Stop & Shop closures

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. No non-grocery posts.
BatteryMill
Shift Manager
Shift Manager
Posts: 411
Joined: May 1st, 2016, 12:25 pm
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 18 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by BatteryMill »

mjhale wrote: September 6th, 2022, 3:54 pm Also in Virginia I would have looked more at the Route 29 corridor and perhaps re-entering Richmond. I wonder what would have happened if Giant-MD got the Hannaford stores in Richmond instead of Kroger. Another wildcard in all of this was that Sainsbury (the British grocer) had a significant, but non majority amount of shares in Giant-MD at this time. They were pushing for Giant to "get out of its comfort zone". I always wondered what Giant would have been like if Sainsbury had bought Giant instead of Ahold. Lastly, no one in the Cohen family was interested in running Giant. The principals in the 1224 Corp were all long time employees of Giant who themselves were looking to retire. That left Giant with a void of leadership at the top and ultimately the sale of the company. That sealed the fate of the PA stores and severely hobbled the NJ stores. Yes it was a FTC mandated sale in PA. But realistically those stores could not have survived without an aggressive operator who wasn't bound by corporate norms and performance objectives.
Interestingly Giant-MD had opened a few new Super Gs in NJ around the time their operations were consolidated with Stop & Shop in 2003-2004. Whether those were residuals from the previous regime that did not properly calculate the trajectory or signs these locations were to turn around, I don't know.

Expanding south in VA might have been a worthy choice with the fall of Safeway and A&P there, as well as the rise of Food Lion at the time. Of course it's a shame the Cohen family did not plan for a Giant after Izzy as well. Things would be a lot different on the grocery scene if they found someone good in charge that was not Ahold, which I see does okay but I have heard lacks a lot of the charm from before.

Also, just as a pro-tip, I wouldn't mind if you would break up your paragraphs with spaces, would be easier to read.
mbz321 wrote: September 6th, 2022, 7:04 pm At least in PA, the former Super G's were acquired by Supervalu-owned Shop 'n Save, who ran them for a very short while before selling them off to other operators. Shop 'n Save did nothing to their stores besides change the outside sign and slap stickers over everything else. Nobody I knew growing up really shopped there. The awkward Giant-MD layout (the Acme in Norristown/Trooper, PA still has it) and I remember hearing complaints about the shopping carts being too small, seemed to keep people away. They must have picked semi-decent locations because only one of the PA locations is no longer used as a grocery store (and likely only because it shared a plaza with a Division I Walmart which has since expanded).
How was the layout at MD awkward? I might have some bias since I am used to it, but I can see so considering the large amount of aisles and service departments mostly stacked along the back.
mbz321 wrote: September 6th, 2022, 7:04 pm And going off topic now, but this is why I think Amazon Fresh is going to absolutely fail in this region. Nothing in the store really seems to be local at all. No pork roll (or Taylor Ham!), scrapple, Amoroso's rolls, no call-outs to locally grown produce, and other regional favorites. Even the regular milk seems to come from a dairy in MD. The only 'local' product I've seen being stocked is a few varieties of Tastykake for a super inflated price. and rarely look to be replenished.
I wonder if the same is true elsewhere.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by storewanderer »

BatteryMill wrote: September 6th, 2022, 9:54 pm
mbz321 wrote: September 6th, 2022, 7:04 pm And going off topic now, but this is why I think Amazon Fresh is going to absolutely fail in this region. Nothing in the store really seems to be local at all. No pork roll (or Taylor Ham!), scrapple, Amoroso's rolls, no call-outs to locally grown produce, and other regional favorites. Even the regular milk seems to come from a dairy in MD. The only 'local' product I've seen being stocked is a few varieties of Tastykake for a super inflated price. and rarely look to be replenished.
I wonder if the same is true elsewhere.
I don't think the customers interested in local/regional product were at Amazon in the first place. There is also that big customer segment who shops Costco, Wal Mart, Aldi, etc. who has limited interest in local products like that. As the big chains get bigger, they do worse and worse handling local product. Their mix gets more and more boring. Some customers accept it and others leave. Safeway really screwed up in its handling of local/regional products and it cost them Genuardi's, Dominick's, and that set them on the path to cost them their entire chain. Kroger is on the edge of being as poor as Safeway in this regard, but isn't quite there yet. Luckily, smaller chains keep popping up who do continue to handle these local/regional products. Amazon will just fall into the boring lump with Costco, Wal Mart, Aldi, etc. not handling these products. I wouldn't expect Amazon to have these products anyway.

