Sunday, March 11, 2012

El Cajon, CA - Grocery Observations

I visited El Cajon, CA last week and found the stretch in the middle of town to be an interesting study from a grocery standpoint.

First, there was a closed and out of business medium sized and remodeled in the past 5 years Ralphs. The store closed a year or two ago. Surprise? Probably not.

Next up was a Fresh & Easy. The Fresh & Easy appears to be one of their higher volume units judging by the high customer count I saw, significant number of out of stocks throughout the facility, and some other things. This was the first time I saw a variety of Fresh & Easy's new "initiatives" such as having doors over all of the refrigeration as well as their new in-store oven program.

The change of having doors over all of the refrigeration is, in my opinion, a poor move for this operation. As many of their stuff is already "packaged" a bit more heavily than similar items are in a conventional grocer, adding yet another "layer" for the customer to look through is questionable to me. For example, looking at their fresh meat, which is already in thicker and deeper packaging than typical conventional grocer meat, having to look at those already over-packaged packages through glass doors greates an even foggier view of a product that already appears somewhat foggy. Also it is somewhat difficult to read price labels on items through these glass doors, especially given the price labels at Fresh & Easy are already not always the easiest to read or locate.

Their new in-store oven program is also interesting. I noted the store had cut a little space into the back wall where pre-baked baked goods were and has a small oven. The shelving is still very high so it would be difficult for a customer on the sales floor to communicate with an employee back in this area, but not impossible. Anyway they have a small assortment of fresh breads, in varying sizes, with price points starting at $1.49. There are no single unit servings of rolls but there were some other loose items present. There are  some pastry type items sold in single units and it is unclear if these are baked in the store or brought in from elsewhere. The pastry items are packaged in a manner similar to gas station pre-packaged pastries or how Ranch 99 sells them, in sealed plastic and are $1.29 each or 3/$3.00. As most grocers sell larger and much more appealing looking single pastries that are obviously made fresh in the store at a $0.99 price point, I was not compelled to purchase anything here due both to the higher cost and my confusion over whether or not the item was freshly made in store, combined with my negative associations with pastries packaged in plastic vaccum packed bags in a gas station like manner.

It was also my observation despite how busy this store was, I only saw one employee who was working helping customer at self checkout and also mopping the floor up front between helping people. The cart areas in the parking lot were overflowing with carts. The store was not clean. Many produce items were out of stock with empty display cases. I was in this store during the 4:00 PM hour and to see it in this condition so early into the peak hours time shows a serious problem.

Next up was a visit to a Sprouts, previously Henry's. Not too much to report there other than a busy store, well stocked, adequate staffing, clean, and overall looked pretty good.

Down the road a bit more revealed a Save a Lot. The Save a Lot was a bit of a surprise, but it was there. The store was stocked pretty well, reasonably decent condition, but was certainly doing the least business of the three stores and was in my view the least desirable of the three to shop at. Although the prices here were probably better than the others, and they may have had a better selection of certain prepackaged processed foods than the other two, the general lack of fresh items and somewhat questionable appearance of what fresh items they did offer, made it a less than appealing place.

So this is a quick view of a few alternate formats to the conventionals in SoCal and how things appear to be going.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Carson City, NV Smiths Remodel

This store is similar in age to the one in Sparks, possibly from 1988 or 1989, and received similar remodeling in 1997 involving a wall repaint and new refrigeration. Also, in 2008, some repainting was done in the store primarily to lower wall areas into a beige color but no other work was done to the store. The condition of this store was very bad for an extended time period. Despite a good location, and likely due to the store's poor condition, the business level at this store never looked great. However, as Safeway and Scolaris have both closed stores nearby this store in the past couple of years, the business has improved. The remodel to this store was announced shortly after Safeway announced its Carson City Store closure in 10/2011. The store received a front end remodel in summer 2011, a wall repaint into current colors in 11/2011, and the formal remodel started in early 2012.

 Prior to remodel front wall/promo photo (from 2007), note the photo area was still there, that was closed and walled off in about 2010 only to be gutted and used as a new space for floral in the remodel of 2012:
After remodel front wall/promo photo:
Prior to remodel bakery photo (from 2008):
After remodel bakery and portion of deli photos:



Prior to remodel deli seating area (from 2007):

After remodel deli seating area:
Prior to remodel produce area at its worst in 2007:
Prior to remodel produce area after attempted improvement in 2010:
After remodel produce area:
Prior to remodel floral area on back wall (from 2007):
After remodel where this area was converted into frozen meat:
Prior to remodel meat area (from 2008):
After remodel meat area, nice to see this store got a new floor around its entire perimeter unlike Sparks...:
Prior to remodel dairy alcove (from 2008):
After remodel dairy alcove was walled off and normal door type case was installed on the outer portion of what was the alcove; this is along the back wall, again note new floor here unlike Sparks:
Prior to remodel liquor alcove (from 2007):
After remodel liquor alcove:
Prior to remodel paper products wall (from 2008):
After remodel paper products wall:
Prior to remodel pharmacy (from 2003):
After remodel pharmacy:
Prior to remodel view of drug aisles (from 2003):
After remodel view of drug aisles:

After remodel view of nutrition aisle, note again unlike Sparks this has a new floor:

Sparks, NV Smiths Remodel

This store first opened in 1987 and then repainted with certain refrigeration replaced in 1997 completed its remodel last week. Although extensive work was done, the store still shows many signs of its age. The original floor remains in the back 3/4 of the store while a new floor was installed in the front 1/4 of the store. The original tan colored shelves remain. The store layout didn't change too much.

Prior exterior (10/2011):

Remodeled exterior:
Prior front wall area the far side of which was a one hour photo until a few years ago (10/2011):
New floral area in space that previously was one hour photo:
After remodel promo area front wall space, note they removed that awful light box from the ceiling and this part has the new floor:
Prior view of exit way with old photo of founder of chain posted, which is gone now (2008 photo):

New exit way:
Old bakery (10/2011) corner view and side view:

After remodel bakery, with old roll case still present:
Prior remodel deli front portion (10/2011):
After remodel deli front portion:
Prior to remodel deli mid portion (10/2011):
After remodel deli mid portion:
Prior remodel deli seating area (10/2011):
After remodel deli seating area:
Prior remodel produce view facing back wall (10/2011):
 After remodel produce facing midpoint back/side wall:

Prior remodel produce facing side wall (10/2011):
After remodel produce facing side wall:
Prior remodel floral area (10/2011):
After remodel frozen meat cases installed in space that was previously floral:
Prior remodel meat area (10/2011):
After remodel meat area, the old tan floor remained throughout the back area of the store:


Old dairy  case (10/2011):
New dairy mid section and milk cases. The milk was previously in an alcove which was built over to allow for the door type case:

Old liquor alcove (10/2011):
After remodel the liquor alcove remains; in other remodels of this type of store I have seen, liquor has not been kept back in this area:

Prior remodel pharmacy area (10/2011):
After remodel pharmacy area:

After remodel customer service area and aisle of nutrition items: