Target Liquidation of items at Big Lots

[retailfanmitchell019]

Private label pack errors absolutely happen at the supplier level. I've seen O Organics items on the shelf in Wal Mart. Kroger items at Wal Mart. Wal Mart items at Kroger.

And Best Choice pizza rolls at Stater Bros. (should be Crav'n, a Topco supplied brand for frozen food).
Stater Bros. now carries Sunnyside Farms ice cream, which is made in the same plant as Stater Bros. ice cream.

[storewanderer]

Private label pack errors absolutely happen at the supplier level. I've seen O Organics items on the shelf in Wal Mart. Kroger items at Wal Mart. Wal Mart items at Kroger.

And Best Choice pizza rolls at Stater Bros. (should be Crav'n, a Topco supplied brand for frozen food).
Stater Bros. now carries Sunnyside Farms ice cream, which is made in the same plant as Stater Bros. ice cream.

Are they actually slotting Sunnyside or just got it instead of Stater as a temporary fill in?

I wonder if Stater is working on selling out to Save Mart. If that happens that also blows the theory of Save Mart expanding via Albertsons/Kroger divests...

One interesting idea could be Save Mart buys Stater and also buys Albertsons Southwest Division (most of it that is, including Las Vegas Albertsons/Vons).... that could be a very viable chain in my opinion.

[retailfanmitchell019]

Are they actually slotting Sunnyside or just got it instead of Stater as a temporary fill in?

I wonder if Stater is working on selling out to Save Mart. If that happens that also blows the theory of Save Mart expanding via Albertsons/Kroger divests...

Not trying to get defensive, but as far as I'm concerned, Stater Bros. is staying independent. They aren't weak to be an acquisition target (like Bashas).
I suspect the Sunnyside brand is a temporary fill in.

[storewanderer]

Are they actually slotting Sunnyside or just got it instead of Stater as a temporary fill in?

I wonder if Stater is working on selling out to Save Mart. If that happens that also blows the theory of Save Mart expanding via Albertsons/Kroger divests...

Not trying to get defensive, but as far as I'm concerned, Stater Bros. is staying independent. They aren't weak to be an acquisition target (like Bashas).
I suspect the Sunnyside brand is a temporary fill in.

I hope you're right... I don't think an acquisition would be a good thing for Stater or its people. Stable organic growth is their best path forward.

[jamcool]

Stater buying Bashas’ would have been more logical than Raley’s, who has its own problems in its home market.

[storewanderer]

Stater buying Bashas’ would have been more logical than Raley’s, who has its own problems in its home market.

Stater is a heavily unionized operation and Bashas is a non-union operation. I don't see that as a great merger.

Very very different culture and operational attitude between those two chains. Stater runs a disciplined efficient operation. Bashas does not. Raleys has a very different culture than either but historically enjoys an upper middle class solid customer base, rarely understaffs its stores, and historically maintains its stores well.

The best match for Bashas probably would have been Save Mart. Similar low volume store model. But when Save Mart ends up with the Southwest Albertsons/Kroger divests it will be fortunate they never transacted with Bashas because doing so may have hurt their chances in buying divests. The divests of Albertsons/Kroger are obviously far higher quality assets than most of what Bashas has (assuming they don't get run into the ground). The next interesting thing will be to see if Bashas distribution which runs way under capacity is put into Super Store Industries (Raleys/Save Mart joint venture) so it can jointly serve both Bashas and the Save Mart owned stores in AZ/NV should they end up with divested stores. Or if an existing Kroger/Albertsons facility is divested with the stores and goes under SSI to jointly serve both.

Raleys does maintain a smaller warehouse in Sacramento that is for its own use only (not SSI) but mostly handles perishable fresh items out of there. They could retain the Bashas existing warehouse for that function if SSI took over dry/frozen grocery as the arrangement is with CA.

[Romr123]

Had a look at the Target selection at one of the BL stores in the area--seemed a mixture of apparel and home goods...2021 and 2022 copyright/season. Pricing felt...plausible.....no screaming bargains, but nothing ridiculous either. Was tempted by some bedsheets...Threshold, just 1/2 year old colors. Did notice a few "california King" sized bedding items (which will result in some returns, I'd guess).