The bigger part of that story is how many local/regional products have been cut or significantly de emphasized at Whole Foods since Amazon took over.
mbz321
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 747
Joined: March 11th, 2010, 7:52 pm
Has thanked: 96 times
Been thanked: 54 times
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by mbz321 »

storewanderer wrote: September 6th, 2022, 10:19 pm
I don't think the customers interested in local/regional product were at Amazon in the first place. There is also that big customer segment who shops Costco, Wal Mart, Aldi, etc.

Funny you mention these three as they have at least made a minimal effort to stock some local items in my area. Costco just started recently carrying Tastykake and Taylor Ham, along with Dietz and Watson prepacked deli meats. I've seen call-outs to locally grown produce at Walmart and they stock local Hatfield meat company products. Even Aldi stocks Amersoso's rolls and pork roll from Hatfield.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by storewanderer »

mbz321 wrote: September 7th, 2022, 12:58 pm

Funny you mention these three as they have at least made a minimal effort to stock some local items in my area. Costco just started recently carrying Tastykake and Taylor Ham, along with Dietz and Watson prepacked deli meats. I've seen call-outs to locally grown produce at Walmart and they stock local Hatfield meat company products. Even Aldi stocks Amersoso's rolls and pork roll from Hatfield.
Amazon Fresh has Dietz and Watson products in SoCal prepackaged, do they not have them in PA? That would sure be funny, but given how Amazon does things, maybe not surprising.

I see more "local" signs on produce then look at the produce stickers and see Mexico on the labels... the CA grocers have really scaled back how often they put "local" signs on produce.
mbz321
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 747
Joined: March 11th, 2010, 7:52 pm
Has thanked: 96 times
Been thanked: 54 times
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by mbz321 »

storewanderer wrote: September 8th, 2022, 12:07 am
Amazon Fresh has Dietz and Watson products in SoCal prepackaged, do they not have them in PA? That would sure be funny, but given how Amazon does things, maybe not surprising.
Ok, I guess that' another 'local' thing to add that Amazon sells lol. They do have a Deli counter at Amazon Fresh too but on all of my visits I have yet to see someone actually standing there and ordering something from the case.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1004
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by buckguy »

Costco does do local tailoring and there is usually a sprinkling of local brands (Great Lakes beer in Ohio) and products (the obligatory Old Bay seasoning in the DC-Baltimore area.

To backtrack a bit, Giant-Landover’s calling card in the pre-Ahold days was bakery-deli. The meat and produce were forgettable but usually better than Safeway. The bakery-deli would have been something that would have helped them in Philly, although it would have needed some tailoring for the market. This was not a strong product area for Super Fresh or Acme, and Shop-Rites usually vary in this area by operator. I never visited a Genaudri but I would imagine it was one of their strengths but they had a limited store base.

When Ahold took over and consolidated the stores with Stop & Shop, the bakery-deli took a big hit. Stop & Shop was never strong in this area (seafood and floral were the areas they pioneered) and I would imagine that this didn’t help in Philly, even with Safeway’s take over of Genaudri. Bakery-deli is probably important in the NYC area and would be one of the problems for them there. Giants bakery-deli has never fully bounced back and the selection varies a lot by store, although they have brought back regional items like Otterbein cookies from Baltimore and cakes from one of the Eastern Shore bakeries.
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: Stop & Shop closures

Post by marketreportblog »

A few more updates:
- Stop & Shop has announced a closing date for Highland Park, which will be in March.
- 1009 Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, NY, a former Foodtown/Edwards, closed on 1/19/23 and has been sold to NYC chain Food Bazaar, which is now in its soft opening phase.
- Two unusual closures in S&S’s home territory: Everett, MA (likely killed by the massive Chelsea Market Basket right nearby) and Montello Street in Brockton, MA. The former is slightly outdated, looks like it hasn’t been renovated in a few decades. The latter has much newer decor and looks to be in pretty good shape, but S&S closed their other Brockton store in 2020. Brockton has a high-volume Market Basket, not to mention being Shaw’s hometown with two well-run, large, and high-volume stores.
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: Stop & Shop closures

Post by marketreportblog »

