Sav-on in PA/NJ?

[Mervyns]

Were there ever freestanding Sav-on or Osco stores in PA or NJ? Next to Acme, perhaps?

[store215]

No, never. Acme's only started calling themselves "Acme Sav-On" a few years ago when they were operated by Albertson's. It seems like they spent a lot of money rebranding, but in their newest remodeled stores, the Sav-On name is pretty much hidden. I don't know why they did it in the first place..."Sav-On" means nothing here in PA (of course there are no longer any freestanding Sav-On's on the West Coast)

[nims57]

Originally posted by MBZ321
No, never. Acme's only started calling themselves "Acme Sav-On" a few years ago when they were operated by Albertson's. It seems like they spent a lot of money rebranding, but in their newest remodeled stores, the Sav-On name is pretty much hidden. I don't know why they did it in the first place..."Sav-On" means nothing here in PA (of course there are no longer any freestanding Sav-On's on the West Coast)

The Paoli, PA Acme is one of their newest remodeled stores. Is it me or did I notice the latest Sav-on signs are down already?  

I think Acme will end up like Food Fair and A&P. Any predictions on who will buy their stores/properties?

[videogamer75]

I don't think they will end up like Food Fair. Acme has a rich history in the Philly area and still has a loyal customer base, myself included. I am sure Acme will be around for a long time. Just look at A&P, most of their stores are old and outdated and the company itself has dropped from being the No. 1 grocer to somewhere in the 20's. Yet, they're still alive and well, and starting to improve themselves too.

I can see Acme being acquired by another company, however. I heard that Kroger has expressed interest in buying the Supervalu grocery stores, which includes Acme. That would greatly help Acme regain its position in the area, since Kroger is the second biggest grocer in the nation, behind Wal-Mart.

[nims57]

Originally posted by videogamer75
I don't think they will end up like Food Fair. Acme has a rich history in the Philly area and still has a loyal customer base, myself included. I am sure Acme will be around for a long time. Just look at A&P, most of their stores are old and outdated and the company itself has dropped from being the No. 1 grocer to somewhere in the 20's. Yet, they're still alive and well, and starting to improve themselves too.

I can see Acme being acquired by another company, however. I heard that Kroger has expressed interest in buying the Supervalu grocery stores, which includes Acme. That would greatly help Acme regain its position in the area, since Kroger is the second biggest grocer in the nation, behind Wal-Mart.

Well, Supervalu already bought Albertsons which bought Acme. A Supervalu-Kroger merger would never be approved. The Albertsons-Acme deal was controversial enough. I heard that even when Albertsons bought some stores from American Stores in 1991, it was "a very long story about anti-trust".

The Acme merger is really what SUNK Albertsons. They sold some stores to Kroger years ago. Eventually they sold off the company. The bulk of it went to Supervalu, which has been phasing out Albertsons house brands. I recently noticed that they did change Richfood (their store brand) packaging to an old Albertsons design!

[videogamer75]

I think it was the other way around. Acme was doing fine before Albertson's even came into the picture. I have seen articles which have shown that their market share was a lot higher in 1996, shortly before the Albertson's merger, than it is now. Right when Albertson's bought Acme, they closed a bunch of Acme's smaller stores, which was not a very smart decision as some of these stores did good business even if they were small.

Okay, so Kroger can't merge with Supervalu. I still think Acme will be OK for a while. Supervalu is a bigger company than Albertson's was, and I think they could do a better job supporting Acme. They are trying; several Acmes are going under renovations at this point, for example. They have also given Acme a new ad campaign, as well as the ''More Ways to Save at Acme'' feature.

[nims57]

In 2000, Albertsons built lots of new stores, and remodeled some older Acmes (some 90's Acmes too). Around 2001-2002, lots of these very same stores closed. Acme has been a lot like Sears-Kmart lately. Too many concepts, and nothing is done to truly improve the stores. In the past five years, under two ownerships, Acme has gone through two sets of "Sav-on Pharmacy" signs! And how is changing the COLOR of their signs going to improve anything? I do have to give Albertsons credit for building many new Acmes. Some classic Acmes still open today are very run down and could use a minor renovation.

