Another Shaw's to close

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. No non-grocery posts.
Post Reply
cathandler
Front-End Supervisor
Front-End Supervisor
Posts: 162
Joined: September 20th, 2016, 7:28 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times
Status: Offline

Another Shaw's to close

Post by cathandler »

This time it's the Westbrook, Maine location which has been starved of capex and staffing for years. Tellingly, it's the only location in the district that didn't get DriveUp & Go. The new Market Basket across the street finished it off.
https://www.pressherald.com/2022/01/21/ ... ook-store/
https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/shaws- ... next-month
Last edited by cathandler on February 9th, 2022, 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Another Shaw's to close

Post by storewanderer »

Not a bad looking store, looks like it used to do quite well.

Not real surprising Market Basket did them in. With the Safeway style of marginal quality (which doesn't work well in low volume stores with freshness issues) at terrible prices that the entire Albertsons group has adopted, not a real good formula against Market Basket with its very aggressive pricing on also marginal quality but very high turnover helping the marginal quality seem as good as it possibly can be.

Pricing is a huge liability for this Safeway/Albertsons group and the pricing moves they have made over the past few months and keep making every week, are going to really hurt. Unless we are headed for 30% food inflation (I don't think we are), they have really missed the mark.
cathandler
Front-End Supervisor
Front-End Supervisor
Posts: 162
Joined: September 20th, 2016, 7:28 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times
Status: Offline

Re: Another Shaw's to close

Post by cathandler »

Add Scarborough, ME to the list of closures. Maine is the state where the chain was founded in 1860. I'm hearing all divisions are in the red so this could be the start of a major round of bloodletting.
https://www.pressherald.com/2022/09/04/ ... n-october/
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: Another Shaw's to close

Post by Romr123 »

We stopped in a tiny Shaw's in Wilmington, VT earlier in August. Didn't particularly impress, though bought a few things off their clearance rack (marked with the customary 50% off barcode) Nothing larger would be appropriate for the size of the community (20 miles from either Bennington or Brattleboro); the parking lot seemed to be the hub for the local public van service.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Another Shaw's to close

Post by storewanderer »

cathandler wrote: September 7th, 2022, 12:55 am Add Scarborough, ME to the list of closures. Maine is the state where the chain was founded in 1860. I'm hearing all divisions are in the red so this could be the start of a major round of bloodletting.
https://www.pressherald.com/2022/09/04/ ... n-october/
Hard to believe they could be in the red in NorCal with their terrible pricing. The stores are very busy. Customers are buying with little regard for price in my observation. Shrink seems out of control and they throw away a ton of meats and produce due to rotation issues, selling too many of the wrong items in the wrong stores, and in the case of meat overly large package sizes. Their bakery quality is quite awful on the majority of products (not sure what has happened on that in the past year, seem to have reformulated many items in NorCal notably the cakes) and that area appears to have a ton of waste also. Deli pricing is much too high and with the labor challenges I think it is possible that department is having some serious financial problems despite running a full Boar's Head program in NorCal and the highest deli pricing I've ever seen anywhere. Not sure how well the $8.49 each pre-made sandwiches/wraps sell though but with 1/5lb of 15.99 Boar's Head meat, 1/10lb of 12.99/lb Boar's Head Cheese, and a roll that retails at .99 each, right there the retail value of those items alone eats up a significant portion of the price not even accounting for labor time or condiments and even at $8.49 these pre-made sandwiches are probably not a profitable proposition.

Still tough to see NorCal being in the red though... these prices... you have no idea...
cathandler
Front-End Supervisor
Front-End Supervisor
Posts: 162
Joined: September 20th, 2016, 7:28 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times
Status: Offline

Re: Another Shaw's to close

Post by cathandler »

I should clarify - I'm talking about all divisions of Shaw's, not of Albertsons in general.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Another Shaw's to close

Post by storewanderer »

cathandler wrote: September 7th, 2022, 9:42 pm I should clarify - I'm talking about all divisions of Shaw's, not of Albertsons in general.
Oh, well, that is not too surprising. Shaw's has done quite poorly for an extended time period and I'm sure the Safeway ideas and ways of doing things have only made matters worse. I wonder if Star in Boston is profitable?
marketreportblog
Receiving Clerk
Receiving Clerk
Posts: 147
Joined: July 9th, 2021, 7:40 pm
Location: New Jersey / New York
Has thanked: 87 times
Been thanked: 50 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Another Shaw's to close

Post by marketreportblog »

storewanderer wrote: September 8th, 2022, 12:05 am
I wonder if Star in Boston is profitable?
From my observations, Star Market in Boston tend to be extremely well-run, well-maintained stores that are high volume. They seem to do a much higher volume than their Shaw's counterparts, although my Massachusetts friends all note that Shaw's has vastly improved in the last few years on a few things and that their stores tend to be busier. From what I've seen, the Mass stores are much better run than the VT, NH, and ME stores which have all the typical problems with staffing, pricing, perishables...
Romr123 wrote: September 7th, 2022, 5:09 pm We stopped in a tiny Shaw's in Wilmington, VT earlier in August. Didn't particularly impress, though bought a few things off their clearance rack (marked with the customary 50% off barcode) Nothing larger would be appropriate for the size of the community (20 miles from either Bennington or Brattleboro); the parking lot seemed to be the hub for the local public van service.
I stayed in Wilmington for a week in the summer of 2021! My favorite part of the store is the Grand Union clock that's still hanging on the front wall. You're absolutely right -- the store is perfectly adequate, generally maintained well, small but complete enough, and not special in any way.
Post Reply