Sprouts Operations

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Alpha8472
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

Sprouts is really raising prices these days. I noticed the muffins went up to $5.29 for 4 muffins. It used to be $3.99 not too long ago.

Sometimes the baked goods really do not sell. They have to clearance them for 99 cents since they are all expiring. Their tortilla chips used to be decently priced, but now they are also going up. The only reason I even go there any is see the prices on all the expiring stuff that they are trying to get rid of. I did manage to buy some cheap items.
storewanderer
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 22nd, 2022, 12:03 am Sprouts is really raising prices these days. I noticed the muffins went up to $5.29 for 4 muffins. It used to be $3.99 not too long ago.

Sometimes the baked goods really do not sell. They have to clearance them for 99 cents since they are all expiring. Their tortilla chips used to be decently priced, but now they are also going up. The only reason I even go there any is see the prices on all the expiring stuff that they are trying to get rid of. I did manage to buy some cheap items.
Save Mart has price increased its 4ct Muffins to 5.49 (they have a 3.50 each price this week if you buy two packages; first time they've done this promotion with a minimum purchase requirement; I cannot go through 8 muffins before they expire so no sales from me on that this week). These are the best muffins of any grocer in NorCal.

Safeway increased its 4ct soggy oil lumps with sugar that they call muffins to $5.99 or $6 for 4ct.

Sprouts muffins are baked in store and of above average quality.

Other stores have defrost and sell muffins in NorCal other than the above who do bake muffins in store. The defrost and sell ones are universally awful.
BillyGr
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: August 22nd, 2022, 12:21 am
Alpha8472 wrote: August 22nd, 2022, 12:03 am Save Mart has price increased its 4ct Muffins to 5.49 (they have a 3.50 each price this week if you buy two packages; first time they've done this promotion with a minimum purchase requirement; I cannot go through 8 muffins before they expire so no sales from me on that this week). These are the best muffins of any grocer in NorCal.
The extra package could be frozen for the future, and many times they will keep easily beyond the date on them anyway.
Alpha8472
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

The Costco requires you to buy 2 huge boxes of muffins. Those are way too much. Freezing muffins is a good idea.
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 22nd, 2022, 2:50 pm The Costco requires you to buy 2 huge boxes of muffins. Those are way too much. Freezing muffins is a good idea.
Many stores out west sell thaw and sell muffins, not muffins baked in the store. The thaw and sell muffins tend to be soggy, oily, and break easily. I do not like those at all.

In other regions like the East, the muffins are baked in store. It makes a real difference for the muffin to be baked then sold. The top will be slightly hard, not dry, just a bit of an outer edge/top. The inside will have a better moistness and the texture of the muffin will hold together better.

Safeway manages to get a muffin so oily and disgusting that it is worse than a thaw and sell muffin, in Vons and in NorCal Division they still have this garbage (some other divisions seem to have switched to the Albertsons muffins which are much better).
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote: August 22nd, 2022, 10:06 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: August 22nd, 2022, 2:50 pm The Costco requires you to buy 2 huge boxes of muffins. Those are way too much. Freezing muffins is a good idea.
Many stores out west sell thaw and sell muffins, not muffins baked in the store. The thaw and sell muffins tend to be soggy, oily, and break easily. I do not like those at all.

In other regions like the East, the muffins are baked in store. It makes a real difference for the muffin to be baked then sold. The top will be slightly hard, not dry, just a bit of an outer edge/top. The inside will have a better moistness and the texture of the muffin will hold together better.

Safeway manages to get a muffin so oily and disgusting that it is worse than a thaw and sell muffin, in Vons and in NorCal Division they still have this garbage (some other divisions seem to have switched to the Albertsons muffins which are much better).
Ralphs does this. Thawing. They do it with some cakes, too. I hate it. Won't buy them anymore.
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by storewanderer »

CalItalian wrote: September 15th, 2022, 11:44 pm Ralphs does this. Thawing. They do it with some cakes, too. I hate it. Won't buy them anymore.
I will be fair and say the Kroger thaw and sell round layer cakes aren't bad. I think they have the best thaw and sell cakes in the industry (that's sort of like having a discussion about which McDonalds location produces the best burger). The muffins are absolute garbage; I am not sure why they sell them. Ralphs Fresh Fare does sell muffins baked in the store, you can tell those because they have a label from the store scale/label printer on them and won't be included in a sale when the defrosted muffins are on sale; those are great muffins. Smiths, Fred Meyer, QFC, and King Soopers do not seem to have any muffins baked in store. Frys used to at some stores, but I haven't been there in a while.

