So far this year, at least nine grocery chains have come under new ownership. Could your store be the tenth? Kroger’s announcement last week that it’s buying Harris Teeter represents the biggest, and latest, deal in the grocery merger and acquisition game (read: “Sold! Kroger Buys Harris Teeter”). About six weeks earlier, Bi-Lo scooped up Sweetbay, Harveys and Reid’s (read:[Read More…]
Loyalty cards are out, but competitors’ coupons are in at Shaw’s. Meantime, the grocery chain is finding out the hard way that it still needs to stick price tags on everything. In all but a half dozen stores, that is, because they’re shutting down. Got all that? Three unrelated developments could change the way New Englanders do their shopping at[Read More…]
In honor of today’s 237th birthday of our nation, officials in the Cradle of Liberty are celebrating with concerts, fireworks – and by comparison pricing your groceries for you. Who needs the Walmart Challenge, when the government is hard at work determining which supermarket has the best prices for your Fourth of July picnic items? In a survey designed to[Read More…]
Never let it be said that the grocery business is not fiercely competitive. While one New England supermarket chain is asking customers to turn in their store loyalty cards in exchange for a special deal, another is offering an even better deal if customers hand over their loyalty cards to the competition instead. Price Chopper wants your Shaw’s Rewards Card![Read More…]
What to do with that little plastic card, when your grocery chain gets rid of its loyalty program? Toss it, shred it, stick it in a drawer – or hand it over to the store for a chance to win fabulous prizes? Some conspiracy theorists are wondering – what exactly does the store want with our loyalty cards anyway? Three[Read More…]
The other shoe has dropped, for the rest of the grocery chains recently acquired by the parent company of Albertsons. As their corporate cousins embrace “card free savings” and phase out digital coupons, Acme, Shaw’s and Star Market are following suit. Acme has ditched its SuperCard loyalty program, and Shaw’s and Star Market are expected to eliminate their Rewards Card[Read More…]
Mention the name “Cerberus”, and some supermarket shoppers shudder. The private equity firm saddened thousands of shoppers and employees when it shut down or sold two-thirds of the roughly 600 Albertsons locations it acquired in 2006. And customers of several chains acquired by Cerberus earlier this year are wondering whether their stores will suffer the same fate. But could we[Read More…]
You may not have noticed that there were big changes overnight at the Albertsons, Acme, Jewel, Shaw’s and Star Market grocery chains. But you’ll notice the bigger changes that are still to come. Changes like new coupon policies and a potential phasing out of store loyalty programs – if your store even survives that long. New owners officially took over[Read More…]
First, there was relief – several troubled supermarket chains would get deep-pocketed new owners. Then came uncertainty – who are these new owners, and what do they really want with these stores? Then came the realization – they’ve likely rescued the stores from an owner that was running them into the ground, just for the value of the ground they’re[Read More…]
(1/11 update – read: “Bigger, Better, or Goners? What’s in Store For Your Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s and Star Market”) The troubled supermarket operator Supervalu has now confirmed what’s long been rumored – it’s selling off several of its chains. Chicago-based Jewel-Osco, Philadelphia-based Acme, Boston-based Shaw’s and Star Market, and Albertsons stores in California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington[Read More…]
