Gerbes Columbia, MO

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. No non-grocery posts.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1003
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by buckguy »

Multiple banner approaches rarely work out. They were popular in the 70s and 80s because people became more price conscious (hence ware house and discount concepts) and most major markets were saturated, if not overstored (good way to hold on to market share in the short run).

The obvious problem is that you ultimately cannibalize your own sales and profits, esp. if the new banner is based on lower prices. The hyperinflation of the 70s and early 80s made it difficult to keep up with the changing cost of merchandise and probably helped doom most of those concepts. Inflation aside, most discount/warehouse concepts enter a market with much lower than prevailing prices and then let them creep up over time, which makes it easy for conventional chains to run pricing zones or run promotions like double coupons in nearby stores to run out the clock on these operations. The main exception is Walmart where they waited much longer for the price creep, because they could.

Adding a "quality" banner seems to work better but can be difficult to maintain (see the many discussions of Pavillons here). Adding an "ethnic" banner theoretically should work, but specialty ethnic operators know how to reach their audience this better than major chains.

Kroger seems like the one chain that has had recent sustained attempts at running multiple banners, but they seem to be losing interest---Fresh Fare has lost its distinctiveness and it sounds like Fred Meyer is being turned into Kroger mediocrity. Food4Less seems stalled and its use as a way back into the Chicago market ran out of gas quickly, with just a sprinkling of stores in the South and West, along with NW Indiana.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3851
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by pseudo3d »

buckguy wrote: March 4th, 2021, 4:34 am Multiple banner approaches rarely work out. They were popular in the 70s and 80s because people became more price conscious (hence ware house and discount concepts) and most major markets were saturated, if not overstored (good way to hold on to market share in the short run).

The obvious problem is that you ultimately cannibalize your own sales and profits, esp. if the new banner is based on lower prices. The hyperinflation of the 70s and early 80s made it difficult to keep up with the changing cost of merchandise and probably helped doom most of those concepts. Inflation aside, most discount/warehouse concepts enter a market with much lower than prevailing prices and then let them creep up over time, which makes it easy for conventional chains to run pricing zones or run promotions like double coupons in nearby stores to run out the clock on these operations. The main exception is Walmart where they waited much longer for the price creep, because they could.

Adding a "quality" banner seems to work better but can be difficult to maintain (see the many discussions of Pavillons here). Adding an "ethnic" banner theoretically should work, but specialty ethnic operators know how to reach their audience this better than major chains.

Kroger seems like the one chain that has had recent sustained attempts at running multiple banners, but they seem to be losing interest---Fresh Fare has lost its distinctiveness and it sounds like Fred Meyer is being turned into Kroger mediocrity. Food4Less seems stalled and its use as a way back into the Chicago market ran out of gas quickly, with just a sprinkling of stores in the South and West, along with NW Indiana.
In terms of Schnucks Downtown, I think it's to differentiate the fact that it's much smaller than regular Schnucks. It's like the downtown Houston Randalls, which has some attractive features (a second level balcony with Starbucks and seating, and the last time I was there the deli was even serving hamburgers again), but they're small stores and not any "fancier" than the suburban options.

I think that Kroger lost interest in trying to expand Food4Less when it was just easier to take Mariano's instead, and Kroger's multiple banners also seemed to be a bit of a thing when the divisions had more autonomy...Kroger Signature in Southwest and Kroger Premier in Detroit...but they more or less served as prototypes that got carried over into the rest of the chain, and today Kroger just closes stores instead of trying to rebanner them, which I'm not sure is the better move or not. Winn-Dixie and Albertsons tried to use "discount" banners to wring more use out of failing stores, but we all know how that went.
Bakeragr
Produce Clerk
Produce Clerk
Posts: 62
Joined: April 25th, 2018, 7:02 am
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 5 times
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by Bakeragr »

