Publix coming to Richmond (purchase, wages, upkeep)

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by snatale1

People will always try out and if good get hooked on something new. They couldn't even remotely have a chance of a buyout. Not with Martins being part of the Giant / Stop & Shop chains. Martins being the smallest I see them being merged into one of the other brands at some point though.

I find it odd that Martin's is in Giant-Carlisle, based in Pennsylvania, instead of Giant-Landover, based in Maryland. It would make geographic sense to switch those stores to Giant-Landover.

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by lukas1973

Wouldn't it be better for Ahold-Delhaize to convert the Martin's stores into Food Lion stores and close a few were they overlap with existing Food Lion stores?
Maybe that's difficult because Martin's stores are probably too large for the Food Lion concept? If so, they could change the management of the Martin's branch and invest into the stores to make them more appealing.
Martin's and Food Lion, each of them have about 15% market share in Richmond. I don't think that Ahold-Delhaize will gave up half of their market share in Richmond. That would mean a loss of about half a billion in sales.
Selling their stores to Publix would mean that their Food Lion branch comes under even more pressure in Richmond. That seems to be the worst solution.
The combined sales of Ahold and Delhaize in the U.S. is about 50% higher than those of Publix.

Food Lion's current working concept is "easy, fresh, and affordable." Despite improvements at some stores in North Carolina, Food Lion leaves much to be desired. Martin's stores are easier (necessities of food and pharmacy, large enough to move around and get what you need, efficiently staffed), fresher, and more affordable (extra lower prices).

It will be interesting to see if Ahold can bring Food Lion up to a level with Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover, Hannaford, and Stop and Shop.

[sls76]

Originally Posted by lukas1973

Wouldn't it be better for Ahold-Delhaize to convert the Martin's stores into Food Lion stores and close a few were they overlap with existing Food Lion stores?
Maybe that's difficult because Martin's stores are probably too large for the Food Lion concept? If so, they could change the managment of the Martin's branch and invest into the stores to make them more appealing.
Martin's and Food Lion, each of them have about 15% market share in Richmond. I don't think that Ahold-Delhaize will gave up half of their market share in Richmond. That would mean a loss of about half a billion in sales.
Selling their stores to Publix would mean that their Food Lion branch comes under even more pressure in Richmond. That seems to be the worst solution.
The combined sales of Ahold and Delhaize in the U.S. is about 50% higher than those of Publix.

Martin's is slowly becoming Food Lion-- the place you go if you're desperate.

[sls76]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

I find it odd that Martin's is in Giant-Carlisle, based in Pennsylvania, instead of Giant-Landover, based in Maryland. It would make geographic sense to switch those stores to Giant-Landover.

I thought it had to do with one being Union and the other non-Union.

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by sls76

Martin's is slowly becoming Food Lion-- the place you go if you're desperate.

Eek. I would likely go to Kroger.

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by sls76

I thought it had to do with one being Union and the other non-Union.

Would Giant-Landover be unionized and Giant-Carlisle be non-unionized?

[richmondpics]

The Martin's parent is non-union. The DC area Giant is union.

[Carolina Knight]

Is Stop and Shop unionized?

[lukas1973]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Food Lion's current working concept is "easy, fresh, and affordable." Despite improvements at some stores in North Carolina, Food Lion leaves much to be desired. Martin's stores are easier (necessities of food and pharmacy, large enough to move around and get what you need, efficiently staffed), fresher, and more affordable (extra lower prices).

It will be interesting to see if Ahold can bring Food Lion up to a level with Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover, Hannaford, and Stop and Shop.

Ohh, I thougt Food Lion is a smart and affordable alternative to pricier grocery stores. Thank you for the information. That makes a lot of sense. Delhaize in Belgium is much worse than Albert Heijn (Ahold) in the Netherlands. Most Delhaize stores looks very old (but electronic shelf labeling and scanning handhelds for the customers) dreadful cramped and somewhat messy. They have to fight against so many hard and soft discounter and larger supermarkets. Belgium is so overcrowded with supermarkets. Ahold in the Netherlands is much better positioned. But I would expect that Food Lion is good at private labels? That's extremely common in Belgium. Much more than in the Netherlands.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Is Stop and Shop unionized?

Yes. Stop & Shop and Giant of Landover are both union.