Retail Watchers

I wonder why Rosauers hasn't expanded more rapidly in SW Washington or even in Oregon. One store in Ridgefield and one store in Hood River seems strange considering where the rest of their stores are.

GMJim wrote: ↑November 25th, 2023, 9:49 pm I wonder why Rosauers hasn't expanded more rapidly in SW Washington or even in Oregon. One store in Ridgefield and one store in Hood River seems strange considering where the rest of their stores are.

Astronomical increases in real estate cost that make California property look cheap, especially around Vancouver WA. Just a guess. Commercial prices move slower than residential, but when you consider that many of those neighborhoods have increased 500% in 3 years I would imagine that rents for new developments have also skyrocketed.

They are supplying a handful of independent stores in that region. So even though the stores look sort of like isolated islands, they are stopping the truck at various other surrounding stores.

I'd like to see further expansion as they're a great operator. Certainly much better than that Roths thing. But for now they seem to be happy with what they have.

storewanderer wrote: ↑November 25th, 2023, 11:14 pm They are supplying a handful of independent stores in that region. So even though the stores look sort of like isolated islands, they are stopping the truck at various other surrounding stores.

I'd like to see further expansion as they're a great operator. Certainly much better than that Roths thing. But for now they seem to be happy with what they have.

Smart way to do business... Get sales without all the overhead.

Rosauers is a small,. conservative chain. They are looking for sites that have little competition and are home runs. Hard to find that in the Portland market but Ridgefield fits that criteria. They remind me a lot of Market of Choice with a bit more lower priced products. I suspect they are competing for the same locations.

babs wrote: ↑November 26th, 2023, 9:26 am Rosauers is a small,. conservative chain. They are looking for sites that have little competition and are home runs. Hard to find that in the Portland market but Ridgefield fits that criteria. They remind me a lot of Market of Choice with a bit more lower priced products. I suspect they are competing for the same locations.

I love companies like that. Smart people. I'll have to go stop by Ridgefield next time I'm up there.

babs wrote: ↑November 26th, 2023, 9:26 am Rosauers is a small,. conservative chain. They are looking for sites that have little competition and are home runs. Hard to find that in the Portland market but Ridgefield fits that criteria. They remind me a lot of Market of Choice with a bit more lower priced products. I suspect they are competing for the same locations.

Ridgefield, like much of Southwest Washington, has seen a lot of growth. Ridgefield was unique though in that it did not really have a true supermarket...Rosauers picked up on this and this is part of why the store seems to be doing well.

It is interesting to note though that Ridgefield also has landed a Costco which is under construction not far away, while more established chains such as Safeway and Fred Meyer, and even Walmart, have not located stores there.

Rosauers got lucky that Safeway and Kroger seem to not be bothering to build many/any new stores on the West Coast and that Ridgefield site was a coup for them.

The store is fantastic and it is a good fit for the area. Rosauers is not the cheapest store but they are cheaper than Safeway/Albertsons, more expensive than Fred Meyer in center store perhaps but Rosauers also runs some really good prices on secondary Northwest brands in various categories such as dairy, bread, canned, which easily beat Fred Meyer and are more WinCo like.

Compared to Market of Choice, Rosauers seems like more of a meat and potatoes type of store. But if you peel back from how they seem the products they are selling are actually very similar. Just a somewhat different marketing strategy and presentation strategy going on.