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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,675,688 times
Reputation: 10256
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tylerSC
I am curious if they will venture to the Charlotte region or remain focused on expanding in eastern NC. It seems they are looking at the I-95 corridor and the coastal regions, but perhaps Raleigh-Durham and the Triangle region could be a possibility. Typically Wawa and QuikTrip do not overlap in territory, but an alleged agreement is unconfirmed.
Wawa announced earlier this year that they would be going into western PA, home country for Sheetz, on their way to Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. If they're going to compete with Sheetz in western PA, they'll compete with Quick Trip.
They'll go to Charlotte. Their plans include Tennessee and Alabama.
Wawa announced earlier this year that they would be going into western PA, home country for Sheetz, on their way to Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. If they're going to compete with Sheetz in western PA, they'll compete with Quick Trip.
They'll go to Charlotte. Their plans include Tennessee and Alabama.
Wawa may avoid Charlotte, Greenville-Spartanburg, and Atlanta markets as they may have an alleged agreement with QT to mutually avoid each others territory, with no overlap. But this is unconfirmed, although I have been told this before by several QT managers.
I continue to enjoy fried chicken and baked chicken at Harris Teeter. Best chicken deals I have found, as Bojangles, Popeyes and Publix chicken has become too expensive. At HT the 8 piece fried or baked selection was $5.99 every other week all summer and early fall, and just recently increasing to $6.99. And the $7.99 rotating regular price is still cheaper than other chicken competitors. Still a very good price for very good quality product. I have come to enjoy Harris Teeter chicken better than Publix, as they have nice large pieces. I just add some garlic and herb seasoning to taste. And the HT rotisserie chicken is also good, and on sale for $6.99 now every other week.
And been awhile since I tried Lowe's Food or Ingles fried chicken, so not familiar with the taste or current pricing. And used to enjoy Hardee's fried chicken, when they acquired Roy Rogers recipe. Some select franchise Hardee's still serve fried chicken, I believe near Burlington, some small towns south of Columbia, and parts of Virginia.
Wawa may avoid Charlotte, Greenville-Spartanburg, and Atlanta markets as they may have an alleged agreement with QT to mutually avoid each others territory, with no overlap. But this is unconfirmed, although I have been told this before by several QT managers.
That would be extremely illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act. If low level managers knew something like this, so would regulators. Spreading rumors like this online is accusing QT and Wawa of blatantly violating the law, which they are not. There is no illegal agreement to not compete against each other, implied, formal, or informal.
Low level branch managers seem to have started a rumor, because the management team of these well run companies wouldn't do something so obviously illegal to end up in jail.
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That would be extremely illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act. If low level managers knew something like this, so would regulators. Spreading rumors like this online is accusing QT and Wawa of blatantly violating the law, which they are not. There is no illegal agreement to not compete against each other, implied, formal, or informal.
Low level branch managers seem to have started a rumor, because the management team of these well run companies wouldn't do something so obviously illegal to end up in jail.
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Apparently they share a common board of directors and perhaps they skirt the law by strategically deciding what regions they place their locations in, and so far they have decided against common overlap. Not an agreement necessarily, but just a mutual business decision. This is what several QT managers have told me both in SC and Georgia. But I do state this is nevertheless unconfirmed speculation because an official corporate announcement has not been made, and they will not divulge expansion plans until such corporate announcement. So I hope they are wrong and Wawa will indeed eventually come to Charlotte.
Now what about Wegmans? They are now established in the Triangle. So is the speculation correct they are coming to Charlotte, or do they choose to avoid competing with Harris Teeter and Publix?
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,675,688 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by tylerSC
Apparently they share a common board of directors and perhaps they skirt the law by strategically deciding what regions they place their locations in, and so far they have decided against common overlap. Not an agreement necessarily, but just a mutual business decision. This is what several QT managers have told me both in SC and Georgia. But I do state this is nevertheless unconfirmed speculation because an official corporate announcement has not been made, and they will not divulge expansion plans until such corporate announcement. So I hope they are wrong and Wawa will indeed eventually come to Charlotte.