Safeway's cakes are thaw and sell sheets but they do frost most of them in the store (some are fully frosted too). They switched their sheet base in NorCal about a year ago; the Carrot cake has enough ginger to make you fall down and so few raisins I think they must be counting them individually before adding them at whatever plant makes this cake; the white cake has an odd density like a pound cake and tastes terrible, the chocolate is somewhat passable while still having the odd density does taste okay.
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Sprouts seems to be doing more markdowns in its stores.

They have a sticker markdown program like the Kroger Manager's Special stickers being used on various perishables. What is interesting is one store for a couple weeks, all of these items were scanning as free. The issue was somehow the labels were being programmed to automatically scan at (0 quantity) so the item came up on the receipt at "0 @ 1.99" for instance and then charged you .00. The employees could fix this to actually charge the item, by pressing 1 quantity then scanning the item.

They seem to have gotten the above issue fixed.

Then there is another Sprouts that keeps marking random bakery items down to .99. It seems to have at random at any given time one 4ct muffin flavor, one whole pie, one 12?ct cookie flavor, one 6ct scone flavor, at .99.

Also all of the Sprouts have started markdowns on produce more heavily than before, especially specialty items that don't seem to be moving (tropical, some of the Organic stuff, some of the specialty varieties of grapes).

It appears Sprouts having less traffic in its stores has caused some of these items to not more and waste got so bad that now they are trying these routes to address items that would otherwise spoil.
Alpha8472
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

Every Sprouts is different. One store does lots of 99 cent Bakery items, because they are not selling well at all. The store in the next city does not do any bakery markdowns. That store probably sells many more bakery items and most of the items don't sit long enough to expire.

The slower store also has an entire area of markdowns by the restrooms. The labels show a discounted price, but much of the time the items ring up as full price at the register.

The busier store has a couple of metal shelves with markdowns, but it is much less than the other store.

The prices at Sprouts are terrible now. Muffins have suffered from several price increases from $3.29 to $5.99. It is just not worth it to shop at Sprouts anymore.
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Re: Sprouts Operations

Post by mbz321 »

Welp, Sprouts must be doing well in the Philadelphia region, as they have plans for five more locations. Although I think the listed locations have been in the planning stages for some time now. I wonder if they might be interested in further expansion by taking over some dormant Amazon Fresh locations, assuming Amazon eventually gives up on them. Segment from paywalled article below: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphi ... nsion.html
By Paul Schwedelson – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Oct 2, 2023

Five years after Sprouts Farmers Market entered the Philadelphia region, the Phoenix-based grocery chain is expanding its commitment to the area with plans to open at least six more stores in the next two years.

Sprouts opened its first local store in 2018 at South Broad and Washington streets in South Philadelphia. Since then, it has opened four other area locations in Upper Dublin; Haddon Township and Marlton, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware.

The company is now moving forward with four new Philadelphia-area stores:

Quartermaster Plaza at 2200-2400 Oregon Ave. in South Philadelphia (opening in mid-2024)
Roosevelt Mall at 2329 Cottman Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia (mid-2024)
The former Festival Pier site at 501 N. Christopher Columbus Blvd. in Northern Liberties (2025)
Ridge Pike and Township Line Road in Limerick, Montgomery County (TBD)

Dan Croce, Sprouts senior vice president of real estate and new store development, said two additional stores are being planned in the area but declined to share their locations. Just outside of Greater Philadelphia, Sprouts expects to open a York location at Pennsylvania Avenue and Route 30 West in 2025.

“When we entered this area, the company was amazed at the activation,” Croce said. “If there’s a metric, our transactions in our stores are very good. I’m very pleased with it. The fact we’ve been here for five years and we’re going to parachute another seven or eight stores here over the next couple years, I think it echoes how we feel about it.”

Sprouts specializes in fresh, organic food with an emphasis on produce. The stores are designed to be open and airy without tall shelves dividing aisles. They have meat, deli, bakery and other traditional grocery store sections, but the focus is on healthy foods. Sprouts doesn’t carry name-brand sodas, for example. Croce said the brand intentionally doesn’t position itself as a one-stop shop, instead catering to a shopper with specific health-minded interests.

The store often picks up new customers who wonder “what’s this Sprouts all about?” Croce said. “Once they get in and they experience it, they get it.”

The style has caught on in the Philadelphia market, and nationwide. Sprouts has more than 380 stores nationally. The expansion in Philadelphia comes as the brand has pushed farther east. The Northeast movement started in Baltimore and is now continuing up and down the East Coast, north into New Jersey and south into South Carolina and Georgia.

“Why Philadelphia? Its passion. They love it. And the city, the greater metropolitan Philadelphia area is wonderfully diverse,” Croce said. “That’s where the brand really starts to resonate and echo because it’s there for all.”

Croce said the Philadelphia area isn’t necessarily underserved for food offerings, but he believes there’s opportunity for Sprouts because it has something different than other grocery stores.
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