storewanderer wrote: March 4th, 2021, 12:06 am I completely forgot about Moser's in Columbia. Yes one of those seemed like a former Safeway to me. However it had a sign out by the road that looked like a Gerbes sign so I did get sort of confused also as I recall that one had an exposed ceiling inside so I was not quite positive it was a Safeway for those reasons. I think they were previously an IGA affiliate judging by the decor some of the stores had when I was there (a few years ago).
I think the Moser's you're describing is the one at I-70 and Highway 63, next to a brand new Drury Hotel. It was originally a Newell's IGA and has been passed around through a few different independent operators. I don't think it was ever a Safeway, but if it was, it was before my time. It is the only Newell's that is still in operation as a supermarket. The signage outside somewhat resembles a Gerbes sign, and the only reason I can think of is that Moser's took over a Gerbes in Fulton and when they refaced the sign there with Moser's script instead of Gerbes script logo, they liked how it looked and replicated it at their other stores.

To reply to the comment about a Kroger in Parkade Plaza, that is way before my time as well, but I've seen some vintage photos of the shopping center and a Kroger was in the mall, facing towards the south.

In response to Culinaria/Schnucks Downtown, COVID has really sapped a lot of the momentum in revitalizing downtown. I think a lot of the offices are empty, which took away a lot of that store's daytime traffic. A lot of the downtown lunch spots have closed. Decreased daytime worker traffic paired with no Cardinals fans all summer really took a toll.
Romr123
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 693
Joined: February 1st, 2021, 4:26 pm
Has thanked: 37 times
Been thanked: 56 times
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by Romr123 »

In the '70s there was a small urban Schnucks in the Mansion House complex---kind of before Laclede's Landing was a "thing" and Mansion House was THE place to live downtown.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by storewanderer »

Bakeragr wrote: March 5th, 2021, 9:20 am
I think the Moser's you're describing is the one at I-70 and Highway 63, next to a brand new Drury Hotel. It was originally a Newell's IGA and has been passed around through a few different independent operators. I don't think it was ever a Safeway, but if it was, it was before my time. It is the only Newell's that is still in operation as a supermarket. The signage outside somewhat resembles a Gerbes sign, and the only reason I can think of is that Moser's took over a Gerbes in Fulton and when they refaced the sign there with Moser's script instead of Gerbes script logo, they liked how it looked and replicated it at their other stores.

To reply to the comment about a Kroger in Parkade Plaza, that is way before my time as well, but I've seen some vintage photos of the shopping center and a Kroger was in the mall, facing towards the south.

In response to Culinaria/Schnucks Downtown, COVID has really sapped a lot of the momentum in revitalizing downtown. I think a lot of the offices are empty, which took away a lot of that store's daytime traffic. A lot of the downtown lunch spots have closed. Decreased daytime worker traffic paired with no Cardinals fans all summer really took a toll.
I went to that Moser's too (the one at Highway 63). The location I am thinking of that I think may have been a Safeway was: 705 Business Loop 70 West.

For an AWG operator in a rural area, Moser's wasn't bad. Clean stores, and did not seem to be full of expired product and spoiling perishables. Not sure who shops there with Schnucks and Hy-Vee and Gerbes around but someone seems to be since they have 3 stores going and the format seems to be working for them. I don't see them converting a store to a "cost plus" format like so many AWG operators who appear to be saturated in a given market do.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1003
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by buckguy »

pseudo3d wrote: March 5th, 2021, 1:05 am
I think that Kroger lost interest in trying to expand Food4Less when it was just easier to take Mariano's instead, and Kroger's multiple banners also seemed to be a bit of a thing when the divisions had more autonomy...Kroger Signature in Southwest and Kroger Premier in Detroit...but they more or less served as prototypes that got carried over into the rest of the chain, and today Kroger just closes stores instead of trying to rebanner them, which I'm not sure is the better move or not. Winn-Dixie and Albertsons tried to use "discount" banners to wring more use out of failing stores, but we all know how that went.
Food4Less was launched in Chicago quite a long time ago (far before Mariano's) and the geography is pretty limited, even though the format could have worked in a great many places in and around Chicago and they could have taken advantage of chains leaving the area.

