Giant-Carlisle

[FitchMike26]

Giant-Carlisle has once again been ranked #1 in sales in the eight county Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) region.

First place: Giant with 50.7% market share. Sales for it's 46 stores in the region totaled $1.7 billion; about $36.9 million per store. Giant plans to open two new stores in the region this year, one in Hampden Township, Cumberland County, and another in Waynesboro, Franklin County.

Second place: Weis Markets with 16.34% market share. Sales for it's 39 stores in the region totaled $533.2 million; about $13.6 million per store. No new stores are planned in the region this year.

Third place: Shurfine Markets retailer co-op with a 14.28% market share. Sales for it's 35 stores in the region totaled $483.96 million; about $13.8 million per store.

Fourth place: Karns Foods with 3.76% market share. Sales for it's 8 stores in the region totaled $127.50 million; about $15.9 million per store.

Fifth place: Wegmans with 1.53% market share. Sales for it's 1 store in the region totaled $51.7 million; the highest per store average.

Link here:
http://www.pennlive.com/food/index.ssf/2014/07/giant_food_stores_food_trade_n.html

[FitchMike26]

Giant is opening a new store in the Enola PA area, near Harrisburg in October.
The 76,000 store will feature all the bells & whistles, including a gas station and beer.
This store will replace a smaller Giant in Enola that opened in 1999.

More info here:
http://www.pennlive.com/food/index.ssf/2014/09/giant_to_close_store_giant_in.html

[FitchMike26]

Giant is doing something it rarely does, and closing a store at 467 N Sumneytown Pike in North Wales, PA.

The small, outdated store was acquired from Genuardi's in 2012 and is only 33,000 sq ft; among the smallest still open in the entire chain. Genuardi's originally opened this location in 1976, almost 40 years ago.

A rare, freestanding Giant pharmacy about a mile south of the store will also be closing.

Giant operates a full size store about 4 miles away, also in North Wales, at 1201 Knapp Rd.

Photo of store:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/62355920@N00/7697050408

Photo of Pharmacy:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/62355920@N00/7697050888

Newspaper story here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150106_Montco_Giant_grocery__pharmacy_to_close_this_month.html

[retailisking]

Giant is doing something it rarely does, and closing a store at 467 N Sumneytown Pike in North Wales, PA.

What do you think possessed Ahold to acquire this Genuardi's in the first place?

[FitchMike26]

Any stores that Giant didn't buy would have been offered to someone else; likely Weis.

Giant probably wanted to prevent Weis from getting this location, and see what type of money it would do. While the store itself is small, the land it sits on is not, and a replacement store could have been built if demand warranted it.

Giant did let Weis have the Doylestown, Conshohocken, and East Norriton stores; but those 3 either sit literally across the street (or in East Norriton's case, 1 block away) from an existing Giant store.

[store215]

Giant is doing something it rarely does, and closing a store at 467 N Sumneytown Pike in North Wales, PA.

Giant has closed a couple of stores over the past few years.

One being a former independent/Clemens in Abington, PA  (Willow Grove Super Giant opened around the time Giant took over Clemens and was not so far away). Still vacant today.

And they closed a former Genuardi's in Warrington in 2013 (Opened in 2010....never made money as a Genuardi's and Safeway basically forced Giant to take this store in order to gain the Feasterville location) Awkwardly positioned and the plans of a Super Walmart basically next door (under construction as of now) didn't help matters any.

But yeah, Giant never seems to close stores until they start to become unprofitable. I think Maple Glen, PA may be the next smallest Giant in the area, although there were rumors of this store being relocated somewhere nearby.

[FitchMike26]

Hi Store215,

I didn't mean to imply that they NEVER close stores. Just that it's rare for them to do so.

In the last decade, they've closed Abington (former Clemens); Warrington (former Genuardi's); Food Source in Bryn Mawr; and Spring House, although it could be argued that they relocated across the street at Spring House into the former Genuardi's space.

Prior to these exceptions, the last time they closed a store without building a replacement nearby was in the 1980s in Ephrata, Lancaster County.

The moral of my post, is that Giant doesn't close stores easily, like their competitors do. Acme for example, has closed more stores in the last two years than Giant has in the last two DECADES.

