New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. No non-grocery posts.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/money/bu ... 023264001/

It has always been a mystery to me why someone did not put an additional grocery store out in this area. Major lost opportunity for Kroger who should have done this. They should have built a Marketplace Store in this location.

This store will be directly competing with one of Save Mart's best stores. The only reason it is one of their best stores is since there is no competition for quite a while. The store had significantly more service offerings, foot traffic, and product mix as Albertsons. Save Mart just remodeled the store. Sideways move on the remodel at best and this would be a much better store if it were under just about any other operator. The old Starbucks kiosk space which was a very large size kiosk 3-4x the size of the usual Starbucks kiosk (opened as a generic Albertsons coffee stand with ice cream also) immediately inside the entry remains a space where they pile large displays of DSD product (chips and beverages usually) blocking line of sight upon entry to deli and produce. You would have thought they would have moved floral there in the remodel or brought produce or deli up into the space, or something, but nope. They should have taken a trip to Magna, UT and looked at the Smiths there as it was built as Albertsons and is a clone of this store and seen how to do a proper remodel.

Though, not everyone wants to shop WinCo and this will probably keep another conventional from moving into this area. So Save Mart's position may be safer in that regard.

The Wal Mart a few miles down the road is often over capacity (parking lot is too full to fit all the customers and you have to park at Kohls and walk over) and keeps its garden side open all year usually with 2 cashiers even during off season, due to how much traffic it has.

This new WinCo will significantly impact the Save Mart and have some impact on the Wal Mart as well. It may impact the Raleys deeper in a residential area on Wingfield Springs Drive but I think the impact to that will be minimal as getting between the two locations is a painful maze of 25 MPH roads.
Last edited by storewanderer on April 25th, 2020, 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
retailfanmitchell019
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 891
Joined: November 10th, 2019, 11:17 am
Location: 760 area code
Has thanked: 39 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

This doesn't seem like the type of area Winco usually builds stores...

The Save Mart ex-Albertsons looks to be a 1997/98 model store with a drop celing in the middle and warehouse celing around the perimeters.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

It is a solidly middle class area and it needed another store. WinCo is filling in the opportunity that Kroger missed. This would have been an excellent spot for a Marketplace Store.

Even Safeway probably would have done pretty well out here if they ran the store well (big if based on their tract record here over the past decade).

The Save Mart was originally a Smiths lot. Smiths sold that lot back when they divested SoCal and Albertsons built a store on it. It is possible there is a non-compete but tough to imagine a non-compete lasting 25 years.

In the shopping center where the Walgreens is across from the Save Mart, Fresh & Easy was slated to build a store. Of course that never happened.
bryceleinan
Personnel Manager
Personnel Manager
Posts: 349
Joined: June 1st, 2018, 11:59 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 33 times
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by bryceleinan »

I’ve always wondered why Kroger didn’t build a couple of Marketplace stores out here... I’m out in Dayton, and this Smith’s is one of the busiest in the chain. I’ve heard it does the volume of a Fred Meyer, and one of my pharmacist friends said it’s the busiest pharmacy in Northern Nevada. WinCo will do good out there - we’ve been hoping they’d build one in Carson for years, but there are only a couple of good options - one being the old SuperK (overpriced for a demolish and rebuild job) and down south where Kohl’s and Circuit City were going to build (Topsy and S. Carson).
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: November 11th, 2020, 8:19 am I’ve always wondered why Kroger didn’t build a couple of Marketplace stores out here... I’m out in Dayton, and this Smith’s is one of the busiest in the chain. I’ve heard it does the volume of a Fred Meyer, and one of my pharmacist friends said it’s the busiest pharmacy in Northern Nevada. WinCo will do good out there - we’ve been hoping they’d build one in Carson for years, but there are only a couple of good options - one being the old SuperK (overpriced for a demolish and rebuild job) and down south where Kohl’s and Circuit City were going to build (Topsy and S. Carson).
Reno/Sparks/Dayton Smiths all perform excellent. They are run much better than the typical Kroger operation at the present time. At one time 10-15 years ago, that Dayton Store stood out because it always did very well, but the Reno/Sparks locations really came around over the years to top it once Kroger put some money into the stores and made some management changes/additions that drastically improved the operations. That Dayton store got a Smiths gas station way before the other locations did, and also got that interior remodel into the Ralphs interior years before Kroger spent any money on Reno/Sparks/Carson/Gardnerville. I expect had Smiths not had that Dayton Store they would have left Reno/Sparks market around 2010 because performance of Reno/Sparks/Carson/Gardnerville was lousy back around 2002-2010 period but they really turned things around. Kroger left similar medium sized markets where they had iffy positions and stores in not great physical condition (Rockford, IL and Springfield, MO- and NorCal Ralphs). Somehow those other divisions couldn't figure out how to make the far flung in second rate condition stores work but Smiths figured it out.

