RIP Genuardi's (East Norriton, Houston: sale, living, prices)

[pcity]

Originally Posted by couldntthinkofaclevername

Maybe Giant can someday buy ACME back for PA and get that money Minnesota has been making off of ACME for years where it belongs again.

Giant's parent company is located in the Netherlands. Not sure how that's an improvement over Minnesota for the local economy.

[ElijahAstin]

I'm patiently awaiting the day Wegman's begins to make inroads into the Eastern Main Line.

[templeu]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

I'm patiently awaiting the day Wegman's begins to make inroads into the Eastern Main Line.

If you live in University City.. the drive out to the Cherry Hill Wegman's may not be *too* bad. It's right off of RTE 70, so a straight shot off from 676/the Ben Franklin bridge. Though, paying a $5 toll just to go food shopping may be a bit much.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by templeu

If you live in University City.. the drive out to the Cherry Hill Wegman's may not be *too* bad. It's right off of RTE 70, so a straight shot off from 676/the Ben Franklin bridge. Though, paying a $5 toll just to go food shopping may be a bit much.

I do go to the one in Cherry Hill every now and again. My upstate NY friends know the joy and beauty of Wegman's, so we usually head over as a group and split gas/toll costs.

[avg12]

Of the Genuardi's stores in Southern NJ, I'm familiar with the Cherry Hill and Marlton store.

The Cherry Hill Ellisburg Genuardi's store was at the location of a former ShopRite.

ShopRite left that location as it relocated to the racetrack/Garden State Pavilions, for more sq. footage. When Giant-MD/Stop&Shop no longer wanted to do business in Southern NJ, they sold 2 Cherry Hill stores and a number of other stores to ShopRite. So, ShopRite had again 2 stores by the west side of town.

Because of intense competition from the Wegmans however, the ShopRite owner (Ravitz) felt it couldn't operate two stores in west Cherry Hill. However, the Genuardi's remained in business.

So, it would be a coming back to circle if ShopRite bought out this Genuardi's store.

I think one alternative to Wegmans is sustainable for the stretch of road from Route 70 between Wegmans and the I-295 intersection, since many might not want to deal with the Wegmans crowds or enormous parking lot.

Other options for Genuardi's replacements are Superfresh and Acme.

A&P closed a number of stores, however, in the Philly region and hasn't been a strong operator for years. And Acme also isn't a great store that is expanding. However, if Acme bought the CH store, they would return to Cherry Hill after some 20 years, and likely be the first time going into Marlton.

A new Superfresh did open in Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, so Superfresh may be interested in opening new stores.

Superfresh might make sense as a buyer of both the Cherry Hill and Marlton stores. In a way, it would be a full circle thing for Superfresh as they would return to Cherry Hill (their brief stint by the CH mall, although A&P owns Pathmark which is in CH), and if this happened, Superfresh would have two stores in Marlton again (one off 70, one off 73).

I think A&P should run all the SJ stores as Superfresh, rather than some as Pathmark, and others as Superfresh.

There is another private local chain called Murphy's Marketplace that operates stores in Medford, Medford Lakes, and Pine Barrens locations. The owner could buy these two stores. I have never been to one of their stores, so I can't comment on its quality or compatibility.

I don't think Aldi or Bottom Dollar would buy these locations. They tend to want to select their own locations in dead plazas, where leases would be cheaper, rather than buy out a location that is too big for them anyways.

Cherry Hill is more saturated with stores, so the lease there is less valuable. The Marlton Genuardi's location is in a great location, with just some competition from Target that sells groceries. However, there is no Wegmans or evena Costco, and even the ShopRite is still a little away on 70 (after the 70/73 intersection). I doubt ShopRite would take the Marlton Genuardi's location as it is too close.

If anything, ShopRite would make sense in Burlington at the former Kmart space. There is no ShopRite there at all, and people have to actually shop at Acme or Wal-Mart (not a Supercenter, so selection is limited), or drive 7 miles to Wegmans in Mt. Laurel. However, that area would be more in Eickhoff ShopRite territory, whereas Cherry Hill and Marlton, and south Mt.Laurel (Union Mill and East Gate Sq.) are within a different territory.. Eickhoff owns all of the other Burlington County locations and already has 5 or 6 stores, and likely had too much on their plate after acquiring the Stop&Shop locations.

[avg12]

Originally Posted by couldntthinkofaclevername

Maybe Giant can someday buy ACME back for PA and get that money Minnesota has been making off of ACME for years where it belongs again.

That won't happen as it would be blocked by the DOJ and/or other governmental agencies. Acme is still the largest grocer, and Giant I assume now would be #2, or maybe #1 in the Philadelphia region. They would otherwise have to make a strong case that Wawa, Wegmans, Wal-Mart, Target and ShopRite adequately provide competition.

Also, Acme is unionized while Giant isn't, so there is that incompatibility.

[magicoz]

Which is the Acme that "stinks"? I wonder if it's the same one I'm thinking of...

Are Acme prices that high? Acme never was a fancy store, albeit their stores built since 1990 or so having so many bells and whistles compared to the old days...

Also, Albertsons, the company which bought Acme around the same time as the Safeway/Genuardi's deal, was non-union.

The Flickr user JSF0864 works at the Super Fresh in Marlton, and has a collection of wonderful photos of it when it was A&P. A real trip down memory lane.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by bryson662001

I don’t know how any of these grocery stores can compete with shoprite…. except that a lot of people are really stupid. .

Yeah, I'm really stupid for passing up an overcrowded, chaotic and messy ShopRite that it always out of its sale items for Genuardi's or Giant which are not perfect, but at least I can find advertised items on the shelves.

Originally Posted by newmarlig

Does Giant have delivery? I don't have a car and Genuardi's/Safeway was so convenient a few times a year to stock up on heavy items.

Giant just signed on with Peapod; I don't know the details, though.

[magicoz]

Peapod is a company actually owned by Ahold, the same Dutch company that owns Giant. Ironically, when Peapod was its own company about 13 years ago, they ran Safeway delivery. That changed when Ahold bought Peapod because Safeway was Ahold's competitor.

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by avg12

Acme is still the largest grocer, and Giant I assume now would be #2, or maybe #1 in the Philadelphia region.

"The new store reflects Giant's desire to challenge ShopRite and Acme Markets for sales dominance in the region. Fast-advancing Giant is in third place, according to an industry survey that found Acme had been dethroned by ShopRite in the last year. "

Giant Food opening supermarket in Philadelphia this month (http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5281405/giant-food-opening-supermarket-in-philadelphia-this-month - broken link)