Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Though I'm usually against losing a local HQ, I like the idea of more competition within the local grocery scene. I hope HT sells...
How would HT selling create more competition? Wouldn't it be essentially the same (whether or not they left the stores as HT or turned them into something else)?
I know before you said this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by urbancharlotte
As for the shopping experience of HT, Krogers is a VERY close match. The only real difference between Krogers and HT is that Krogers have some stores in questionable neighborhoods. However, the nice Krogers stores are very similar to the typical HT. If Krogers and Publix chooses to do battle here in the Carolinas, the customers (us) will win.
But that is likely going to be the case with HT and Publix anyway.
Speaking of which, IMO HT is considerably more upscale than Kroger. I'd be okay with Kroger though.
My only concern is for the HT location uptown at 5th and Poplar. HT was willing to lose money on that location in order to have an uptown store. I have doubts that an out-of-state parent company would be interested in running ANY store at a loss. With that said, the fact that HT's uptown location is operating at a loss is dated info; it could be a situation now where that store is making money (due to uptown's recent residential growth).
One other thing to consider is that Harris Teeter might not be 100% interested in selling. Family Dollar flirted with selling out not too long ago then decided to remain a stand-alone company. The same could happen here with HT. Though I'm usually against losing a local HQ, I like the idea of more competition within the local grocery scene. I hope HT sells...
There is the HT that was demolished and being rebuilt, I believe the neighborhood was Plaza Midwood area? I know it's not exactly uptown, but it was fairly close.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
As a kid, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my mother shopped at Kroger. We were lost when the family moved to South Jersey until Pathmark moved into the area. The closest thing to Pathmark, here, is Ingles.
Walmart may be pressuring Food Lion in Charlotte, but there is no Walmart in Kings Mountain. Ingles is doing it here. I do most of my shopping at Ingles & Aldi, & I can say that I need to know prices at both places, because Ingles will sometimes meet Aldi's prices on sales.
There's a grocery thread on the South Jersey board where someone mentioned that Kroger was looking at stores that were slated to be closed. That area is having a crisis because most of the chains had been acquired & there are wholesale closings going on.. The reason that the Philadelphia market matters in this thread is it includes Delaware & Teeter is in Delaware. The only major player between here & Philadelphia is Giant of Landover, which is owned by Ahold & then there's Kroger, which is in Richmond & Raleigh. Teeter would be the perfect acquisition for Kroger. Just look at a map.
I know that Safeway had some stores, years ago, in Maryland, & they acquired a chain in the Philadelphia market, but those stores are now all closed. If they have a few stores in Maryland, at this time, they are not a major presence.
Last edited by southbound_295; 02-13-2013 at 11:27 AM..
..and it works to an extent. Plenty of people will tell you they prefer to pay more to shop at a clean store where the employees are nice.
Yeah, I have no problem with their business model - just when people claim that the reason they charge what they do is for reasons other than what they really are. I have zero buying power, yet I can source red peppers for $1.29 each. At Trader Joe's. Maybe I should sell them to HT since their buying power isn't great enough?
How would HT selling create more competition? Wouldn't it be essentially the same (whether or not they left the stores as HT or turned them into something else)?
I should have stated new competition. Maybe it's just me, but I'm ready for a change in the grocery scene here. Things were much more interesting back when Hannaford Food and Drugs were expanding here in Charlotte.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Megax
Yeah, I have no problem with their business model - just when people claim that the reason they charge what they do is for reasons other than what they really are. I have zero buying power, yet I can source red peppers for $1.29 each. At Trader Joe's. Maybe I should sell them to HT since their buying power isn't great enough?
Ingles & Teeter are about the same size, so have the same buying power. Ingles pounds Food Lion into the ground, but Food Lion is hurting Teeter. . .What's wrong with this picture?
...
Walmart may be pressuring Food Lion in Charlotte, but there is no Walmart in Kings Mountain. Ingles is doing it here. I do most of my shopping at Ingles & Aldi, & I can say that I need to know prices at both places, because Ingles will sometimes meet Aldi's prices on sales.
I don't doubt this, but IMO, FoodLion's biggest issues are self made. It's been my observation that many Foodlions suffer from poor management. Their stores have the perception of being unclean, and IMO, the front line employees receive no training on proper dress, making eye contact or anything else that acknowledges the customer in a positive light. I've seen some disgusting people working the register at FL.
In addition, their store design is coldly impersonal and depressing and their strategy seems to wander all over the place. One day they the are low cost, the next day they are upscale, etc. i.e no consistency. They wasted an entire decade on their Bloom concept. If you go there to shop you might pay HT prices or Walmart prices. Nobody wants to deal with this.
It's a recipe for disaster and one where they have lost a lot of customers to other grocery stores that simply do it better.
I don't doubt this, but IMO, FoodLion's biggest issues are self made. It's been my observation that many Foodlions suffer from poor management, they have the perception of being unclean, and IMO, the front line employees receive no training on proper dress, making eye contact or anything else that acknowledges the customer in a positive light.
Their store design is coldly impersonal and depressing and their strategy seems to wander all over the place. One day they the are low cost, the next day they are upscale, etc. i.e no consistency. They wasted an entire decade on their Bloom concept.
It's a recipe for disaster and one where they have lost a lot of customers to other grocery stores that simply do it better.
perception is reality when it comes to Food Lion... they tend to be pretty dirty, the cashiers appear to be rachet broads (new internet word for rough and roughed females)
they also seem pretty dark and dank... I've never been in a Food Lion that made me feel like buying food. Chips and Salsa or beer... and they tend to stay open later than most on Thanksgiving but I have to be up against it to buy raw food I would eat from FL.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by frewroad
I don't doubt this, but IMO, FoodLion's biggest issues are self made. It's been my observation that many Foodlions suffer from poor management, they have the perception of being unclean, and IMO, the front line employees receive no training on proper dress, making eye contact or anything else that acknowledges the customer in a positive light.
Their store design is coldly impersonal and depressing and their strategy seems to wander all over the place. One day they the are low cost, the next day they are upscale, etc. i.e no consistency. They wasted an entire decade on their Bloom concept.
It's a recipe for disaster and one where they have lost a lot of customers to other grocery stores that simply do it better.
I totally agree. Here's my experience with the 2 chains. There are 2 Food Lions here. I tried both 2 times each. The stores were dirty (not a perception, they were dirty.) & the produce looked half rotten. They would not give me a card, nor would they swipe a store card. I then went to the Ingles where the store is huge (80K sg feet) & clean. The lighting is good. Produce is good. They gave me a card. The cashiers know me & speak to me in the aisle. It is 180 degrees different.
ETA: Yet Ingles is much cheaper than Food Lion.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
