Acme no longer #1...
Acme has officially lost it’s title as number 1 grocer in the Philadelphia region. ShopRite has taken over the top spot. This doesn’t come as much surprise since Acme share has been in serious decline for years now but I do think we’ve all been hoping Acme would turn things around and hold on to number 1.
The news comes in an article from philly.com which discusses the troubles over at Genuardi’s, whose woes in the area have been similar to Acme’s... big corporation takes over locally based chain, forces west coast business management on east coast stores, messes with product selection, alienates loyal customers, closes stores, rapidly loses market share... etc. The Acme mention comes at the very end.
The article was sent in by an Acme Style fan. I haven’t been able to find any other articles discussing Acme’s official descent to number 2. Still looking for clues about Acme’s turnaround plans which are supposed to be in the works but can’t find anything online.
Maybe Acme and Genuardi's can merge with A&P and form Irrelevance.
ReplyDelete^ Irrelevance? The bashing starts already.
ReplyDeleteUntil some official supermarket publication declares that Acme is No. 2 in the greater Philly market, let's hold out for some hope.
ReplyDeleteIf Acme loses the position officially, it would not be shocking. People that want the lowest price go to Aldi (or Bottom Dollar-a Food Lion company, that is making an appearance in southeastern PA). People that want better service, fancy items, prepared meals, and the like go to Wegmans. People that are just looking for low prices and okay service go to Giant or ShopRite (or Pathmark to some extent). Everything else nowadays (Genuardi's, Acme, SuperFresh) is shopped at only for convenience-sake.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling Safeway is going to keep closing Genuardi's stores as their leases come up...they just can't compete in the area, which is ridiculous given the size of Safeway (almost as puzzling as Acme and it's behemoth SuperValu ownership), nor do they have the Union costs. Nice stores, but nothing that is appealing to the high end or low-end customer. Whatever is left of SuperFresh in the area is the same way. Not the lowest price and nothing upscale. I have been impressed with Pathmark...their sales are almost as competitive with ShopRite, but are overall still "meh".
wow Things have changed in the last 25 years and Genuardis? It's sad to see the decline of this once powerful food institution but when Safeway took it over, it was Aid Although you cant dispute the facts, the idiocy and arrogance of some of the opinions astounds me to no end. First of all to all those Wegmans fanboys and fangirls screaming about how the should build a store in my neighborhood,(typical of posters to supermarket relatted threads as of late) reality check, the fact that Wegmans isn't in every neighborhood is what makes Wegmans unique. Danny Wegman is a smart buisness man. his guys know where to open stores. if a Wegs opens in every neghborhood (even those that are well to do) that will dilute the "brand". And I've found while Weg's quality is great, Wegman's "better" service to be a pure myth, they're no better on service than your local Walmart. as I've gotten much better service at Giant,Shoprite and Whole Foods (nice folks) to be and for all the disparaging comments about the poor, they are a laugh, be careful what you say about people. it might come to bite you on the belly.the end of an era, a decade later you've seen the effects. Acme's been slowly dying since they closed all their "pitched roof temples" an replaced them with overpriced sad white boxes of mediocrity. A&P/Superfresh and Pathmark both killed each other off, Thiftway and Shop N Bag once powers, now a joke. Acme needs to come up with a salvation plan fast.
ReplyDeleteWho was saying anything about "poor people"? I was simply saying that the mainstream grocers do nothing to attract the budget-minded shopper, nor those looking for the real upscale items. Wegmans, in some ways, serves everyone. Some come in and load up on 39 cent vegetables and 69 cent boxes of pasta (almost as cheap, if not cheaper than Aldi), while others will drop $200 on prepared meals and other convenience items without blinking an eye. Not to mention their health and beauty items are about as low, if not lower than Walmart. I for one, do shopping at Wegmans, ShopRite, and Aldi once in a while.
ReplyDeleteWegmans is going to run into problems of its own though. From what I hear, the Malvern store, smack in between two other Wegmans, was not doing that well. They are starting to overlap, and that is not good for the profitability of every store.
Thriftway & Shop n' Bag pretty much only exist in places that can't support a big-chain grocer (or in the case of stores in the city, places the chains don't want to venture). As they are independently owned, it's up to the owner to make investments. The Richboro Shop 'n Bag is very outdated on the inside, but has modern conveniences like self-checkouts, and is always busier than the SuperFresh in the same town.
From what I see, Walmart is not a threat to Giant, ShopRite, or any of the others that have stayed competitive. Sure, Walmart is lower on some staple-goods, but I would never buy anything fresh from there. My local store was 'ruined' as they devoted more space to less-profitable groceries while shrinking every other department to a few isles at best.
Unless Acme majorly lowers prices, they are going to be toast. They gave up on most of their city locations, and are being pushed out of the suburbs, mainly by Giant and ShopRite.
I do love ACME.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard how the Malvern Wegman's opening has affected Paoli Acme? Paoli was supposed to be considered one of their better stores and it underwent a major remodel a few years ago to combat the opening of the Wegmans. I heard from a manager at another Acme that the company was expecting to lose $200,000 a week at Paoli due to the Wegmans opening. There really isn't too much other competition in that area for Acme. The Giant in Frazer is a former Clemens and is very small compared to typical Giants.
ReplyDeleteWegmans is slighty more expensive than Acme. Yet, they seem to be in the front right now (although they are expanding way too fast). I've been in a Wegmans before and while it was a grand store, I wasn't really blown away by it. Quite frankly, I wouldn't consider it to be a store of convenience. I feel the same way about Wal-Mart's with a full grocery.
ReplyDelete