storewanderer wrote: ↑February 3rd, 2024, 12:03 pm
babs wrote: ↑February 3rd, 2024, 10:42 am
Will be interesting to see if Oregon and Washington get any new stores. They are underrepresented here but the NW hasn't been much of a focus for them.
Are they underrepresented statewide or just underrepresented around Portland/Seattle? Given the closures they did around Portland I don't see them adding stores in that market. In the case of Seattle I don't think there is much need for them to add additional stores; Seattle has a lot of grocery options, also I think Seattle has a heavy loyalty to Costco, heavy loyalty to Amazon, the dominance of Fred Meyer and Target is such that I'm not sure what additional Wal Marts bring to the table in that market.
Wal Mart has opened a lot more new stores in the past 20 years in OR/WA than Fred Meyer... but those have been tough projects for them that take a lot of years to come to life.
I also think Wal Mart underperforms in smaller/medium markets where it competes against Fred Meyer.
Fred Meyer is not the store it used to be though. As remodels have taken place, their focus seems to be on food and they are scaling many GM departments way back. Walmart just finished a remodel near me, and is just down the road from Fred Meyer. Walmart blows Fred Meyer out of the water on the GM side, and is particularly strong in hardlines. Fred Meyer is generally strong in grocery though, but their shift to a loyalty card program for sale prices and also requiring the use of the app for sale prices on some items has turned off many people. I have also discussed their cluttered aisles which is a growing issue.
Walmart for some reason has not had good prices in grocery though. Milk for instance is higher there than anywhere else, including Safeway. Other prices are nothing special, and are typically in between WinCo and Fred Meyer on prices. Another thing about Walmart is that they pretty much have NO bags available at checkout these days, not even the reusable ones at times. Fred Meyer at least offers paper bags, but they are small and tend to rip easily.
Walmart has built a handful of new stores in the area in recent years, including a second store in Longview, an expansion of the other Longview store, and a new location in Woodland (which does not have Fred Meyer) while Fred Meyer is for the most part stagnant. I am not so sure people are as loyal to Fred Meyer these days as they seem to be shifting toward the "Kroger way" of doing things.
With Costco building a new store in Ridgefield, it is interesting to note that neither Fred Meyer or Walmart have stores there. I kinda wonder which one will try to build first. Rosauer's actually took note of the growth in the area and so far it has worked well for them.