Retail Watchers

It appears Target has determined how to deal with the issues in San Francisco and evidently places like NYC too. They have increased prices compared to many other areas on consumable/high theft drugstore type items.

The following list of items:

San Francisco 789 Mission (large store just off Union Square)
Pleasant Hill, CA (30-40 miles from San Francisco, well off suburb)
Seattle, WA Pike Plaza 2nd St.
Burbank, CA 1800 West Empire
Tulsa, OK 1701 S. Yale
Fort Worth, TX 301 Carrol St.
Manhattan, NY Upper West Side 98th at Columbus
Orlando, FL 880 Sand Lake Road

Gillette Fusion 5 with 4 blade refills:
San Francisco: 21.99
Pleasant Hill: 19.99
Seattle: 21.99
Tulsa: 19.99
Burbank 21.49
NY: 23.99
Orlando: 19.99

Tampax Pearl 18ct Regular Absorbancy:
San Francisco: 6.49
Pleasant Hill: 5.29
Seattle: 4.99
Burbank 5.39
Tulsa: 4.79
NY: 5.99
Orlando: 4.79


Tampax Pearl 36ct Regular Absorbancy:
San Francisco: 10.19
Pleasant Hill:8.39
Seattle: 8.49
Tulsa: 7.99
Burbank: 8.39
NY: 10.19
Orlando: 7.99

Advil 200ct
San Francisco: 19.69
Pleasant Hill: 18.39
Seattle: 19.49
Burbank: 18.99
Tulsa: 18.39
NY: 20.99
Orlando: 18.39

Trojan Condoms 12ct
San Francisco: 10.89
Pleasant Hill: 8.59
Seattle: 10.19
Burbank: 9.99
Tulsa: 7.99
NY: 10.19
Orlando: 7.99


Tide Pods Original 76ct
San Francisco: 19.99
Pleasant Hill: 19.99
Seattle: 22.49
Tulsa: 19.99
Burbank 19.99
NY: 19.99
Orlando: 19.99

Starbucks 12oz Dark Ground Coffee
San Francisco: 11.69
Pleasant Hill: 9.99
Seattle: 11.29
Burbank: 10.39
Tulsa: 9.99
NY: 11.19
Orlando: 9.99

Heinz Ketchup 32 oz
San Francisco: 6.29
Pleasant Hill: 4.99
Seattle: 5.99
Burbank: 5.79
Tulsa: 4.99
NY: 6.39
Orlando: 4.99

Schwinn Cyclone Bike Tire Pump Floor Orange
All: 19.99

Mr. Coffee 12 Cup Switch Black Coffee Maker
All: 27.99

Quaker State 5W20 Motor Oil
All: 4.79

I wonder how much of this is attributable to theft, versus other factors making San Francisco a high-cost area of doing business such as real estate, taxes, wages, etc... I'm always hesistant to point price increases at a sole contributory cause unless the company outright states that "we've raised prices due to theft."

bryceleinan wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 2:05 pm I wonder how much of this is attributable to theft, versus other factors making San Francisco a high-cost area of doing business such as real estate, taxes, wages, etc... I'm always hesistant to point price increases at a sole contributory cause unless the company outright states that "we've raised prices due to theft."

Exactly this. Did these places have universally the same pricing before? Because that in itself would be odd and kind of stupid on Target's part given the high cost of living in NYC and SF.

mbz321 wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 5:39 pm

bryceleinan wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 2:05 pm I wonder how much of this is attributable to theft, versus other factors making San Francisco a high-cost area of doing business such as real estate, taxes, wages, etc... I'm always hesistant to point price increases at a sole contributory cause unless the company outright states that "we've raised prices due to theft."

Exactly this. Did these places have universally the same pricing before? Because that in itself would be odd and kind of stupid on Target's part given the high cost of living in NYC and SF.

It is universal pricing as I pointed out on a sporting goods item, automotive item, and home item...

Prices were higher before but not this big of a spread... the spread is widening.

Unless there is some other factor at play like the presence of Wal Mart in the other markets (not SF and NYC) keeping the prices down there...

The San Francisco Bay Area is dominated by many Target stores. There are only a small number of Walmart stores and virtually all of those are not supercenters.

For some reason people in the San Francisco Bay Area are very snobby. They will never set foot in a Walmart. The closet Walmart to the Target in Pleasant Hill, California is deserted. This is one of the least busy Walmart stores I have ever seen. It is as if no one wants to shop at Walmart.

The Pleasant Hill Target is packed like crazy with tons of customers. For some reason the area seems to attract low income people, homeless, and shoplifters.

The McDonald's down the street is homeless central. The homeless camp out by the creeks in the area.

People are willing to pay high prices in Pleasant Hill because they range from very wealthy to middle class. Safeway with its high prices is jam-packed. People spend money like crazy and don't even know what a Winco is.

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑March 24th, 2024, 10:02 pm The San Francisco Bay Area is dominated by many Target stores. There are only a small number of Walmart stores and virtually all of those are not supercenters.

For some reason people in the San Francisco Bay Area are very snobby. They will never set foot in a Walmart. The closet Walmart to the Target in Pleasant Hill, California is deserted. This is one of the least busy Walmart stores I have ever seen. It is as of no one wants to shop at Walmart.

The Pleasant Hill Target is packed like crazy with tons of customers. For some reason the area seems to attract low income people, homeless, and shoplifters.

The McDonald's down the street is homeless central. The homeless camp out by the creeks in the area.

People are willing to pay high prices in Pleasant Hill because they range from very wealthy to middle class. Safeway with its high prices is jam-packed. People spend money like crazy and don't even know what a Winco is.

Why would you say "snobby"?

Maybe there are people that refuse to shop at Walmart because of their business practices, known worldwide.

Yes, they don't want to shop at Walmart due to ethical reasons.

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑March 25th, 2024, 8:57 am Yes, they don't want to shop at Walmart due to ethical reasons.

Many Walmart stores on the west coast are poorly run. Dirty, poorly stocked, employees who don't care. If Walmart steps up their game, they could increase market share but some of the worst Walmart stores I've seen are out west.

This is not new at all.

Target, Walmart and others have been doing zone pricing and comp price studies for a very long time. My understanding is Target has had zone pricing for over a decade primarily from competitive shops.

The only change I see is that they're doing a better job of making the pricing universal. In the past the small formats and City stores were priced higher than surrounding regular stores. Now they are all the same in a metro area.

But even a decade ago I remarked at the lower pricing across the board in foods, consumables etc. specifically in Orlando. Until I walked back to the car and it was 110° in March with 99% humidity and I said they can keep their low prices in Florida, I would not want to live in that disgusting weather.

We should also remember that whatever the absolute bottom of the company is in wage scale, that's what they pay in Orlando. Lots of retailers hiring there for $12 an hour.

As far as the other departments, they do maintain national pricing as those are the items where the store is really having to compete with Amazon. If the customer wants a soccer ball and does a Google Shopper search, if they see it is even a dollar more at Target versus Amazon they're not going to buy it unless they need it today. They will just use their Amazon Prime membership and get free delivery tomorrow. Worse, that perception is made mentally that Target is more expensive than Amazon. So they cannot afford to have zone pricing on any of those items and price in lock-step with Amazon and Walmart. They can't adjust for shrink even though some of the highest losses occur in those departments like electronics and sporting goods.

Actually the Walmart store near Pleasant Hill is so not busy, so it is clean and organized. A lack of customers let the employees keep it spotless. It is the Target stores in the area that are messy and dirty. The Pittsburg, California Target was so messy and dirty. It closed down recently.