The thing to remember about Kroger is that despite Dillon's takeover in the 80s, the chain is extremely predictable in ways that go back many decades. Their organic expansions often have been oddly limited---for example, a handful of stores in the Twin Cities that were closed in the 70s as they pared back operations. These may have been based on an assumption that they'd buy out someone larger---they entered places like Atlanta with a few stores and then bought the local Piggly Wiggly franchise a few years later. Ironically, Dominick's (which sold stores to Mariano's as it was wound-down) built out its store count in the Chicago area by buying two batches of Kroger locations, decades ago. Similar things have happened in Michigan. Like I said Kroger never really changes. They have periodically allowed innovation in their Divisions--they tried out multiple concepts in Cleveland for a decade before they left the market, but in the end they are a defense player who rarely leads. Even the roll out of the superstores, their last big thing before the more recent new formats was something that was a decade too late and not strong enough for the markets they exited. When I saw Atlanta's version of Fresh Fare in a new store near me, it was obvious that it was the old Kroger failing to really execute. It was nothing like the Fresh Fares I'd seen while living in LA for a few months settling an estate---just a sprinkling of fresh foods and upgrades that no one bought, because they could get the real thing at Publix or Whole Foods.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3851
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: Gerbes Columbia, MO

Post by pseudo3d »

buckguy wrote: March 6th, 2021, 6:09 am
pseudo3d wrote: March 5th, 2021, 1:05 am
I think that Kroger lost interest in trying to expand Food4Less when it was just easier to take Mariano's instead, and Kroger's multiple banners also seemed to be a bit of a thing when the divisions had more autonomy...Kroger Signature in Southwest and Kroger Premier in Detroit...but they more or less served as prototypes that got carried over into the rest of the chain, and today Kroger just closes stores instead of trying to rebanner them, which I'm not sure is the better move or not. Winn-Dixie and Albertsons tried to use "discount" banners to wring more use out of failing stores, but we all know how that went.
Food4Less was launched in Chicago quite a long time ago (far before Mariano's) and the geography is pretty limited, even though the format could have worked in a great many places in and around Chicago and they could have taken advantage of chains leaving the area.

The thing to remember about Kroger is that despite Dillon's takeover in the 80s, the chain is extremely predictable in ways that go back many decades. Their organic expansions often have been oddly limited---for example, a handful of stores in the Twin Cities that were closed in the 70s as they pared back operations. These may have been based on an assumption that they'd buy out someone larger---they entered places like Atlanta with a few stores and then bought the local Piggly Wiggly franchise a few years later. Ironically, Dominick's (which sold stores to Mariano's as it was wound-down) built out its store count in the Chicago area by buying two batches of Kroger locations, decades ago. Similar things have happened in Michigan. Like I said Kroger never really changes. They have periodically allowed innovation in their Divisions--they tried out multiple concepts in Cleveland for a decade before they left the market, but in the end they are a defense player who rarely leads. Even the roll out of the superstores, their last big thing before the more recent new formats was something that was a decade too late and not strong enough for the markets they exited. When I saw Atlanta's version of Fresh Fare in a new store near me, it was obvious that it was the old Kroger failing to really execute. It was nothing like the Fresh Fares I'd seen while living in LA for a few months settling an estate---just a sprinkling of fresh foods and upgrades that no one bought, because they could get the real thing at Publix or Whole Foods.
Kroger has not had any market pullouts in decades (at least BIG ones) but they definitely don't hold onto concepts for long. About five or six years ago, the Kroger Marketplace format (or _____ Marketplace, for stores not branded as Kroger) was sweeping the chain and bringing in 100k+ square foot stores but construction of these stores have gone to a trickle, maybe opening 1-2 stores of the format a year.

The merger with Dillons was probably the first time Kroger bought out a larger chain and didn't rebrand. In the 1960s, they would convert stores to their name by carrying the Kroger brand and creating a temporary logo with the chain's name inside of the Kroger circle, before becoming full Kroger stores later.
Post Reply