News Break:
Chestertown Acme expanding!
Lawrenceville Acme signs
long-term lease!
Acme has signed a long-term lease extension at the Lawrenceville Shopping Center in New Jersey. It appears there are still no plans for the store to expand into the former CVS next door. Reports mention the lease renewal is for 42,000 square feet which seems to be the current e size of the store. The entire shopping center will soon undergo a facelift which will include improvements to the facade, signage and parking lot. We'll have to wait and see if Acme will renovate their space as improvements happen to the rest of the complex. The store was last renovated in the late 90's with the Chalkboard Marketplace package. It's definitely due for an update. You can check out the store by clicking here.long-term lease!
"With Safeway, Cerberus acquires
management talent"
A very interesting editorial by Mark Hamstra of SupermarketNews speculates that Alberstons is as interested in acquiring Safeway's management team as they are in acquiring the stores themselves. It is a fascinating read. He concludes the piece with…
"And although Safeway has left the Philadelphia area through its sale of its Genuardi’s banner, Albertsons’ Acme stores could eventually merge with Safeway’s presence in the Baltimore-Washington region. With Chicago closed down, Safeway Eastern is now the company’s smallest division with about 127 locations, but would nearly double that if it were to join forces with the 110-store Acme chain."
Jump over to the editorial by clicking here.
Acme is getting BETTER every day!
Acme has kicked off new low-price message in this week's circular. Gone is the "Card-Free Savings" message, replaced with "Acme getting BETTER every day". As I've mentioned before, I don't shop at Acme on regular basis as there are no stores in my area. Keeping an eye on the price situation is a little challenging for me. I do make a point now to do some shopping when I am out on my road trips because the sale prices have gotten really good. When Acme runs a special on coffee k-cups, you cannot find a lower price anywhere. Another example of a big price drop has been with Chobani greek yogurt. Acme used to feature it frequently as a "10 for $10" special. Lately they've had it on sale for 88¢. I do check the circular weekly and have notice that Alberstons has brought back a lot of Acme's fun, kitschy sales which were standard in the 80's and 90's. A few weeks ago they had a "loose change" sale where all the featured sale items were priced by the number of quarters required to purchase the items. At the very least, Acme is making efforts to differentiate itself from many of its competitors. Something that SuperValu flat out refused to do.
Here's a look at some screen grabs from this week circular. (The red color is not rendering properly on Acme's website which is why it's looking a little funky here.) You can view this week's circular by clicking here.
I really wish they would redesign their BOGO logo. It is awful. At the very least, grab the one used by Shaw's and Alberstons. It's about a million times better. Click here for a look.
Here is a direct link to the article concerning the expansion of of the Chestertown store:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myeasternshoremd.com/news/kent_county/article_9a442305-2a74-5ad3-a878-2da742b35a4d.html
The article (from last month) also indicates that they expected to announce a replacement for the Fresh & Greens store down the street. I wonder who would go in? Food Lion is just over in Millington, can't see them opening in the old Super Fresh.
I have mixed emotions about Safeway's Eastern Division and Acme merging. Safeway killed Genuardi's, there would have to be concern that the same thing could happen if this merger goes through, and especially since Cerberus wants Safeway management. They are going to look after going after cost savings, so running the two businesses completely separate won't work.
Safeway is #2 in the DC Market at 14% (Giant rules the roost at 23%). They are slightly stronger in the Baltimore market, but still trail Giant yet again (15% to 33%).
It is going to be a tricky balance to combine the two and maintain their market shares while cutting costs. Probably one thing they would do is combine a lot of behind the scenes stuff, like using common warehouses, common ordering numbers, common generics, very similar to what Ahold USA does. Acme is buying from SuperValu, Giant uses C&S. Don't know how long those contracts are for.
Maybe it would be the best of both wolds - Acme pricing and Safeway interiors (minus those horrible endcaps)? It would be nice to see some of the more ragged/tired looking Acmes up their game with some serious renovations. Safeway just seems so much more modern, Acme looks older, cheaper, and more half-hearted.
I guess we'll see.
A few Sundays ago I went to the Clifton Acme as I wanted to check out how different the prices were. In the past this store was never busy and the prices were terrible. However, on that Sunday the store was super busy and it was the first time I ever had to wait on line at the checkout. I noticed a huge difference in price as items were much lower then in the past (I can't remember the last time I got a 6 pack of 7up cans for $1). I am worried that this store will soon close but with these new lower prices I hope it can become a real competitor to the local competition.
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