Chief of Dominick's parent describes next-generation store

This Sun Times story says that Safeway plans to target picky consumers with particular upgrades in meat and produce. This is quite an aboutface in view of the way Safeway trashed those departments even more than other departments. I'll believe it when I see it.

In a related story...

Last week there was a little segment on CLTV about Jewel's initiative to take business away from ethnic groceries by stocking branches with items targeted for each neighbourhood's population. The example they focussed on in the news story was Polish.

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Antonius wrote:Last week there was a little segment on CLTV about Jewel's initiative to take business away from ethnic groceries by stocking branches with items targeted for each neighbourhood's population. The example they focussed on in the news story was Polish.

I saw the same story.

I do not believe that Jewel's #1 goal is to ruin ethnic groceries. They're simply trying to make more money. Hurting competition is a side-effect as far as they see it.

It's a simple formula: Stock the things that the people in the neighborhood buy, and you'll make more money. We can't tell Jewel that they're evil for trying to figure out who their customers are and stocking the stuff that they want.

Also, I thought the story on CLTV was a bit misplaced. Big groceries in Chicago have been doing this for years. You'll notice that a Jewel/Dominick's in a Latino neighborhood will have a large Latino food section. The Jewels and Dominicks' in West Rogers Park have had a large kosher meat section and quite a variety of kosher/Jewish-style foods for many years.

Sure, Jewel can undercut the family ethnic grocery by a few cents, but the smaller groceries can (and do) survive. Jewel's lines are long, their help is impersonal, and the stores are dirty.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that big or small, the good stores will survive and the bad stores will fail.

Just my 2 cents,
EC

I didn't say anything about it was evil... what I did say is a fairly accurate reflexion of what they intend to do and, if I remember correctly, the Jewel official being interviewed said pretty much that, which struck me at the time as surprising and refreshingly honest. Maybe, though, I was just translating on the fly from corporatese to Chicagoese.

With regard to the degree to which the major groceries have been doing this all along, I think the point was that the new initiative is fundamentally different than just stocking a few more La Preferida and Goya products in one neighbourhood and more frozen pierogis in another. I had the impression that they were going to be trying to compete in offering fresh products as well. Anyway, that's what I thought they were saying...

I don't much care what Jewel and Dominick's do on that or any other score. I love going to ethnic groceries as much for the experience of interacting with the people as for the actual purchasing of food and use the chains for little more than toilet paper and drano.

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Antonius wrote:I didn't say anything about it was evil

Forgive me. I may have been extrapolating a bit.

Antonius wrote:... what I did say is a fairly accurate reflexion of what they intend to do and, if I remember correctly, the Jewel official being interviewed said pretty much that, which struck me at the time as surprising and refreshingly honest. Maybe, though, I was just translating on the fly from corporatese to Chicagoese.

I don't remember anything like that at all. I do remember the corporate office saying how they realized that some of their customers are doing a good portion of their shopping at other stores, and how they wanted to "compete". When translated, this does equal your original description.

Antonius wrote:With regard to the degree to which the major groceries have been doing this all along, I think the point was that the new initiative is fundamentally different than just stocking a few more La Preferida and Goya products in one neighbourhood and more frozen pierogis in another. I had the impression that they were going to be trying to compete in offering fresh products as well. Anyway, that's what I thought they were saying...

You're right about this. What I think is going on is just a retooling of their exisiting strategy. Many years ago, the big grocers realized that they could increase revenues by stocking specific to the neighborhood. What's probably happening now is that some MBA at the Albertson's office has done a study and realized that people STILL shop at more than one store. So, they probably did a study and discovered the types of products that people don't buy at Jewel. Next comes the internal memo, the project plan, then the press release (which CLTV jumped on).

Antonius wrote:I don't much care what Jewel and Dominick's do on that or any other score. I love going to ethnic groceries as much for the experience of interacting with the people as for the actual purchasing of food and use the chains for little more than toilet paper and drano.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Best,
EC

We're in agreement on the chains -- I like Antonius' comment about them as a source of toilet paper and Drano.

Jewel has been ahead of Dominick's in trying to cater to local tastes.

Dominick's was trashed by Safeway management which ignored local markets and tried to make the stores into clones of their California operation.

I was really impressed by how Safeway continued their aggressive stupidity for four years as sales declined and everyone (especially the employees) told them they were doing the wrong thing. Of course, top management thought they knew more than the people working on the line, with the results we have seen. It was a classic case of bullheaded stupidity and should become a case study in mismanagement at MBA programs.

