Shelby County, Tennessee, Grocery Stores (Memphis, Bartlett: 2015, home, construction)

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Publix also opened in Greeneville, signaling a desire to infill in smaller markets in more densely populated East Tennessee.

I'd think Publix would be looking first at East Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, North MS, and Arlington/Lakeland. Kroger anticipated this and remodeled their existing stores and are opening some new stores as well.

Kroger's answer to Publix and Walmart Neighborhood Market is its Kroger Marketplace hypermarket stores. Kroger's Delta Divison should be opening many of these stores.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

There are not any other supermarkets in Shelby County beyond Kroger and Walmart Neighborhood Market since Schunck's exited in 2011. Schnuck's stores were previously Sessels stores acquired from Albertson's in 2002. Kroger acquired several Schnuck's stores.

I would say there is room for another supermarket participant in Shelby County.

That was a sad day when Seessel's sold out to Albertson's. Actually, it was more of a disaster than just a sad day. Albertson's ruined what was a beloved and very high quality local grocer. Now that Kroger has taken over what used to be Seessel's/Albertson's/Schnuck's, Memphis does need a store like Publix to give Kroger a run for its money. There's no question that places like Nashville, Birmingham, and Atlanta have benefited from the Publix-Kroger competition, and Memphis should, too.

[Carolina Knight]

Acquiring Albertson's Nashville area stores is how Publix entered Tennessee in 2002. Publix acquired 49 additional Albertson's stores in Florida in 2008.

I doubt Kroger is in Birmingham, Alabama. Its Kroger Marketplace stores would get it in the market.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Acquiring Albertson's Nashville area stores is how Publix entered Tennessee in 2002. Publix acquired 49 additional Albertson's stores in Florida in 2008.

I doubt Kroger is in Birmingham, Alabama. Its Kroger Marketplace stores would get it in the market.

You're right. Kroger is in northern Alabama but not in Birmingham. At any rate, I was living in Atlanta when Publix came sweeping into town, and it caught Kroger completely off guard. It looks like Kroger has learned its lesson and is sprucing up its Memphis stores in preparation for Publix. Still, Kroger does a horrible job at maintaining its stores compared to Publix. A 20-year old Publix still looks brand new, but a 20-year old Kroger looks 20 years old. I can see Publix opening stores in Collierville, Arlington, Bartlett, Germantown, Olive Branch, Southaven, and East Memphis. I would love it if Publix were to do one of its urban stores in Midtown.

[Carolina Knight]

Supermarkets in the Birmingham, Alabama, area besides Publix are Piggly Wiggly, Winn-Dixie, and Walmart Neighborhood Market. Most Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and operated. Winn-Dixie has been on the decline. I do not project its stores to remain open. Kroger may have been in the area years ago. Its return would be through Kroger Marketplace stores.

Publix opens several 29,000-square-foot stores each year, and it will be opening updated 38,000-square-foot stores with pharmacy drive thru. I could see several smaller Publix stores opening in Memphis and across Shelby County.

[jabogitlu]

Is the Kroger Marketplace roughly equivalent to its Fred Meyer stores? I love Fred Meyer here in the west, especially where Target is less recurrent than in cities back east.

[abc2330]

Can someone explain to me the appeal of Publix? I went to one in Florida, and several times in Nashville, and just didn't get it. I understand the niche that Whole Foods , Trader Joe's, Aldi, Sprouts, etc. fill, but Publix just seemed like another brand name store which is more expensive than Wal-Mart or Kroger. I even recall getting a store-brand frozen meal, and it was awful. Is it a customer service thing, specialty items, or what? There need to be more players in the grocery mart competition, but I'll pass on Publix.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Is the Kroger Marketplace roughly equivalent to its Fred Meyer stores? I love Fred Meyer here in the west, especially where Target is less recurrent than in cities back east.

Pretty much. Kroger owns Fred Meyer, by the way. I may be wrong, but I think Kroger started doing its Marketplace stores after it bought Fred Meyer because those type stores were Fred Meyer's specialty, kind of the way Kroger is starting to do some urban stores after it bought Harris Teeter since urban stores were Harris Teeter's specialty. There aren't that many Kroger Marketplace stores in the southeast; there are only 7 in all of Tennessee, and the only Kroger Marketplace in the Memphis area is in Hernando MS. I wouldn't be surprised if Kroger did decide to build more Marketplace stores in the Memphis area to thwart the Publix encroachment.

[Renownedtheworldaround]

The Kroger Marketplace concept was taken from Fred Meyer and Smitty's. It's not a complete Hypermarket like Walmart Supercenter or SuperTarget, but it has a larger selection of General Merchandise section than a typical supermarket.

[This is kind of a long read, so you can skip this if necessary]
I'm not in the 'Publix is soooo much better than Kroger' crowd (I actually prefer Kroger to Publix), but much of that chain's appeal come from a few things:

-Clean, consistent stores. Most of the Publix stores you go into are pretty much the same when you go inside. Kroger, in comparison can run from awful to nice depending on which store you go inside.


-Good Private Label Quality.
Many of the people who sing Publix praise like the quality of their store brand products. Take their Premium ice cream for example, it's still a half gallon and actually a better value than comparable Private Selection products. Kroger has a reputation of being hit or miss (although I don't have any problems with their products) Walmart's Great Value products OTOH are really not that great (Hard sandwich bread, nasty cheese slices, and the like.)

-Customer Service
I'll let their diehard fans do the talking on this one.

Deli and Bakery
People loooove their fried chicken, (I'm not a huge fan of double battered) and sub sandwiches. I'll vouch for the latter because they're much better than Subway and cheaper than Jersey Mike's. Their cakes and cookies aren't too bad either.

-Also the lack of a loyalty card is a draw for some though it's not really a huge deal for me.


I like Publix and think they have pretty decent stores, but the average store for me is about on par with a good Kroger maybe a smidge or two on the 'nicer' side with slightly higher pricing.

Since Kroger has at least two 'Fresh Fare' stores in the Memphis metro, I would expect Publix to put a store near those. I also expect them to put one near Germantown, where the third 'Fresh Fare' closed in favor of an expanded Kroger not too far away. I also would expect a store or two in Southaven, MS.

[jabogitlu]

What is a Fresh Fare Kroger? Are you talking about the one that closed near the East Memphis mall?

The Sanderlin and further east Krogers in Memphis are really nice. The Poplar Plaza Kroger was pretty nice after it was rebuilt, too. I left town before the Midtown stores were rebuilt/remodeled (ghetto Kroger on Cleveland, and the one on Union Ave) but I've heard they're quite nice as well.