When the Dayton Smiths was built by Smiths in the late 90's right before they sold out to Fred Meyer, recall it sat there on its own as a freestanding building. Smiths owns the property (as Smiths owns the property on most of its stores). Then a shopping center built around it. I always thought it was stupid when they built the shopping center around it rather than expanding the store. Maybe at that point Kroger wasn't doing Marketplace Stores other than at Frys, but they were doing some "bigger" Smiths that were mysteriously similar to a Marketplace Store (like Fort Mohave, AZ) in look, layout, and size. Dayton would have made an excellent Marketplace Store and it would have been so easy to do it...

Rumors have been going for years that WinCo would move into that old Super Kmart building in Carson City but it never happened.
veteran+
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts: 2233
Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 7:53 am
Has thanked: 1202 times
Been thanked: 71 times
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by veteran+ »

bryceleinan wrote: November 11th, 2020, 8:19 am I’ve always wondered why Kroger didn’t build a couple of Marketplace stores out here... I’m out in Dayton, and this Smith’s is one of the busiest in the chain. I’ve heard it does the volume of a Fred Meyer, and one of my pharmacist friends said it’s the busiest pharmacy in Northern Nevada. WinCo will do good out there - we’ve been hoping they’d build one in Carson for years, but there are only a couple of good options - one being the old SuperK (overpriced for a demolish and rebuild job) and down south where Kohl’s and Circuit City were going to build (Topsy and S. Carson).

Winco like Trader Joes and Whole Foods have very curated required demographics to enter a market and location.

They just won't do it no matter the petitions by many if "that" criteria is not met.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

This store will open on June 13.

They are hiring, starting at $13.50/hour. It will be interesting to see how they can staff at that wage... other grocers trying to pay low teen wages are having a lot of trouble staffing.
bryceleinan
Personnel Manager
Personnel Manager
Posts: 349
Joined: June 1st, 2018, 11:59 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 33 times
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2022, 12:28 am This store will open on June 13.

They are hiring, starting at $13.50/hour. It will be interesting to see how they can staff at that wage... other grocers trying to pay low teen wages are having a lot of trouble staffing.
I saw that and thought "the warehouses on Pyramid pay more than WinCo."

I'm sure the store will be a hit, however, the location seems a bit odd to me. I would have thought it would be a bit closer to the south end of the valley than where it is. Here's hoping that Carson will get one soon.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: June 5th, 2022, 7:18 pm
I saw that and thought "the warehouses on Pyramid pay more than WinCo."

I'm sure the store will be a hit, however, the location seems a bit odd to me. I would have thought it would be a bit closer to the south end of the valley than where it is. Here's hoping that Carson will get one soon.
I think the location will make sense long term. The plan is to connect that intersection to USA Parkway. This area is going to evolve into solidly working class housing to cater to the USA Parkway employees. WinCo seems to be the right store for the location in light of this. I'm not sure what will happen to Save Mart there but maybe with all of the new development they will be fine too.

The Wal Mart out there on Pyramid Highway does more volume than it can handle (they are actually doing a small expansion to the store to give more backroom space/pick up space) and has been in that situation for years now. I am sure WinCo will help them out with that issue of too much volume more than a little bit.

I am not sure where WinCo should go in Carson City. I think the shopping center with Lowe's might be the right spot. They probably made a mistake there adding US Foods and letting Office Depot downsize. Should have put a WinCo in. Really you could have US Foods there with WinCo though. Obviously there is no lease restriction on grocery there since Albertsons moved out around 1996, given US Foods moved in. And also since CVS is in the parking lot WinCo would be the right grocer since they don't do pharmacy.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: New WinCo slated for Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

Went and took a look at this store. Layout is back to the old Cub layout again (I thought they had a different layout) but much less decorated store. Overall it looks pretty good. The store seems to have lower shelves and longer aisles than previous WinCo. All departments are smaller than the old Cub Stores yet the grocery aisle areas seem larger (since they are shorter). The store has a lot of SKUs but seems to have fewer SKUs in various categories than either of the Reno WinCos.

A lot of really attractive deals for grand opening. Heavily staffed and the employees seemed well trained that I dealt with and observed. Departments were in good shape.

Zero reaction from the nearby Save Mart (pricing is awful; this was one of Save Mart's best performing stores and I am surprised they did not react somehow) or Wal Mart (place was a real disaster and obviously had less traffic than usual). There is so much new development in the area maybe Save Mart is just counting on that to keep their store performing at a level acceptable to them. I think with the high inflation and questionable economy ahead that a price focused store is going to be attractive to people who may not have considered it in the past. Those same customers may also only be temporary customers until inflation eases and the economy reaches some stability point but who knows how long that will take.
Post Reply