Acme has had four different slogans in the past 10 years. Two were introduced by Albertsons, the other two Supervalu. Also, when the Starbucks have closed at some Acmes, they just fill in the space with junk (just like Kmart).

I suspect A&P is still struggling after the Super Fresh/Pathmark conversions. Again no strategy. One Pathmark Sav-a-Center had been remodeled around 2004 and gotten the new Super Fresh logo. It already had been through several transitions, including a relocation! A&P also closed lots of stores in early 2002.

Safeway has not been doing well either, especially the Dominick's, Randalls, and Genuardi's divisions. The new "Lifestyle" stores seem promising though.

[videogamer75]

I don't really see how the things you mentioned - slogans, pharmacy signs, and logo colors - make any kind of large impact on their business, bad or good. The only reason they are losing market share is because of the competition, plain and simple. Another reason is because their prices are a little higher than at other stores- but they're not really that high. My family shops there regularly, and we are doing fine financially. It's true that some of their older locations could use a renovation, but the majority of Acme's stores are big, clean, and well stocked. Service is pretty good too. Acme may be struggling, but they're no Sears/Kmart, that's for sure. In fact, that comparison doesn't even make sense since the two are in totally different categories of retailing, Super Kmarts aside. And yes, Acme needs improvement - but not as much as Kmart and Sears do.

By the way....what do you mean by ''too many concepts''? Acme isn't running any other chains besides Acme?

[nims57]

Originally posted by videogamer75
I don't really see how the things you mentioned - slogans, pharmacy signs, and logo colors - make any kind of large impact on their business, bad or good. The only reason they are losing market share is because of the competition, plain and simple. Another reason is because their prices are a little higher than at other stores- but they're not really that high. My family shops there regularly, and we are doing fine financially. It's true that some of their older locations could use a renovation, but the majority of Acme's stores are big, clean, and well stocked. Service is pretty good too. Acme may be struggling, but they're no Sears/Kmart, that's for sure.

By the way....what do you mean ''too many concepts''? Acme isn't running any other chains besides Acme?
 

Too many minor remodels/ad campaigns, etc. It's just that are they trying to improve their business that way? As for their competition, they say Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are a threat to Acme. Trader Joe's, no way. And Whole Foods has been around for a while now.

I remember when my family stopped shopping Acme, a long time ago. Of course that would not represent most shoppers.

[videogamer75]

Originally posted by nims57
Too many minor remodels/ad campaigns, etc. It's just that are they trying to improve their business that way? As for their competition, they say Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are a threat to Acme. Trader Joe's, no way. And Whole Foods has been around for a while now.

The improvements Acme needs to make have little to do with the actual stores themselves, in my opinion. Well, at least the more modern, larger ones, and the smaller stores they remodeled. I think they need to focus on opening more stores, advertising more often, and - this is a big one, especially in the current economy crisis - lowering their prices and having more sales. Come up with a major sale event to lure customers back in. I am saying this because I have noticed while reading online reviews, that people most often complain about Acme having high prices and few sales, not really the look of the stores themselves or anything similar. I'm not saying that the look of the stores don't matter, they definitely do matter, it's just that Acme isn't really doing anything different than the other chains in that aspect. And if it does hurt business to have too many concepts, than Shop Rite would have went out of business a long time ago because every one of their stores has a different design and layout.

[nims57]

Originally posted by videogamer75

Originally posted by nims57
Too many minor remodels/ad campaigns, etc. It's just that are they trying to improve their business that way? As for their competition, they say Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are a threat to Acme. Trader Joe's, no way. And Whole Foods has been around for a while now.

The improvements Acme needs to make have little to do with the actual stores themselves, in my opinion. Well, at least the more modern, larger ones, and the smaller stores they remodeled. I think they need to focus on opening more stores, advertising more often, and - this is a big one, especially in the current economy crisis - lowering their prices and having more sales. Come up with a major sale event to lure customers back in. I am saying this because I have noticed while reading online reviews, that people most often complain about Acme having high prices and few sales, not really the look of the stores themselves or anything similar. I'm not saying that the look of the stores don't matter, they definitely do matter, it's just that Acme isn't really doing anything different than the other chains in that aspect. And if it does hurt business to have too many concepts, than Shop Rite would have went out of business a long time ago because every one of their stores has a different design and layout.

