Aldi is wildly successful in Southern California. Some stores will not make it, which ones? (Pasadena: to buy, construction)

[69Charger]

unbelievable number of chain restaurants the days of huge, national grocery stores are dying. I would hate to see Stater Bros go just cause we used to love shopping there years ago when we lived in Glendora. at the time there were only about 1/2 dozen, if that many Stater Bros and I never thought of them as massive chains.

I think the future of shopping is on line, and specialty stores

There's a ton of Stater Bros east of Glendora.

As for chain restaurants, I dunno...Millenials are in love with eating out. Restaurant revenue surpassed grocery revenue for the first time, not too long ago.

Online is the way to go, but won't work for everyone, for different reasons. Amazon is opening a new concept that doesnt use checkstands...you just pick up what you need and walk out. Items are tracked using RF, pretty cool.

I feel Costco is safe too, they are just too cool. They fill a big gap, are very popular, their return policy is phenomenal, and they treat their employees very well. I completely trust Costco with anything, and if it breaks or it sucks, they take it back no questions asked.

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by lukas1973

I would say quite the opposite. Both stores (Aldi and Whole Foods) would benefit if the other chain opens a store nearby. It makes for all chains normally a lot of sense when there are different store formats directly next door. But it's maybe different with Aldi vs. Whole Foods. Customers of Whole Foods could think that the opening of a nearby Aldi is a sign of a downward spiral for the whole neighborhood and could avoid this Whole Foods location
A Save A Lot store could be in danger when an Aldi store opens nearby.

Spot on, all of this.

Hmm, I could imagine that you have visit countries where there are stores from Aldi-Nord? This chain operates besides Northern and Eastern Germany in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Poland. Their stores have indeed a quite bad reputation. They are indeed considered low end.
The Aldi stores in the U.S. are part of Aldi-Süd, they operate besides Southern and Western Germany and the U.S. in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Australia. The reputation of Aldi-Süd seems in all the markets quite good (it's maybe still different in the U.S.).
Aldi was very successful by drawing middle class shoppers in the UK:

Actually, I've been to both. Can't say I've noticed much difference, to be honest, but, then again, I was passing by more so than going there on a regular basis or comparing vs. nearby competitors. Lidl, as well, has also struck me as pretty low-end.

quite a few Walmart shoppers switch to Aldi

I can definitely see this and therein lies the rub - WalMart isn't what I would call high-end, either.

To maintain their market share Walmart will fight back by lowering prices. But lower prices at Walmart will force the next biggest grocer Kroger to lower their prices, too. And that is then the reason why some less potent grocery chains will be forced out of business. Even a chain like Whole Foods has to lower their prices as an indirect result of the rise of the discounters like Aldi.

It's an interesting trickle-down effect. I would definitely expect Wal/K-Mart to lower prices, same with Food4Less. Not sure how much I buy into Kroger/Ralph's having to do the same, much less Whole Foods. Maybe on private label/generic stuff, but not on brand names.

[timtemtym]

Stater Brothers is uber slow-growth. They're smart about where they go and they rarely venture more than a mile west of the 605 (Though they did recently show up in Santa Clarita and Simi which is odd since both of them got Aldi).

I miss Fresh & Easy. That was my go to place for stuff I could just unwrap, put in the oven, and make some pretty good meals. Sadly, it tanked.

i expected Aldi or Walmart (neighborhood markets) to swoop into those empty fresh and easy's, but most didn't. For some reason these discount stores avoid the actual city of Los Angeles. They hop right over.

I won't go back to Grocery Outlet. Most of the stuff is expiring soon and we got sick from their eggs. They had a weird fluffy taste to them.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Stater Brothers is uber slow-growth. They're smart about where they go and they rarely venture more than a mile west of the 605

Stater Bros is the largest privately owned supermarket chain in southern CA. So, during that long supermarket strike back in 2003-04, many people who usually shopped at its competition switched to Stater Bros (and Trader Joe's). Stater Bros primarily serves the east part of the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. Its focus has always been on its superb meat department and its lower prices.

[69Charger]

I expected Aldi or Walmart (neighborhood markets) to swoop into those empty fresh and easy's, but most didn't.

Going out of business probably tainted the perception of those locations so maybe they were scared to fill them

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by 69Charger

There's a ton of Stater Bros east of Glendora.

As for chain restaurants, I dunno...Millenials are in love with eating out. Restaurant revenue surpassed grocery revenue for the first time, not too long ago.

Online is the way to go, but won't work for everyone, for different reasons. Amazon is opening a new concept that doesnt use checkstands...you just pick up what you need and walk out. Items are tracked using RF, pretty cool.

I feel Costco is safe too, they are just too cool. They fill a big gap, are very popular, their return policy is phenomenal, and they treat their employees very well. I completely trust Costco with anything, and if it breaks or it sucks, they take it back no questions asked.

Sam's like Costco offers good service and good customer relations. I know, in Ca the word is Costco, but some of us are not lucky enough to have them. We never will or not for years here.
As for Millenials eating out, yes, they do, but you would be surprised how many prefer the neighborhood pub or independently owned upscale dining. I don't see the chains going under in the next 10 years, bu watch for signs as we get closer to the 2nd quarter of the century. God for someone born in the 1930s getting close to the next quarter of this century sounds really scary!!!!

[victorhernandez]

I for one am a millenial who's always looking for bargains. I fail to see the point in spending more money for the same product just because the store looks prettier LOL
Plus I think about my future/future investments and am very focused on saving as much as possible.
Getting into debt because of trivial stuff? No thanks.
Never tried Aldi surprisingly, maybe because there aren't any in my area but I'll make sure to visit someday and check out their prices

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Stater Bros is the largest privately owned supermarket chain in southern CA. So, during that long supermarket strike back in 2003-04, many people who usually shopped at its competition switched to Stater Bros (and Trader Joe's). Stater Bros primarily serves the east part of the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. Its focus has always been on its superb meat department and its lower prices.

and its friendly employees. We loved Stater Bros.My mom in law shopped there in the 1960s.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by 69Charger

Why are Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Aldi succeeding in SoCal where others failed?

You just can't beat Aldi's prices, although Walmart is highly competitive. I feel as though Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Sprouts are niche stores that will survive. I predict Stater Bros will as well, they are remodeling most of their stores.

But the bottom line is there is no way the current number of stores will survive in the long run. I feel Albertsons might be the first on the chopping block. Maybe Vons after that? Ralphs seems to have a nice strong hold on things, and a successful model.

I think it's the Millennials and their bargain attitude. Some of the higher end stores are just going to have trouble surviving this new economic environment. And just wait until Amazon opens their stores around town, oh my!

Practically everyone is seeking a bargain. Californians are mostly highly saddled with high rent/high mortgage. They seek to cut where they can. One example includes restaurants suffering in places like Palo Alto. Even 350K wage earners are so squeezed, they cannot afford as much as you would think.

[CA4Now]

More grocery store wars:
Southern California's grocery battle heats up with the spread of discounter Aldi - LA Times