News Break:
"IS ACME STUMBLING IN THE
NORTH JERSEY MARKET?"
"IS ACME STUMBLING IN THE
NORTH JERSEY MARKET?"
An article at The Food Institute Blog addresses this very question. Most of the article discusses Acme's apparent job-cutting plans and the company's trouble winning over shoppers from ShopRite and Stop and Shop. I can tell you that Acme's skyrocketing prices certainly aren't helping. I've been a loyal Acme shopper since the chain returned to North Jersey but have been so sticker shocked over the past few month, I now only buy items that are on sale. You know how they say... the more things change, the more they stay the same? Well Acme seems to be hindered by the same problem that has plagued them for decades, regardless of who's running the company... completely out of touch with the prices of its competitors and unwilling to do anything about it other than to close stores.
I've noticed the prices have gone up. Switched over to shopping at Redners, and the grocery bill is so much lower. Customers are price conscious and will chose to shop someplace that wont gouge their wallet. Now with Lidl setting up shop here in the mid-atlantic, Acme will have their work cut out for them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you aren't buying meat at Redners. Major difference in quality and price
ReplyDeleteThey inherited a situation that a@p simply had to many full timers in their stores as compared to the industry standard. It's one of the reasons for A@Ps demise. They aren't laying them off ,or taking their benefits way from them. They are going to staff them like they do t.heir Philly stores. I saw the same thing in the 90's when Meat cutters in local 56 were knocked back to part time. Not fun. In their her hand they could have just went into a layoff or closed stores.
ReplyDeleteYes I only shop there now for sale items..Prices are way too high...I went back to Stop & Shop.
ReplyDeleteWhy the hell cant they just compete with ShopRite? They are a million times bigger and have more buying power!!! Imagine if they advertised the New Acme with prices LOWER than ShopRite and Stop&Shop!!! They'd make a killing!!!
ReplyDeleteYES!!! That's what is needed. Beat the competition like the old days and don't forget the TRIPLE COUPONS!!!
DeleteAcme's rep in North Jersey is still pretty well known. A lot of folks weren't happy to hear that they took over most of the A&Ps in the area (plus the handful of Pathmarks they nabbed) because of the high-priced nature the stores still seem to have. And it sucks, because they went to all that trouble to bring the prices down in the first place (remember "getting better every day"?).
ReplyDeleteThey can't compete with ShopRite because of the same reason Pathmark couldn't compete with ShopRite--DEBT. They have mountains and mountains of debt--and it's piling higher every day with their store renovations. All that debt needs to be serviced and that means higher prices.
ReplyDeleteJust because a company is big like Albertsons, doesn't mean they are profitable. The new Albertsons has lost millions of dollars every quarter since they formed, and with their same-store sales now sinking across their banners (and Lidl coming, as William S points out), they will have a really rough time with Acme.
Our Bergen county stores are never very busy and many of them still have not been renovated. My Park Ridge store is a ghost-town most days and I fear the new Wegmans will put them down.
From what I see at my local Acmes, business at the 18th Street Jersey City store and Weehawken location is an absolute free-fall. Both stores now appear to be doing significantly less business than they were as a dying A&P and Pathmark. My other go-to Acme in Edgewater, however, continues to be a bonafide success.
DeleteWoodcliff Lake which is a really nice store is also going to really suffer from the new Wegmans. This store was never really busy as A&P and it's worse now as Acme...I don't see it surviving when Wegmans opens...I gave up on this store when many items are nearing exporation date and even accumulating dust...not a good sign....I did an Acme survey the other day and gave them a 1 for price...I think everyone should do that.
DeleteI've been a regular shopper at the Clark Acme since I moved to Colonia. The nearby Woodbridge and Clark Shoprites are just too damn crowded, making shopping at them a nightmare despite the low prices and quality selection. Yogi Berra's quote "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded" comes to mind.
DeleteBy contrast, Acme seems to attract a healthy but manageable crowd. They seem to be working as an alternative to people who don't want to stand on endless lines. Their bakery, deli, and prepared food selection is very good too. The prices are definitely a problem though.
I've been thinking the high prices are (hopefully) only a temporary measure- after all, buying, cleaning,converting and remodeling all these new stores can't have come cheap, right? They need to make back the deficit and raising prices is the shprt-term solution. If that's not the issue, then I blame Safeway.
ReplyDeleteI've kinda been blaming Safeway myself. Acme's prices were actually quite good when they first took over the A&Ps and Pathmarks in my area. That all began to change when Safeway brands were being brought in to replace Essential Everyday. Prices on national brands started going up. All "Low Price Every Day" tags vanished. The "NEW Lower Prices" campaign which began in December 2015 lasted about month. And now... Acme is jacking up the prices on ALL of Safeway's brands!!!
DeleteAgreed on the Safeway brands. The Allendale store is charging $5.69 for a can of Signature Whole Artichoke Hearts...They were $2.49 a few weeks ago. S&S store band price is $2.29 for the same product.
Deleteacme competed with terrific meat. Agressive feature pricing,oRticulzry in the Meat, Seafood ND Produce Departments. The problem they and all supermarkets are having is foodpruce deflation. This has been caused by the fact that beef prices haved come down from all time highs. This of course has hurt same store sales across the board. Same Store sales is the figure that Wall Street gauges Super Market chains success. That makes it extremely hard to reduce prices in other areas of the store, since it just makes the problem worse. You could do what Should Rite has done lowered the quality of the meat that they sell or do what AHOLD has done go to central cutting. That would only hurt Acmes business. So they are doing the other option, make their work force more flexible.Full time labor for the most part is limited to day hours and limited evenings. This makes Acme use more part time hours to cover the schedule. By making people partime, they become more available for late afternoon and evening hours, thus cutting the payroll.
