths finally remodeled the "remote" stores that still had pre-Kroger interiors. This Idaho Falls before that had original flooring/shelving, a mid 90's interior and some equipment from the SoCal exit that was brought in. The remodel a few years ago was a clean up of fresh departments (new tiles and similar) and re-doing the walls. Not much else was done (the old floor and shelving from opening stayed in place).

Most Smiths are owned real estate so I am not at all surprised they own this store. I think the closure is to prop up the Fred Meyer. The store probably performed okay, but not great. The Fred Meyer was probably in a similar situation. Rather than see if the remodel would drum up business at Fred Meyer, they decided to just close this thing instead in hopes that its displaced customers will give the Fred Meyer the lift it needs to make its remodel look like a success.

I would guess Smiths spent less than $600,000 on that remodel a few years ago.

The current Fred Meyer remodel is much more major, millions of dollars. It was an original Fred Meyer that still had its mid 90's interior inside. The store was quite run down for a Fred Meyer. Still clean and orderly, just dated and run down.
That's very interesting. I think you're heavily underestimating the cost of the renovation, though :). From the pictures, this particular location received new (standard modern Kroger) furniture and fixtures, although I misjudged the scope of the renovation project. To Kroger's credit, they've gotten really good at renovating stores that they plan to divest -- they do a thorough cleaning job, update the signage, replace worn out flooring and ceiling titles, polish the flooring, etc. These projects are similar to how Albertsons renovates its best performing stores. My only criticism is that Kroger isn't consistent. Here's a picture of a location that recently closed in Ohio: the store has the modern aisle signage, but 1980s decor:

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... CnoECB4QBg
Smiths did very similar very cheap remodels in 2013 to its Sparks, NV (since then, got a much more major remodel costing millions) and Carson City, NV Stores (crickets) and I have some awareness how much they spent on those two based on looking at the permits at the time. These stores were all of a similar era and similar "cut" and all had the same mid 90's Smiths interior wall decor and relocated SoCal refrigeration from the mid 90's, but original flooring and shelving, before these 2013 Kroger remodels.

I am disappointed to see Smiths closing in Idaho Falls.
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