Not much happening, but some other things:
- The Brockton, MA one I mentioned would be closing in my last post (almost a year ago!) is now staying open.
- I think anyone local knows the tiny, outdated Highland Park, NJ Stop & Shop closed in March. It was announced yesterday that the store will become a SuperFresh. Not sure which owner it'll be, but Food World recently opened a store in a former Pathmark in Middlesex nearby. I have to assume, based on the combination of what stores like Middlesex look like and the condition of the Highland Park S&S, that the renovation will be extensive.
- In Waterbury, CT, Stop & Shop is moving across the street into a recently-closed ShopRite.
- I don't have any confirmation of this, but a Facebook post says that one of the Bridgeport, CT Stop & Shops is to be closed in February and that Food Bazaar will move in, making their third location in the city. It is a logical enough suggestion, especially given that the store still has the early 2000s decor. The property was sold in 2021 and another Bridgeport store closed in 2012 and remains vacant.
- The store in Glenville, a section of Greenwich, CT -- a barely-changed acquired Grand Union -- closed recently.

Any thoughts on this? It doesn't seem like there have been a lot of closures lately, and those that have closed (Glenville, Highland Park) are very small and old.
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: Stop & Shop closures

Post by marketreportblog »

I'm back to thinking about the health of Stop & Shop. Back in November, their ecommerce facility in Jersey City closed, and the online shopping was switched to Instacart and DoorDash from the stores. More recently, people particularly in New York City note that Stop & Shop no longer delivers to their area, despite there being stores in four of the five boroughs, and that lots of products are either out of stock or just gone. Rumors are flying on Facebook and Reddit about store closures and so on. So I dug deeper into some of the complaints I've heard about. As far north as Chelmsford, MA, northwest of Boston, people are noticing dirty stores with lots of items out of stock, large empty spaces in the store, and so on. Apparently, that store in particular has been rumored to be closing for years -- it's right next to a large, high-volume Market Basket -- but also was pretty extensively renovated a few years ago. So I decided to do some investigation myself.

Over the last two days, I visited 11 Stop & Shop stores in northeastern New Jersey. Nearly every one was empty of customers (one or two were fairly busy), and nearly every one had clear stock problems. Not just some items being out of stock, but large, obvious gaps especially in produce and HABA. One, for instance, had a single carton of storebrand chicken broth and no other storebrand broths; the name brands were faced well but only one or two deep. Multiple endcaps were only one item deep. One store had a random section in the snack aisle of liter seltzer bottles, only one bottle deep. Paper goods seem to be in short supply, too, with several stores having only a few of each kind of paper product. In almost every store, there were at most two people in each department -- some had one person running multiple service counters. Many had only two registers open, but it didn't really matter because no one was shopping anyway.

Stop & Shop's standards have never been particularly high, but this was extreme. I've never seen the stores in such bad shape. I don't know that the NJ Stop & Shop stores are about to go out of business, but I can't imagine this level of operation is sustainable -- and more than a few of the stores I was in felt like A&P stores right about 10 years ago. At the very least, it feels like they're having trouble filling the spaces they're in, since many of their stores are quite large.

Has anyone experienced anything like this at other Ahold Delhaize stores? I was at a Hannaford about a month ago and it seemed not only perfectly normal but very well-run. Or any other Stop & Shops?

Here's some pictures from what I found:
mjhale
Shift Manager
Shift Manager
Posts: 429
Joined: October 2nd, 2016, 4:02 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 47 times
Status: Offline

Re: Stop & Shop closures

Post by mjhale »

I have traveled fairly extensively in North Jersey and NYC visiting relatives. The Stop and Shop stores I visited in these areas just seemed very blah and not very busy as you noted on the stores you visited. Many of the stores seem to be stuck on the yellow walls and purple letters decor package. Fresh selections were mediocre and quality seemed iffy. Overall, the Stop and Stores I've visited seem like they are just drifting. I'd imagine that ShopRite is so strong being the native NJ chain that it is hard to compete with them. Plus other competitors around like Wegmans and Whole Foods. Of the Ahold-Delhaize stores I'm am familiar with, the two Giants seem to be strongest of their chains. Both Giants are aggressive about keeping stores up to date or build replacement stores. Plus most stores seem busy and while they don't have the broadest fresh selections, what they have are good quality. Giant-MD is closing a 60+ year old store in Arlington, VA. The store is very small and has no place to expand. There is a modern Giant-MD location less than a mile away. Giant-MD has also opened some brand new builds as well. I have always wondered if Ahold is letting Stop and Shop go by the wayside so they can close or offload them. Or maybe rebrand to Hannaford?
Post Reply