[FitchMike26]

Royal Ahold, owners of Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover, and Stop & Shop, has opened a 4th concept chain in Center City Philadelphia.

Everything Fresh, a 5200 sq ft store, opened in December at 1222 Walnut St. The small format store sells include organic items, and prepared foods.

Story here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/food/281827281.html

And a few photos here:
http://www.phillychitchat.com/2014/11/everything-fresh-is-coming-to-old.html

[FitchMike26]

For the first time in 25-30 years, Giant is closing a non-acquired store, with no plans to build a replacement nearby.

The sole location in the city of Reading will close in August. The small, outdated, glass front location dates to the 1980s and cannot be expanded. A recently renovated (and larger) Weis Markets sits across the street. Giant is hoping it's customers will visit it's other 5 locations in the area.


Links here:
http://readingeagle.com/news/article/giant-food-to-close-lone-reading-location

http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/giant-on-rockland-street-to-close/34019522

[Chuck E. Cheese]

Hmm. I was in a kick about researching Royal Ahold and found that they owned Stop and Shops, Giants, This Giant, and a store called martins. Giant was apparently the same as Stop and Shop, and this giant was different. Never been to either giant, but I kinda have considering I've been to stop and shop.

[BillyGr]

Hmm. I was in a kick about researching Royal Ahold and found that they owned Stop and Shops, Giants, This Giant, and a store called martins. Giant was apparently the same as Stop and Shop, and this giant was different. Never been to either giant, but I kinda have considering I've been to stop and shop.

Martin's is just another name for the Giant (of Carlisle) that this post is about.  It came about when the two Giant chains were under separate ownership and the Carlisle chain started to expand into areas close to the Giant (of MD) chain, using the Martin's name to avoid confusion between the two chains.  At this point, since they're all co-owned they could probably just get rid of the extra name, but never have done that.

[Chuck E. Cheese]

I especially liked how the Old stop and shop text fits in with the Giant/Martins logo. My store had red text for SUPER STOP & SHOP.

[store215]

Martin's is just another name for the Giant (of Carlisle) that this post is about.  It came about when the two Giant chains were under separate ownership and the Carlisle chain started to expand into areas close to the Giant (of MD) chain, using the Martin's name to avoid confusion between the two chains.  At this point, since they're all co-owned they could probably just get rid of the extra name, but never have done that.

Although more recent, they also use 'Martin's' on locations far out in PA that are close to the unrelated 'Giant Eagle' chain.

[BillyGr]

Although more recent, they also use 'Martin's' on locations far out in PA that are close to the unrelated 'Giant Eagle' chain.

Makes perfect sense in that situation as well. 
One other spot that would make sense (since Giant and Giant are co-owned now) would be (or have been) in Frederick, MD as that town has both Giant (MD) and Giant Eagle.  Seems that they could do that, even though it's the "other" Giant.  Though perhaps Giant was there before Giant Eagle and didn't see any reason to switch.

[FitchMike26]

Frederick is an interesting situation...

Giant-Landover (Giant-MD) was in that region first. Giant-Carlisle came later, and used the name Martin's in Frederick.

After Ahold purchased Giant-Landover, there was local outcry because the locals in the area wanted to keep Giant-Landover, instead of Martin's stores.

The Martin's stores closed, were sold off, and eventually became Giant Eagle.

An hour to the west, Giant-Carlisle kept the Martin's stores in the Hagerstown region.

[store215]

Although more recent, they also use 'Martin's' on locations far out in PA that are close to the unrelated 'Giant Eagle' chain.

Makes perfect sense in that situation as well. 
One other spot that would make sense (since Giant and Giant are co-owned now) would be (or have been) in Frederick, MD as that town has both Giant (MD) and Giant Eagle.  Seems that they could do that, even though it's the "other" Giant.  Though perhaps Giant was there before Giant Eagle and didn't see any reason to switch.

Giant MD stores are all Union, as far as I can tell. Although the chains are basically the same now, throwing the Martin's name up there would probably cause some outcry from the Union group.

[JimSawhill]

Although more recent, they also use 'Martin's' on locations far out in PA that are close to the unrelated 'Giant Eagle' chain.

Makes perfect sense in that situation as well. 
One other spot that would make sense (since Giant and Giant are co-owned now) would be (or have been) in Frederick, MD as that town has both Giant (MD) and Giant Eagle.  Seems that they could do that, even though it's the "other" Giant.  Though perhaps Giant was there before Giant Eagle and didn't see any reason to switch.