[storewanderer]

Had a look at the Target selection at one of the BL stores in the area--seemed a mixture of apparel and home goods...2021 and 2022 copyright/season. Pricing felt...plausible.....no screaming bargains, but nothing ridiculous either. Was tempted by some bedsheets...Threshold, just 1/2 year old colors. Did notice a few "california King" sized bedding items (which will result in some returns, I'd guess).

It seems like they sent a lot more of these items to some stores than others. It doesn't seem like they are selling. It doesn't seem like much of anything is selling at Big Lots.

Big Lots had a 20% off everything sale last weekend and the stores I went to were still deserted. I was near one today, in an otherwise busy-ish shopping center, and it only had 3-4 cars out front. I didn't go in. I would guess it had 2 employees on duty.

[arizonaguy]

Stater buying Bashas’ would have been more logical than Raley’s, who has its own problems in its home market.

The best match for Bashas probably would have been Save Mart. Similar low volume store model. But when Save Mart ends up with the Southwest Albertsons/Kroger divests it will be fortunate they never transacted with Bashas because doing so may have hurt their chances in buying divests. The divests of Albertsons/Kroger are obviously far higher quality assets than most of what Bashas has (assuming they don't get run into the ground). The next interesting thing will be to see if Bashas distribution which runs way under capacity is put into Super Store Industries (Raleys/Save Mart joint venture) so it can jointly serve both Bashas and the Save Mart owned stores in AZ/NV should they end up with divested stores. Or if an existing Kroger/Albertsons facility is divested with the stores and goes under SSI to jointly serve both.

Albertsons got rid of the former Safeway warehouse in Tempe (it's now leased by Lucid motors). They do still run, for now, the adjacent milk plant.

Kroger may sell a lot of Albertsons / Safeway assets in Arizona (I can see virtually the entire store base sold) but they will not sell the Albertsons distribution center. It's next door to Kroger's existing main distribution center / milk plant and within a mile of Kroger's Ocado facility. It would allow Kroger to consolidate all of its facilities into one centralized location. Kroger has 2 other distribution centers that they could consolidate into the Albertsons facility. Therefore, the divested stores will need a warehouse and the Bashas' facility is probably the best facility that has excess capacity to handle the divested stores.

[storewanderer]

Albertsons got rid of the former Safeway warehouse in Tempe (it's now leased by Lucid motors). They do still run, for now, the adjacent milk plant.

Kroger may sell a lot of Albertsons / Safeway assets in Arizona (I can see virtually the entire store base sold) but they will not sell the Albertsons distribution center. It's next door to Kroger's existing main distribution center / milk plant and within a mile of Kroger's Ocado facility. It would allow Kroger to consolidate all of its facilities into one centralized location. Kroger has 2 other distribution centers that they could consolidate into the Albertsons facility. Therefore, the divested stores will need a warehouse and the Bashas' facility is probably the best facility that has excess capacity to handle the divested stores.

Any idea how many stores that Albertsons AZ distribution center is built to serve vs. what Kroger currently uses in AZ?

Looking at the two distribution centers I see Kroger has a distribution center, dairy, plus Dole Fruit directly in the same "compound" or general parking lot. The Albertsons distribution center is next to and across a train track from that Kroger dairy/warehouse/Dole compound. Tolleson was Smiths facility and it is configured very similar to Layton (except Layton has frozen bakery plant too).

The Kroger and Albertsons warehouses look almost equal size but the Kroger site appears to have significantly more parking spaces. Neither site seems to have the potential to expand...

I'm not sure how much warehouse capacity Kroger is freeing up on the perishable side by not serving Smiths Las Vegas/NM from AZ anymore. They previously freed up a lot of dry grocery capacity in AZ when Smiths opened the Henderson Warehouse a few years ago.

Kroger has a second warehouse in Phoenix for general merchandise at 5305 West Buckeye. This supplies a ton of stores with general merchandise and is probably at/over capacity. I think that is the original Frys warehouse?