Walmart expanding grocery departments in some stores

[Caslon]

For those Walmart stores located in areas where they have room to expand, Walmart is going big in the grocery game at some stores. One center near me is expanding, especially their grocery area which was ok but rather limited.

This new expansion will as they quote : "...encompass nearly 180,000 square feet, of which about 40,000 square feet will be devoted to groceries. The expanded store will have a full grocery department, including fresh produce, a meat department, deli and bakery.

40,000 sq. ft. is as big as the major grocery chain supermarkets.
Can't wait. Walmart out prices Vons (Safeway), Ralphs and Albertons by quite a bit on many items. An example, Underwood Deviled Ham in those little cans cost $3.39 at those 3 stores, Walmart sells them for $1.65.

 

[bakechef]

All of them here are already full service SuperCenters. They built 3 Neighborhood Markets which are stand alone walmart grocery stores. They aren't doing well. I haven't seen prices at the local Walmart supercenters much lower than competitors. Yeah they are definitely cheaper than the upscale stores, but not the regular, more basic stores.

 

[Aunt Bea]

We have the BIG Walmart stores in my area and I find the pricing is not consistent. I find some things to be very expensive and some things much cheaper. I also find the fresh produce selections to be limited and of poor quality. I stop every couple of months and buy half a dozen items that are cheaper or that I have trouble finding in other stores. I could do without them.

 

[Mad Cook]

For those Walmart stores located in areas where they have room to expand, Walmart is going big in the grocery game at some stores. One center near me is expanding, especially their grocery area which was ok but rather limited.

This new expansion will as they quote : "...encompass nearly 180,000 square feet, of which about 40,000 square feet will be devoted to groceries. The expanded store will have a full grocery department, including fresh produce, a meat department, deli and bakery.

40,000 sq. ft. is as big as the major grocery chain supermarkets.
Can't wait. Walmart out prices Vons (Safeway), Ralphs and Albertons by quite a bit on many items. An example, Underwood Deviled Ham in those little cans cost $3.39 at those 3 stores, Walmart sells them for $1.65.

Walmart is able to out price its rivals because it exploits its staff.

We have a large supermarket chain in the UK called Asda which was bought by Walmart about 15 years ago. Employment protection law is much stricter here than it seems to be in the USA but Walmart/Asda actually tried to force their staff in one of their depots to sign documents renouncing their legal rights, offering a paltry pay rise as a sweetener. The company consequently ran into the long arms of the law and was fined £850k for their pains.

There are other instances of attempted exploitation such as illegally trying to prevent employees from joining a trade union.

Apparently Walmart, the parent company, gets away with these tactics in the States. It must have given them a bit of a shock when they came up against our employment legislation and its enforcers!

I never shop in Asda as a matter of principle.

 

[Caslon]

I guess some of you are right because I heard in business news somewhere that Walmart and Target (those that sell groceries) are hurting. I'll have to see if overall Walmart's grocery prices are consistently lower, they may indeed be uneven. I only had a few items to compare as being lower priced because it wasn't a full on expanded grocery store yet.

I was impressed by how huge that still being remodeled area was, they only had the freezers and cold counters in place. They must have stretched out as long as a football field (overall in length).

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Dairy is more expensive at Wal-mart. You have to watch price and size on products. Wal-mart might be cheaper, but sometimes the size is smaller, too!

 

[Oldvine]

I watch the prices in every store that I shop and have allegiance to none including Walmart. Here where I live, there's nothing unusual about a local employer exploiting their employees. Very few pay benefits of any kind and stick with minimum wage to the same employee for years until a new slightly higher minimum is enacted by the government. I have a couple friends that work for Walmart, they seem happy and tell me that for the first time in their lives they are being treated fairly. They don't expect $28 an hour to pass merchandise over a scanner but they are happy to be paid more than the local dress shop.
Our local Walmart has been squeezing in more groceries and there's a new store going up across the street that will have even more. I will for sure check it out.

 

[Addie]

We have a very large one going up on Route #107. It is in an area that is starved for a low priced store. But compared to DeMoulas, I doubt that they will even make a small indent into their customer base. You do need a car to get there, where DM's are all located in areas that are serviced by public transportation. And in these parts, that is very important. We will see if a food war is in the making.

 

[bakechef]

I guess some of you are right because I heard in business news somewhere that Walmart and Target (those that sell groceries) are hurting. I'll have to see if overall Walmart's grocery prices are consistently lower, they may indeed be uneven. I only had a few items to compare as being lower priced because it wasn't a full on expanded grocery store yet.

I was impressed by how huge that still being remodeled area was, they only had the freezers and cold counters in place. They must have stretched out as long as a football field (overall in length).

To add what PF said, Walmart is a huge company and they are able to get manufacturers to make smaller sizes of things just for them so that they can offer it at a lower price.

Grocery pricing is a tricky thing. Most stores know how to price staple items low in order for them to look competitive. I know in areas where there isn't a whole lot of competition that Walmart can have lower prices because there isn't much to compare them to. I go to Walmart a couple times a year at most, usually around the holidays because they carry baking chips that nobody else seems to carry. I do a trip around the grocery department looking at things that I buy consistently to spot any good deals, it's rare that I find anything compelling. I keep my staple food prices in my head so I can quickly tell if something is a good deal or not.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I have a small Walmart directly on my route home. I buy insulin syringes, cat litter and some of my supplements there because they are significantly cheaper than anywhere else. If I happen to need toiletries or a grocery item or two immediately, I will pick it up while I am there, if they have it. The same with Target. I get a few of my prescriptions there, and they charge a couple of bucks less for Ovaltine than the grocery stores, but they are not conveniently located, so I usually shop there when I am in the area for other reasons and stock up.