After Safeway found they had made their $2 billion purchase unsaleable, they finally brought in a new head at Dominick's some months ago, and it sounds as if he's trying to undo the damage that was done. I'm skeptical, but hope for the sake of both employees and customers that he does improve service and product selection.

Is that they q-u-i-e-t-l-y replaced choice grade beef with select grade and never informed the consumer. This may explain the "promotion" we sometimes receive in our Sunday paper: a large paper bag emblazoned with "Fill this bag with meat and receive half-off!". Gotta move the product.

I won't talk about the produce or service in general

When I first moved here and visited Dominick's, I thought "wow, how lucky to have a great regional grocery store." 12 years ago, before Safeway, Dominick's still retained hints of the small, Italian grocery store feel especially in terms of baked goods, produce and "ethnic" stuff. I thought it compared well with other good regional groceries I knew, including Publix in FL, which still can be quite good, and Harris Teeter in the Carolinas. And, to a lesser extent, I like Schnuck's in St. Louis and beyond.

After the Safeway purchase, Dominick's quickly sucked by any standard, even the horrible standard of Southern California grocery giants (Safeway Von's Albertson's Ralph's, it's hard to decide which is crappiest).

JeffB wrote:When I first moved here and visited Dominick's, I thought "wow, how lucky to have a great regional grocery store." 12 years ago, before Safeway, Dominick's still retained hints of the small, Italian grocery store feel especially in terms of baked goods, produce and "ethnic" stuff. I thought it compared well with other good regional groceries I knew, including Publix in FL, which still can be quite good, and Harris Teeter in the Carolinas. And, to a lesser extent, I like Schnuck's in St. Louis and beyond.

After the Safeway purchase, Dominick's quickly sucked by any standard, even the horrible standard of Southern California grocery giants (Safeway Von's Albertson's Ralph's, it's hard to decide which is crappiest).

Isn't Publix an Albertson's clone, like Jewel?

stevez wrote:

JeffB wrote:When I first moved here and visited Dominick's, I thought "wow, how lucky to have a great regional grocery store." 12 years ago, before Safeway, Dominick's still retained hints of the small, Italian grocery store feel especially in terms of baked goods, produce and "ethnic" stuff. I thought it compared well with other good regional groceries I knew, including Publix in FL, which still can be quite good, and Harris Teeter in the Carolinas. And, to a lesser extent, I like Schnuck's in St. Louis and beyond.

After the Safeway purchase, Dominick's quickly sucked by any standard, even the horrible standard of Southern California grocery giants (Safeway Von's Albertson's Ralph's, it's hard to decide which is crappiest).

Isn't Publix an Albertson's clone, like Jewel?

I think so. And Safeway definitely owns Von's.

stevez wrote:
Isn't Publix an Albertson's clone, like Jewel?

Nope.

From the "Company Overview" section at www.publix.com:

Founded in 1930, Publix Super Markets is the largest and fastest-growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the United States. Publix and our associates excel in community involvement, volunteerism and a commitment to our market areas and beyond.

They're unaffiliated with albertson's. Albertson's does own Shaw's, SuperSaver, Savon, and Acme, in addition to Jewel and Osco.

Ralph's is owned by Kroger, which also owns electronics megastore company Fry's, along with Hilander and Food4Less.

-ed

Yep, Publix is local, and employee owned. Also, they make a pretty mean Cuban sandwich, for a big grocery store -- often the deli guys are older Cuban ladies and gents, at least in Tampa and S. Florida.

I don't see Jewel undercutting the prices of the ethnic stores and independent supermarkets where we do most of our grocery shopping. Jewel's prices tend to be higher and very much higher for produce. Jewel is much more competitive with the ethnic stores on nonfood items, but Target and Costco are the real competition there.

Thursday we shopped at Cermak Produce on Kedzie and the Jewel at Kedzie and Addison for a few items. This Jewel is trying hard for the Hispanic market, but it was quite clear that Cermak Produce was getting a lot more of that market in midafternoon. This Cermak Produce is in a store that Jewel converted to an Osco and then abandoned after opening the Kedzie and Addison store less than a mile away. Cermak expanded the building and now has a store about the size of the Jewel portion of the new store with vastly larger produce, meat and Spanish grocery selection along with quite a few Middle Eastern, Asian and Eastern European items.