ReplyDeleteIs Edgewater an upscale community and does the Acme have a lot of competition there? Acme in Westchester and Putnam Counties have NOT been well received sadly. Patterson NY has the most beautiful supermarket I've ever been in. Acme spent a bucket load of money to renovate and renew and sadly the little Hanford / former Grand Union up the road, at only 29,000 sq ft. does the lions share of the business in the Patterson/Pawling area. The ONE ShopRite in Carmel, which is busting at the seams opened in 1983 and does more business than the three Acme Markets Stores in Patterson, Brewster and Mahopac combined!!!! Mahopac has S&S next door and Brewster has Trader Joe's, S&S and host of other stores in Danbury a short ride away. They have a worse "High Price" reputation than the A&P did imo.
ReplyDeleteEdgewater is upscale. Plenty of competition with Target across the parking lot and Trader Joe's and Whole Foods just up the road. Acme is the only regular grocery store in the area and it's run very well. Just about they only Acme I am ever in that has plenty of registers open. The Acme is doing significantly more business than the Pathmark did in its final years.
DeleteEdgewater has become a high income area over the last 15 years, but more importantly, it has no ShopRite anywhere nearby for conventional competition, and the area is so densely populated. It's also a really well-run store. Fort Lee also seems to be holding its own.
DeleteHonestly, Acme bit off more than they can chew, some 80 stores with all union benefits intact? Yikes! Declaring the North Jersey expansion a failure would be a bit premature, but a serious look at those stores is warranted.
ReplyDeleteAcme needs to lower prices and keep them low. They won't succeed with the same mentality A&P had! I'm glad Acme expanded but Albertsons better wake up and smell the coffee because ShopRite is killing them in a lot of markets and Wegmsns is a death blow for sure! I wish they'd lower prices and keep them low, that is what people want!
ReplyDeleteThe Albertsons banners from coast to coast should cut out the gimmickry like Monopoly and focus on giving their customers competitive prices. I personally dread Monopoly every year. We spend time pasting game pieces on a board and are always missing the one last piece that every other customer is waiting to get.
ReplyDeleteAside from meats and baked goods I've pretty much stopped shopping at my local Acmes due to the skyrocketing prices. I've more or less switched to Shoprite and Redner's, it helps that Brown's Shoprite in Fairless Hills is closer to my house than the Levittown Acme. As for Redner's I'll hit up the one in Langhorne for bigger trips, I'll give my money to a truly local company.
ReplyDeleteI used to shop at Giant but switched to Acme when their prices came down due to my local Giants more or less starting to feel like a clichéd Walmart, both in employees and clientele. If they opened a Wegman's near the Levittown/Fairless Hills area the local Acmes would surely die a quick and painful death.
I'm curious to see how Acme is doing now in areas like Newark and Elmwood Park (the latter because it's so close to Paterson and has a lower-income section within a short drive).
ReplyDeleteI viisited Elmwood Park on Saturday and photographed it for the blog. It was busy with long lines for the 3 registers that were open. Customers were visibly frustrated.
DeleteIt's funny tho, all the negative comments about SuperValu over the years. And we have a number of people saying they now shop at Redner's, supplied by SuperValu. Acme has had a bad culture for many years, and the store remodels and the brief period of lower prices was only putting lipstick on a pig. Nothing has changed. Was it SuperValu? Was it Albertson's? Or is it ACME that has ruined and continues to ruin ACME?
ReplyDeleteRedner's is only supplied by SuperValu, they're not owned or run by them. And while Acme still has some of the same old chronic problems. I believe they're much better off since their SuperValu days. While overall prices are high, sales and the weekly circular are significantly better. Stores are also much cleaner, produce is better and the grocery shelves are generally well stocked. Albertson's isn't the savior we were hoping for but they did get Acme moving in better direction instead of straight into the ground. As far as pricing goes, Acme has NEVER had a clue. Even in the "Your Store for Low Prices" days, you could still get everything cheaper at Grand Union!
DeleteFrom what I remember, Redner's also self-supplies some items.I haven't been in one in a while but I think the shelf tags are slightly different looking.
DeleteI was told by someone that SuperValu only wanted Acme for the warehouse, which I guess turned out to be true since they ran Acme almost into the ground.
I haven't been in any of the converted Pathmarks to Acme here in Delaware, but I would think they are doing pretty well. Acme passed on some of the locations and now they are dark, except one which became a Super Giant (no relation to Giant-Landover) which is supplied by IGA.
We have 5 ShopRite stores owned by the Kenny family and they all seem to be doing very well. One was a failed A&P that they converted to Pathmark which also failed. Shoprite moved in and added a huge addition on the left side. The store is massive.
We also have 2 Safeways in northern DE, one of which sits across the road from an Acme (Foulk and Naamans). I think they both do pretty well and I remember on here that the Acme got a pretty extensive remodel.
I guess it is more difficult for me to see any changes because the two stores near me are King of Prussia and Phoenixville. With the exception of the reset at KOP, nothing has changed at either location. High prices, outdated decor, and horrible customer service.
ReplyDelete