KCRag Forum

Because Urbanstlouis has a Topic comparing Retail in KC to St. Louis so KC needs HHGREGG,Gander Mountain,Deibergs,Schnucks,Shop N Save,Johnny Mac's and so on. St. Louis needs Academy Sports and Outdoors,Hy-Vee,Price Chopper,Hen House and so on.

HHGREGG is horrible, one of the sales guys there said they just use refurbished electronics and sell them off as new

Schnuck's sucked when it was here last time. Is there anything they offer that our local grocers can't take care of?

Just because St. Louis has something we don't, does NOT mean we need it here.

The only thing I'd want from St Louis in terms of grocery store needs would be Old Vienna Chips, Maull's BBQ Sauce, and Gooey Butter Cookies.

I saw Maull's at Westport Sunfresh on Saturday.

Strouds Grocery Store?
We have local Restaurants St. louis will never get and they have like Rally's.

Best Buy needs a competitor here and Gohastings fits the bill maybe and Microcenter only has one location. Office Supply,Department Stores don't count.

Straubs. Strouds is KC pan-fried chicken.

As far as Schnucks, I've never seen so much variablity in quality of selection and layout in a chain grocery store, especially between all the St. Louis City and inner suburban stores. It sort of annoying unless you are used to it. There are schnucks in central Illinois, but I doubt they would compete well with like Hy-Vee in KC, what with it's bright lights and logic. Italian Schnucks (with crucifix), Hoosier Schnucks, Foodie Schnucks, Crappy Schnucks, Kosher Schnucks, Snobby Schnucks (with chandelier)...

Pretty much all of the local St. Louis chains follow a similar pattern of variablity.

mgsports wrote:Best Buy needs a competitor here and Gohastings fits the bill maybe and Microcenter only has one location. Office Supply,Department Stores don't count.

Comparing Best Buy to Hastings? That's a real good one.

warwickland wrote:Straubs. Strouds is KC pan-fried chicken.

As far as Schnucks, I've never seen so much variablity in quality of selection and layout in a chain grocery store, especially between all the St. Louis City and inner suburban stores. It sort of annoying unless you are used to it. There are schnucks in central Illinois, but I doubt they would compete well with like Hy-Vee in KC, what with it's bright lights and logic. Italian Schnucks (with crucifix), Hoosier Schnucks, Foodie Schnucks, Crappy Schnucks, Kosher Schnucks, Snobby Schnucks (with chandelier)...

Pretty much all of the local St. Louis chains follow a similar pattern of variablity.

Many of the KC area Hy-vee stores were at one time Schnucks.

warwickland wrote:Straubs. Strouds is KC pan-fried chicken.

As far as Schnucks, I've never seen so much variablity in quality of selection and layout in a chain grocery store, especially between all the St. Louis City and inner suburban stores. It sort of annoying unless you are used to it. There are schnucks in central Illinois, but I doubt they would compete well with like Hy-Vee in KC, what with it's bright lights and logic.
Pretty much all of the local St. Louis chains follow a similar pattern of variablity.

What's interesting about your statement is HyVee is moving towards central IL. They opened their first store in Springfield in the past couple years which is basically their southeastern-most.

They entered Madison, Springfield, MO in the past few years and are working on Minneapolis. So they have a history of entering major markets before small towns with their new growth.

I would give odds that Hy-Vee will enter St. Louis before any StL chain comes to KC.

Oh, and here's something fun. Hy-Vee has one store in Springfield, MO and has the land for a second. Walmart opened more stores.
In response, Kroger closes their four stores. The SGF Dillons was about the same as Schnucks. http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_n ... e45f5.html

Yes Straubs is what I meant to say. Crush Red is coming that has Salads and Wood Fire Pizza and it's from St. Louis.
Gerbes then or even Kroger Rolla closes.

Gohastings closes places are in KU country and Warrensburg.

lock+load wrote:

warwickland wrote:Straubs. Strouds is KC pan-fried chicken.

As far as Schnucks, I've never seen so much variablity in quality of selection and layout in a chain grocery store, especially between all the St. Louis City and inner suburban stores. It sort of annoying unless you are used to it. There are schnucks in central Illinois, but I doubt they would compete well with like Hy-Vee in KC, what with it's bright lights and logic. Italian Schnucks (with crucifix), Hoosier Schnucks, Foodie Schnucks, Crappy Schnucks, Kosher Schnucks, Snobby Schnucks (with chandelier)...

Pretty much all of the local St. Louis chains follow a similar pattern of variablity.

Many of the KC area Hy-vee stores were at one time Schnucks.

Yep, the one in Raytown was a Schnucks, but it sat vacant for a decade and was completely gutted before becoming a HyVee.

Almost every grocery store, except HyVee, in the area has some association with Associated Wholesale Grocers. The Hen House name is independently owned, the other names, Price Chopper, Sun Fresh and so on, are owned by AWG and licensed to the individual store owners. Aldi, Walmart, and Target are also independent of AWG but have some sort of nationwide support and product delivery system. As what happened years ago with Schnucks years ago it would be extremely hard for another brand to enter and compete in the KC area. And Schnuck's failure was before the last three had much of a presence as grocery stores in the area.
Plus stores like Dollar General are stepping up their grocery business.

Dillons tryed to come back. maybe Winco. Lucky's Market is coming.

Crazy Bowls and Wraps aka CWB - it's not a StL exclusive, though. Pretty sure there are some in San Diego, and maybe other places too.

White Castle please.

StL_Dan wrote:Crazy Bowls and Wraps aka CWB - it's not a StL exclusive, though. Pretty sure there are some in San Diego, and maybe other places too.

Don't need it, got Longboards.

Walmart is putting a lot of the smaller independent stores and chains out of business. They already have 25 percent of the grocery market in the USA. In 29 metro markets, Walmart accounts for more than 50 percent of grocery sales.

Walmart's rise in the food industry has caused a lot of consolidations in the food producing and distributing chain as well, as middlemen in the chain scramble to supply Walmart's needs. Fewer sources of supplies means less competition in the end.

Unionized grocery chains, family-owned and employee-owned stores, are the most vulnerable. Examples are Publix, Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, WinCo, Cosentinos, Schnucks, and Piggly Wiggly.

The problem, when Walmart has such a large share of a local grocery market, is it puts neighborhood stores out of business. Walmart tends to locate in the suburbs. That's great if you live near one. However, it weakens local grocery chains that maintain less-profitable stores in urban neighborhoods where a lot of low-income people live. A local example would be stores like Thriftway, Apple Market, Festival Foods, Sunfresh, Snyder's, and small corner markets that are not full-scale groceries. That means residents end up having to drive further to get to a grocery store. That's more problematic is one doesn't have a car, has to use mass transit to get groceries, or get a ride, or are seniors who no longer drive, or don't like driving far from home as they get older. You can't send one of your kids to the store to pick up supplies as easily, and neighborhood convenience stores might not carry the item you need.

It also hurts food producers. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, farmers share of pork profits have dropped from 45 cents of every dollar consumers spent on pork products to 25 cents per dollar. Walmart pockets 61 cents of each pork dollar consumers spend in their stores. That leaves 14 cents per dollar for distributors and food processors. It's not just pork. It's affecting all farmers who produce food--paying them less and less because there are fewer competitors now to buy their food product.

Well stated, fang.

It isn't just Walmart the standard grocery stores have to worry about. Stores like Dollar General have amped up their grocery offerings. And the standard grocery stores are also changing their product mix to stay competitive. They are expanding their dine-in offerings and takeout options.