Now what about Wegmans? They are now established in the Triangle. So is the speculation correct they are coming to Charlotte, or do they choose to avoid competing with Harris Teeter and Publix?
Wegmans has been competing with Harris Teeter for years in Virginia.
Apparently they share a common board of directors and perhaps they skirt the law by strategically deciding what regions they place their locations in, and so far they have decided against common overlap. Not an agreement necessarily, but just a mutual business decision. This is what several QT managers have told me both in SC and Georgia. But I do state this is nevertheless unconfirmed speculation because an official corporate announcement has not been made, and they will not divulge expansion plans until such corporate announcement. So I hope they are wrong and Wawa will indeed eventually come to Charlotte.
Now what about Wegmans? They are now established in the Triangle. So is the speculation correct they are coming to Charlotte, or do they choose to avoid competing with Harris Teeter and Publix?
The common board of directors is another weird reddit rumor. It is illegal to sit on the board of directors of two competitors of independent companies at the same time (private or public), again, due to the Sherman Antitrust Act to protect consumers from market collusion. Each company has independent owners and their own board and they don't want to have the DOJ easily ruining their reputations and strong corproate governance (because they aren't breaking the law). The rumor most likely originated due to Stephen Crooper working as an advisor to Wawa and then sitting on the board of directors at QT at a different times, but board aggregation websites screen scrape content and just show him affiliated with both leading to inaccurate conclusions.
QT store managers that make $80,000 a year also likely start rumors among each other inflating their importance and trying to act like they have inside knowledge to decisions made by senior leaders. Store managers are not consulted on which markets these chains plan to enter or exit until the decision has been made. They have little details on what the senior leadership team is planning long term, but they may know near term market strategy. I've seen how these go in town-halls and all-hands at many companies. "Ok, the line is open for questions from managers. Any questions?" "Yeah, so are we planning to expand into Pennsylvania to compete with Wawa." "No, at this time that is not one of our expansion targets." Managers then start conflating that "at this time" = "agreement", et. and away they go with rumors.
The only reason Wawa and QT don't overlap right now is the companies have independently decided to not enter those markets as part of their independent business strategy. There is no "agreement" though that forces Wawa to ignore Charlotte. They simply might find there is not the right real estate, they won't be competitive, they don't want to build their brand here, et... and the potential costs / benefit don't pan out against other expansion opportunities. They may never enter Charlotte just like numerous chains decide to never enter certain markets. Colluding though to designate markets with a competitor is very illegal and these internet rumors accusing these two companies of committing some of the most blatant anti-trust violations should stop or people should call the DOJ if they have actual evidence because this is then one of the easiest cases for a quick Anti-trust lawsuit win.
There was a similar rumor between Wawa and Sheetz that the companies had to publicly announce they don't work together to split PA in half.
Long story short, even though these are companies, I hate rumors and gossip. These are respectable family businesses and it is not fair to accuse them of very illegal market collusion.
Thanks for clarifying the legalities. Hopefully Wawa will eventually come to Charlotte and Upstate SC. I frequented their stores in Virginia. I guess their decision will be based on whether this region provides a viable business model. Or if they consider the market already saturated with similar competition. We shall see. But already we have QT, 7-11, Circle K, Race Trac/Raceway, Spinx, and other independent operators. And I think the closest Sheetz is Mooresville or Statesville, if I remember correctly. But it does seem that Wawa is concentrating first on the I-95 corridor and the coastal region.
Apparently they share a common board of directors and perhaps they skirt the law by strategically deciding what regions they place their locations in, and so far they have decided against common overlap. Not an agreement necessarily, but just a mutual business decision. This is what several QT managers have told me both in SC and Georgia. But I do state this is nevertheless unconfirmed speculation because an official corporate announcement has not been made, and they will not divulge expansion plans until such corporate announcement. So I hope they are wrong and Wawa will indeed eventually come to Charlotte.
Now what about Wegmans? They are now established in the Triangle. So is the speculation correct they are coming to Charlotte, or do they choose to avoid competing with Harris Teeter and Publix?
HT and Publix already have a strong presence in the Triangle along with Wegmans. They seem to be able to peacefully coexist.
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