Otherwise I get groceries at Smart & Final (the smaller, faster warehouse store) and Vons (Safeway). I have checked prices for years and, for what I buy in the way of groceries, Ralphs is more expensive than Vons, and Albertsons charges outrageously more than either by comparison, unless the item is on sale, but then the total price is still always more than the other two.

 

[Addie]

I decided to keep this month's register receipt. The Pirate bought a half gallon of half and half at Shaw's and it cost $5.00. I compared it to what I paid at De Moulas and there it was $2.69.

 

[Caslon]

I decided to keep this month's register receipt. The Pirate bought a half gallon of half and half at Shaw's and it cost $5.00. I compared it to what I paid at De Moulas and there it was $2.69.

I'd never heard of those 2 chains and had to look up both.

"DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc, under the trade name Market Basket, is a chain of 71 supermarkets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine."

Out west the big 3 are Vons (Safeway owned), Albertsons (29 states, 2nd largest US chain behind Kroger), and Ralphs supermarkets. We don't have Kroger stores out here, but Ralphs sells Kroger house brands.

I wonder if Walmart will be able to make a dent in those 3 chains out west here. I suppose they decided, why not try? The big 3 supermarkets out here have a store in almost every neighborhood whereas Walmart has superstores scattered far apart.

 

[bakechef]

I'd never heard of those 2 chains and had to look up both.

"DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc, under the trade name Market Basket, is a chain of 71 supermarkets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine."

Out west the big 3 are Vons (Safeway owned), Albertsons (29 states, 2nd largest US chain behind Kroger), and Ralphs supermarkets. We don't have Kroger stores out here, but Ralphs sells Kroger house brands.

I wonder if Walmart will be able to make a dent in those 3 chains out west here. I suppose they decided, why not try? The big 3 supermarkets out here have a store in almost every neighborhood whereas Walmart has superstores scattered far apart.

I kinda figured that most walmarts had been turned into super stores by now, I guess there are some parts of the country that are still just regular walmarts.

 

[Caslon]

I kinda figured that most walmarts had been turned into super stores by now, I guess there are some parts of the country that are still just regular walmarts.

There are some older Walmarts around here that were built into areas where they don't have the land or ownership rights to expand into. They still have a modest food section, tho nothing like newer Walmart superstores or remodeled ones.

 

[Cheryl J]

Our WalMart here is a very small one and hasn't gone to a SuperCenter. I've been burned before buying what little produce they offer, so I don't even bother anymore.

We only have Albertsons and Stater Brothers here. The other grocery chains are an hour and a half drive away. Stater Bros is my first choice, because their prices are lower than Alb's and they have a great meat selection - there are no fewer than 3 butchers at all times and they don't charge more for cutting and packaging meat to customer requests. "It's our meat that made us famous" is their slogan.

They are only in SoCal so most of you have probably never heard of it.

 

[Caslon]

Our WalMart here is a very small one and hasn't gone to a SuperCenter. I've been burned before buying what little produce they offer, so I don't even bother anymore.

We only have Albertsons and Stater Brothers here. The other grocery chains are an hour and a half drive away. Stater Bros is my first choice, because their prices are lower than Alb's and they have a great meat selection - there are no fewer than 3 butchers at all times and they don't charge more for cutting and packaging meat to customer requests. "It's our meat that made us famous" is their slogan.

They are only in SoCal so most of you have probably never heard of it.

You know who else is getting big now in the grocery field? Smart N Final (believe it or not). Sure, Smart N Final had always had some food items, but now some of their newer stores are into groceries in a serious way. Heh...Smart N Final stores started out as mainly a store to buy cleaning products and paper plates and mops. (mostly dry goods). Also, many newer Target stores are now getting big into the grocery field.

Stores like Walmart, Target, Smart N Final have changed their strategy from years past regarding how much food they stock.

With food prices rising in an alarming way...it's no wonder these stores now suddenly want in on some of that gold.

 

[Cheryl J]

I used to go to Smart N Final when I bought for a school I used to work for. They had great deals on #10 cans of food items, and other things in bulk. It's been 15 years since I've been there. I now have a Costco membership and no longer work for the school, but I'll check out Smart N Final next time I'm down in that area just to see how they've changed over the years.

 

[buckytom]

i have a built in mistrust for walmart, so i rarely buy any food there.

they are a few pennies to maybe a dollar cheaper than everywhere else, but at least i think i have a better chance that my food doesn't come from china.

downwind of a lead factory

and downstream from a political prison work camp.



oh, wait, except for the shiitakes and yu choy.

 

[Caslon]

I think you'd need a major company that evaluates prices to figure out how the overall consumer benefits shopping for groceries at Walmart vs. the local major chain supermarket. It's too much for me to figure out.

BTW, Albertsons did away with typing in your customer ID number upon checkout (a year ago) in order to get preferred customer savings. I thought that was pretty bold, seeing as how Vons and Ralphs still require you to input your customer ID number at checkout in order to get preferred customer savings.

 

[CarolPa]

We have 2 local grocery chains, Giant Eagle and Shop and Save. I shop for "specials" at both of these stores, and only buy meat at Giant Eagle. There are some things I buy at Aldi's and some things I buy at WalMart. Most of the time these decisions are based on price/quality.

I recently signed up for WalMart's savings catcher online. I don't expect to make a bundle because I never buy more than 8-10 items, but I will take what I get.

We occasionally buy specials at Target and I get additional 5% off using my Target Redcard.

Giant Eagle requires that you use your member card for specials, but Shop and Save does not. Both offer saving on gasoline, which we don't use. My step-daughter uses ours.