 

If they want to lower prices, they could bring back Super Saver. Albertsons already opened some new Super Savers on the West Coast.

[videogamer75]

Yes, that would work. They could even implement it into new Acme stores. Blend together the normal grocery store and the warehouse-style store.

[store215]

One of the problems is the Union workers....because of this, they are unable to compete well on pricing because their costs are so high. Wegmans, Giant, Genuardi's, Redner's, and some others have all expanded in the last 10 years greatly, and non-union, and they are able to keep their costs lower. Acme's prices should be one of the lowest...SuperValu is an enormous company and food distributor (they even supply Redner's here, an independent chain which has some Acme overlap in my area..and guess what? I can find the Supervalu store brand stuff cheaper at Redner's!).

[EddieJ1984]

I never got why people said "ACME Sav-on" just sounds odd.
Also, I would think even ACME doesn't want people callin it since they just remodeled the one near me and the "Sav-On Pharmacy" sign isn't near the ACME sign (also until a few weeks ago it never said Sav-on anywhere on the front, just pharmacy)


Also would you say SAVE ON, or SAV ON?
like Pathmark Sav-A-Center, which they say it as "SAVE A CENTER"
ah whatever.

[MikeRa]

Originally posted by MBZ321
No, never. Acme's only started calling themselves "Acme Sav-On" a few years ago when they were operated by Albertson's. It seems like they spent a lot of money rebranding, but in their newest remodeled stores, the Sav-On name is pretty much hidden. I don't know why they did it in the first place..."Sav-On" means nothing here in PA (of course there are no longer any freestanding Sav-On's on the West Coast)

From 1984, when American Stores acquired Jewel Companies, Acme was selling the "Osco' brand in their stores.  That brand evolved into the "Equaline" brand of today.

[MikeRa]

One of the problems is the Union workers....because of this, they are unable to compete well on pricing because their costs are so high. Wegmans, Giant, Genuardi's, Redner's, and some others have all expanded in the last 10 years greatly, and non-union, and they are able to keep their costs lower. Acme's prices should be one of the lowest...SuperValu is an enormous company and food distributor (they even supply Redner's here, an independent chain which has some Acme overlap in my area..and guess what? I can find the Supervalu store brand stuff cheaper at Redner's!).

The SuperValu brands is also cheaper at The Fresh Grocer

[MikeRa]

Originally posted by videogamer75
I don't think they will end up like Food Fair. Acme has a rich history in the Philly area and still has a loyal customer base, myself included. I am sure Acme will be around for a long time. Just look at A&P, most of their stores are old and outdated and the company itself has dropped from being the No. 1 grocer to somewhere in the 20's. Yet, they're still alive and well, and starting to improve themselves too.

I can see Acme being acquired by another company, however. I heard that Kroger has expressed interest in buying the Supervalu grocery stores, which includes Acme. That would greatly help Acme regain its position in the area, since Kroger is the second biggest grocer in the nation, behind Wal-Mart.

Well, Supervalu already bought Albertsons which bought Acme. A Supervalu-Kroger merger would never be approved. The Albertsons-Acme deal was controversial enough. I heard that even when Albertsons bought some stores from American Stores in 1991, it was "a very long story about anti-trust".

The Acme merger is really what SUNK Albertsons. They sold some stores to Kroger years ago. Eventually they sold off the company. The bulk of it went to Supervalu, which has been phasing out Albertsons house brands. I recently noticed that they did change Richfood (their store brand) packaging to an old Albertsons design!

SuperValu has made most of the Albertsons subbrands (Equaline, Baby Basics, Homelife) their own subbrands.  And the Albertsons type packaging is being used with the Acme, Albertsons, Cub, Farm Fresh, Flavorite, Jewel, Richfood, and Shop N Save names.