Retail Watchers

Romr123 wrote: ↑December 21st, 2021, 4:50 pm Wow what an interesting place. Felt very 1960s-1970s, with useful selections of hardware, basic clothing, grocery, a service deli. Teeming with people mid-day Saturday and Sunday; open til 10 in Oberlin (small college community SW of Cleveland). Smiling friendly people even at 9 at night. Cleveland's weird, with Marc's (in the CVS thread) feeling like this place's big brother. Good promo pricing, without need for cards. Seems the locals are very loyal.

Romr123 wrote: ↑December 21st, 2021, 4:50 pm Wow what an interesting place. Felt very 1960s-1970s, with useful selections of hardware, basic clothing, grocery, a service deli. Teeming with people mid-day Saturday and Sunday; open til 10 in Oberlin (small college community SW of Cleveland). Smiling friendly people even at 9 at night. Cleveland's weird, with Marc's (in the CVS thread) feeling like this place's big brother. Good promo pricing, without need for cards. Seems the locals are very loyal.

storewanderer wrote: ↑December 22nd, 2021, 12:36 am it is funny to see chains like this, or Kinney in NY, still around.

buckguy wrote: ↑December 23rd, 2021, 5:31 am Cleveland had two chains that sold a little bit of everything: Gray (later part of Rite Aid) and Detroit-based Cunninghams. They also had Revco which had radically altered a third chain that once had been like this. Gray gradually phased out all the slow moving stuff and became more like People's, Walgreen's, etc. which were their competition in markets outside of Cleveland. Cunningham's embraced selling all kinds of stuff but failed because they weren't very good at anything--you could rely on them to have expired offers and that sort of thing and their pricing wasn't competitive. They left the market and gradually went out of business about 40 years ago.

DDM, in some ways, is closer to the small independent grocers that used to be in Cleveland. There were several co-ops whose members operated in first generation super markets or even last generation little chain groceries. One operated in African-American inner city neighborhoods and advertised in the Black press, another was in mostly white inner city neighborhoods, while a third had stores in the suburbs and the city----I think all these co-ops are gone and the remainder operate under Bi-Rite which had always been the most varied co-op. DDM actually operates in some of the old co-ops' stores and picked-up those places in the 90s when chains were merging and old families were leaving the business. These were places where you "filled-in" between trips to a big chain store. DDM has tons of small town locations and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them have similar lineage. They also have newer, purpose-built locations. Recently, they pivoting toward what drug store competitors are doing by partnering with the safety net public hospital in Cleveland to open in-store clinics.

veteran+ wrote: ↑December 23rd, 2021, 8:33 am

buckguy wrote: ↑December 23rd, 2021, 5:31 am Cleveland had two chains that sold a little bit of everything: Gray (later part of Rite Aid) and Detroit-based Cunninghams. They also had Revco which had radically altered a third chain that once had been like this. Gray gradually phased out all the slow moving stuff and became more like People's, Walgreen's, etc. which were their competition in markets outside of Cleveland. Cunningham's embraced selling all kinds of stuff but failed because they weren't very good at anything--you could rely on them to have expired offers and that sort of thing and their pricing wasn't competitive. They left the market and gradually went out of business about 40 years ago.

DDM, in some ways, is closer to the small independent grocers that used to be in Cleveland. There were several co-ops whose members operated in first generation super markets or even last generation little chain groceries. One operated in African-American inner city neighborhoods and advertised in the Black press, another was in mostly white inner city neighborhoods, while a third had stores in the suburbs and the city----I think all these co-ops are gone and the remainder operate under Bi-Rite which had always been the most varied co-op. DDM actually operates in some of the old co-ops' stores and picked-up those places in the 90s when chains were merging and old families were leaving the business. These were places where you "filled-in" between trips to a big chain store. DDM has tons of small town locations and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them have similar lineage. They also have newer, purpose-built locations. Recently, they pivoting toward what drug store competitors are doing by partnering with the safety net public hospital in Cleveland to open in-store clinics.

Is that the same Gray Drugs that was in S. Florida?

TW-Upstate NY wrote: ↑December 22nd, 2021, 2:06 pm

storewanderer wrote: ↑December 22nd, 2021, 12:36 am it is funny to see chains like this, or Kinney in NY, still around.

Kinney is employee owned and is one of those chains that goes where the majors wouldn't even consider. They're a good store.