Dollar Tree Operations

ClownLoach
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Re: Dollar Tree Operations

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: June 2nd, 2022, 9:22 pm
Bagels wrote: June 2nd, 2022, 1:08 pm

You have a better eye than me! I guess painting the walls pee-yellow really changed the physical appearance in my eye; it looks nothing like the Walgreens from my vantage point. I'm curious why the Walgreens closed, too; there is another location nearby, but its a standalone pharmacy - but has a drive-through. I've heard that locations without drive-throughs may close (at least in Orange County), might have something to do with poor sales.

There's an ancient Ralphs a mile up Trabuco, and one of their newest (if not the newest) stores a couple miles up El Toro. That store opened in 2007 and still features the 2000s décor package.
If Walgreens closes locations without drive through, that will take out hundreds of the stores they bought from Rite Aid. Good thing they never got a hold of Longs, that would have taken out 85% of the Longs chain.

I think Walgreens front end at this point is struggling so badly that opportunities like this to shift to those old RX Express locations are appealing. It is ironic since they spent years getting ouf of the RX Express locations and moving them to full size stores. Now they have a new store model called the Cooper Store (after the Mini Cooper) that is basically RX Express again with a 7-Eleven sized front end.
Walgreens was small little stores here only, then full size drugstores, and now is going back to small little stores.

Always remember that retail is cyclical.

Malls are obsolete dinosaurs that will never survive because customers want to interact more directly with the brands they want, and will drive around to 8 different locations for those 8 different brands.

Until gas is over $6 a gallon.

If gas goes over $6 a gallon then people will want to cut back driving, but still will want to shop in stores for the brands they want.

But where can they go to find all those brands under one roof? I wonder...

Yes I know that I am being overly simplistic, but the growing of stores into larger space, then smaller, then larger etc. is another example of the cyclical nature of retail.

As soon as everyone is sick of the current trend of driving to 27 different boutique and small format locations for their shopping when gas is $6+ and conveniently peak time summer demand electricity is now over 57¢ a kilowatt (how much is it to charge your Tesla at that rate? Probably enough to make you regret buying electric) - they'll all want to get back to being able to make one or two stops and get everything all in one trip. Then they'll remember this place called the Mall, and these big stores called Walmart and Target.

It isn't going to be Amazon either (as we are seeing with their recent reports of having too much warehouse space and needing to do layoffs).

Retail is cyclical. The retailer who is always on the right side of the cycle wins.
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Re: Dollar Tree Operations

Post by buckguy »

Retail is cyclical but not necessarily in the way you describe. Malls became poor investments even before Amazon because of overbuillding and narrow pricing; the spaces are expensive to fully repurpose and the homegenization of them makes it easy for them to fail if an area changes or new options open. BIg boxes and off price took away the lower end clothing and non-apparel that were sold by charter tenants in the first couple generations of malls. The truly durable retail spaces tend to be mid-sized community shopping centers form the 50s and 60s which could easily accommodate big box retail, service businesses, etc. that didn't fit into malls. Malls might one day come back but it won't be any time soon--not after all the bankruptcies, as well as divestures by even diversified retail landlords like Forest City.

The consolidation of retail ownership and decline of local stores and chains haven't helped. There aren't 28 places to buy anything. Major brands of soft and hard goods have consolidated and the major store in any category is lucky to have 1 or 2 competitors even in a large metro area. Classic full-line and even niche local retailers have disappeared----the classic full-line men's stores, better women's clothing, lines like toys. Indie book stores have revived but they are usually small and focused businesses. Gas prices go up and down all the time and have mostly marginal effects on how people shop, esp given that they the option of online shopping.

As long as people needs particular goods and services, there will be brick and mortar to sell them, but that brick and mortar will change forms and not necessarily go back in time.
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Re: Dollar Tree Operations

Post by veteran+ »

You are both correct...............Buck and Clown

:D

As for me? I guess I have not changed............................"one stop" will always rule in my book since I would rather spend my time doing other things. Also, since half of my career was about running retail, I would work hard at not spending MORE time in retail.

;)
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Re: Dollar Tree Operations

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: June 4th, 2022, 8:08 am You are both correct...............Buck and Clown

:D

As for me? I guess I have not changed............................"one stop" will always rule in my book since I would rather spend my time doing other things. Also, since half of my career was about running retail, I would work hard at not spending MORE time in retail.

;)
There are a number of larger Ralphs in SoCal that were built as Ralphs Marketplace are as close to one stop shop as you'll get. Maybe an Albertsons (not a Vons- all they do is have big wide aisles and the same spread out boring mix in the Redondo Beach ones) in an old Smiths would do the trick to but I don't know how many of those are left beyond Santa Maria. I was surprised how many Ralphs I went into that are very large and have the full scale Kitchen Place department, etc.
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Re: Dollar Tree Operations

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2022, 1:35 pm
veteran+ wrote: June 4th, 2022, 8:08 am You are both correct...............Buck and Clown

:D

As for me? I guess I have not changed............................"one stop" will always rule in my book since I would rather spend my time doing other things. Also, since half of my career was about running retail, I would work hard at not spending MORE time in retail.

;)
There are a number of larger Ralphs in SoCal that were built as Ralphs Marketplace are as close to one stop shop as you'll get. Maybe an Albertsons (not a Vons- all they do is have big wide aisles and the same spread out boring mix in the Redondo Beach ones) in an old Smiths would do the trick to but I don't know how many of those are left beyond Santa Maria. I was surprised how many Ralphs I went into that are very large and have the full scale Kitchen Place department, etc.
Yeah, I know, but none are close to me 😢😒

I live on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills (in the hills) and the best I have is Pavilions. Traffic makes stores more than a couple of miles unreasonable.
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