Well, when getting donated food from Trader Joe’s, it is generally going to be quickly used being delightful. On the other hand, a generic can that is labeled MEAT {from Brazil] will most likely be tossed because who the hell wants to open that can of worms.
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Freakonomics ep. 359: “Should America Be Run By…Trader Joe’s?”
For some insight into a grocery store that knows how to do things.
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Bah! Gamera is a turtle with bad gas!
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They’ve even finally figured out that not only can they get away with tiny parking lots - for locations in cities, they don’t need parking lots at all!
I live a few blocks from a tiny Whole Foods with a parking lot which is probably 1.5x the area of the store. It’s about half a mile from a larger Whole Foods with an attached parking garage. At the tiny local one, cars frequently block the busy street waiting to get into the lot. I can’t figure out why anyone drives to that store and not the larger one nearby, and why the store doesn’t get rid of the parking altogether in order to have more floorspace.
Gamera? That guy owes me money!
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Man, we used to have laws prohibiting monopolies. What happened to them? Or is Amazon not really close to monopoly yet?
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They don’t get enforced, or are enforced badly. Under Reagan they stopped bringing antitrust actions based on market share and consolidation and only look at whether it makes things cheaper for consumers. and since any enterprising monopolist can afford to run at a loss until all of its competition disappears that’s always the case. At least until they’re the only game in town and can set whatever price they like.
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Those aren’t worms: it’s gagh.
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Ain’t too bad fried in lard
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This is sad. I have a certain fondness for Whole Foods because we practically used to live next to their parking lot. The deli counter was pretty good and sold sandwiches and salads for a decent price.
Although maybe they’ll overextend themselves and have to be responsive to customers again. (Ha! Who am I kidding?)
Now that I’m in Toronto, I’ve found Loblaws to be horrible at inventory management. I’ve gone in and on various occasions found that they’ve been completely out of things like yeast, coffee filters, cream, half-and-half, canola oil and on one memorable occasion peanut butter (and I couldn’t find my favorite brand there for 3-4 weeks after that).
Fortunately I have other options, but they’ve always been convenient so it’s a bit frustrating.
the problem is it’s often the store brand or reasonably priced brands that sell out, leaving only overpriced organic food.
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The local grocery chain here (owned by Kroger) has done a consistently good job in competing against not just Whole Foods but Safeway, Walmart and Target too. Their produce is always excellent and the stores are kept clean and well stocked with very competitive prices. They also tailor every store for the local demographics and stock different ethnic foods depending on location.
We buy all our primary goods there and will only go to Whole Foods for their meat and deli which is better. I will never shop Walmart for groceries- especially produce which is so bad that it barely lasts a couple of days before spoiling.
It just goes to show that good management can effectively compete if you focus on the customer.
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Maybe five years ago Walmart was doing this. They had outsourced the stocking at their supermarkets and the result was something out of the old Eastern bloc. There were empty bins in the produce section and gaps in the groceries. I had never seen such battered lemons as the ones lying on the bottom of that bin at Walmart.
Lean supply, squeezing out all buffering and centrally planning and managing everything through contracts, internal or external, is a B-school fantasy. It never works well. The Soviet Union tried it. Boeing tried it with the 787. The Soviet Union collapsed. Boeing got bailed out by the US government. Walmart eventually realized that when the shelves at the nearby dollar store are better stocked and with better merchandise that they needed to make some changes.
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I’ve not been to Whole Foods yet, but I’ll admit I’ve been tempted by the Amazon thing they’re doing where they’ll deliver stuff. I used to use Google Express for nonperishables and it was great. You could order say, TP from Costco and soda from costco rather than lug it to/from a car.
But at least Google’s offering basically carted things from existing retailers to you, rather than buy a store and slowly crowd out all the others.
Using lard to fry with? Just spread it on some bread.
Yorkshire pudding was a holiday staple in my home, I liked it more than the roast
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Amazon Grocery Store = Data Gathering Substation
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Why do all the retail companies want to go into grocery businesses?!? I hear the profit margins are super thin. Is it because of all the ‘extra’ stuff they can sell, like drugs (ie, a pharmacy counter), health and beauty stuff and alcohol? A deli? What? Seems like a huge, risky undertaking that never ends pretty.
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