Giant MD stores are all Union, as far as I can tell. Although the chains are basically the same now, throwing the Martin's name up there would probably cause some outcry from the Union group.

Does Giant Carlisle and Landover overlap? If they do, will they close stores?

[JoshAustin610]

The two Giants did overlap before they merged in 1998, but those stores had to be sold before it could go through.  There were five Giant-MD stores in the Philly area (called Super G) that were sold to Supervalu; three of them are now Shoprites, one's an Acme, and one's a Burlington Coat Factory.  There was also a Giant-PA under the Martin's name in Bel Air, MD that was sold.

[JimSawhill]

The two Giants did overlap before they merged in 1998, but those stores had to be sold before it could go through.  There were five Giant-MD stores in the Philly area (called Super G) that were sold to Supervalu; three of them are now Shoprites, one's an Acme, and one's a Burlington Coat Factory.  There was also a Giant-PA under the Martin's name in Bel Air, MD that was sold.

The Burlington Coat store. Noone wanted the store as a supermarket?

[JoshAustin610]

The Super G in Hilltown (that's now Burlington) was a Clemens for a few years; it relocated from a smaller but better location in Hatfield.  When Giant acquired Clemens they closed the Hilltown store, but demolished the old Hatfield location and built a new store there.  The Walmart in the shopping center expanded to a Supercenter soon after, so any chances of another supermarket were gone at that point.

[FitchMike26]

There was also a Giant-Landover (Super G) store in Devon PA (near King of Prussia) that is now subdivided between PetSmart and Big Lots.

JoshAustin, I noticed you do not have a photograph on your Flickr page of the Reading Giant that is closing soon. Will you be photographing it before it closes?

[JoshAustin610]

I have one from 2009: https://www.flickr.com/photos/62355920@N00/4078915657/

I've noticed the occasional problem with Flickr's search feature; pictures I know are on there don't always show up.

[FitchMike26]

Thanks for posting the link. I searched through your photos but could not find it.

[MikeRa]

There was also a Giant-Landover (Super G) store in Devon PA (near King of Prussia) that is now subdivided between PetSmart and Big Lots.

JoshAustin, I noticed you do not have a photograph on your Flickr page of the Reading Giant that is closing soon. Will you be photographing it before it closes?

don't forget about the Edwards/Super G in Trenton, NJ that later became Food Bazar

[FitchMike26]

Giant-Carlisle has a new division president. He is a former (before 2013) division president of Jewel-Osco:

http://www.cpbj.com/article/20170620/CPBJ01/170629981/giantmartins-name-new-president

[store215]

Giant-Carlisle has a new division president. He is a former (before 2013) division president of Jewel-Osco:

http://www.cpbj.com/article/20170620/CPBJ01/170629981/giantmartins-name-new-president

Hopefully he'll be able to make some positive changes (although doubtful)....Giant has been getting worse and worse and there is very little that differentiates themselves from Walmart anymore, especially in their newest and absolutely bland store 'remodels'.

[FitchMike26]

I agree overwhelmingly. I grew up 5 minutes from corporate headquarters in Carlisle. I was born & raised to be loyal to Giant.

I used to spend 85% oh my grocery budget at Giant. Now it's more like 40%. Their selection sucks and their prices are horrible.

They really need to return to the way things were a decade ago.

[EddieJ1984]

The one at Grant Ave in Philadelphia now has a beer & wine section.
I think their store brand is mostly still good, but I thought it was cool when they had their own version of pepsi and coke.



When they switched to the fruit bowl logo so they didn't have to print different logo's for giant, stop & shop and such, the store brand cola just went to the red one, so Spin Cola was no more.

[FitchMike26]

I don't care about logos or beer. I care about:

1) Everyday low prices. This was Giant's slogan in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.

2) Product selection. More and more, thing I used to get at Giant are discontinued. Now I buy those same items at a competitor.

As always, just my opinion.

[EddieJ1984]

Ah ok, I didn't go to Giant until this decade.
But yea a lot of the selection (especially their store brand selection) has gotten discontinued the past couple years, their pricing on products I would say is usually average or a little higher.