How will the renovated Strack & Van Til do against Whole Foods in Schererville? (South Bend: sales, houses)

[ta1064]

The Strack & Van Til grocery store in Schererville looks great, obviously expanded and renovated in anticipation of Whole Foods' upcoming opening this fall.

How do you think the local grocery chain will measure against the national grocery chain?

[richb]

They will do fine.

[rrah]

I think they will do just fine also. Whole Foods also is frequently called, "Whole Paycheck" for a reason.

[ta1064]

I think Strack's management was very smart and forward-thinking to do the expansion and renovation before Whole Foods opens. The marketing team is also good, because the store atmosphere and customer experience have been elevated.

[summer22]

Whole Foods in South Bend/Mishawaka was surprisingly affordable compared to the Chicago Whole Foods locations. It seems like they intentionally matched prices to the community.

When I lived in South Bend, I did most of my shopping at Whole Foods because I didn't come out any better or worse financially vs. Super Target.

The key is being willing to go with a sale item instead of your first choice (although I came to love some of the different foods and brands that I was buying on sale.) I refused to pay full price for any of their meat market selections, but I always found at least one good sale price there and in the deli.

If I needed to rein in my budget, I went to Meijer.

[Northwest Indiana]

I think Stracks will be fine because although prices have increased, they have loyal patrons. However, Whole Foods is going to of course, draw some of the patrons away at least for specialty items as well as draw some people away from other grocers for good. For some residents in Munster, Highland, Griffith, Schererville, and Dyer, Whole Foods will actually be the closest grocery store to them or at least the same distance to another one depending on where in those towns they live and it will make it just as convenient. There are a ton of people in the area whom could easily afford Whole Foods and even more so whom are willing to spend the money if they at least THINK they are getting a better product even if just because they associate higher expense with automatic better quality. Also, there are many families in Lansing, Homewood, Crete, and other south burbs where going to Whole Foods in Schererville is much closer than going to south loop or Orland. This will support Whole Foods sales as well.

[iidreamtheaterii]

I think this was definitely a smart idea. I just shopped there last night rather than my hometown Cedar Lake branch just to see what the experience is like.

While they no doubt had to spend a pretty penny to update, renovate and match what the Whole Foods/Mariano's experience is like, they no doubt needed to have a comparable experience to Whole Foods if they couldn't match/exceed it. There's too many people that WILL go to Whole Foods because it's called Whole Foods. They built their brand on the experience with the food stations and the restaurant/coffee shops inside along with their "all amazing for you food" brand. People flock for that same reason; the experience.

For Stracks to reno BEFORE Whole Foods is open, it allows them to enter Whole Foods and have that comparison off the bat. (Way better than reacting after their numbers plummet). If people don't find the experience a step above the rest because they're already used to this Stracks being pretty comparable, they're likely only to focus on the cost from then on out, which may go in Strack's favor.

Now to hope that this trend is profitable, and they reno all of the Stracks to match in the future to keep Mariano's from figuring out the local market as well.

[richb]

Jewel is feeling the heat. Will renovate remaining four stores in NWI. (Munster, Dyer, Crown Point and Chesterton)

They have become a minor player here in Northwest Indiana in the last couple of years, if the remodeling doesn't help, I wouldn't be surprised if they leave. At least they are trying unlike Dominicks, which exited the region a decade ago.

Jewel-Osco will renovate all its NWI stores

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by richb

Jewel is feeling the heat. Will renovate remaining four stores in NWI. (Munster, Dyer, Crown Point and Chesterton)

They have become a minor player here in Northwest Indiana in the last couple of years, if the remodeling doesn't help, I wouldn't be surprised if they leave. At least they are trying unlike Dominicks, which exited the region a decade ago.

Jewel-Osco will renovate all its NWI stores

If they don't leave the market entirely, I can at least see them keeping the Munster location. Maybe the Dyer one as well. I say this mainly due to the proximity to Illinois as well as the fact that Munster and Dyer have a lot of former Illinois residents whom are familiar with Jewel. Although Jewel has been in Chesterton and Crown Point for a long time now, most residents in those areas appear to be more oriented to Stracks.

[Humboldt1]

I never understood why someone will pay $20/lb for USDA choice ribeye/porterhouse/ny strip at Whole Foods when I can get the same meat on sale at Jewel or Meijer for $6-8/lb on sale. I do understand that Prime is not available at Jewel or Meijer. It is available at your local butcher or Mariano's for similar prices as Whole Foods ($26/lb).

For those that didn't grow up on a cattle farm, there are 3 grades of meat: select, choice and prime. Govt inspected means select btw (not very good).

Most decent chains will serve USDA choice while higher end like Morton's, Gibsons, Ruth Chris, Sullivan's serve Prime. Btw, why doesn't NWI have more of these high-end steakhouses? There certainly is a market for it. Silly that you guys have to go to Chicago to get a really good steak. Not saying that there is a market to support a bunch of Maestros, Chop House or Chicago Cut but come on. I am sure there are at least a few local steak joints serving really good steak but certainly no high-end chains that I know of.