I’m pissed. I just learned that my convenient neighborhood supermarket will soon be closing. Neighborhood supermarkets are going by the wayside, especially those like mine which are part of a national chain which finds them outmoded. The current trend is towards super megastores which sell a lot more than groceries, and so while my local store is just the right size for a grocery supermarket, it isn’t big enough for the mega model.
I saw this coming. My local store has long been part of the Kroger chain, but I noticed it wasn’t to be found at the corporate web site, which is a bad sign. So now it’s been confirmed. No notice, no nothing. Obviously, they want to exit quietly, and without giving loyal longtime customers any opportunity to express their opinions.
Really, it’s just as if they are saying “FUCK YOU!” to a neighborhood that has long patronized them.
Now, as a libertarian I realize they have an absolute right to do this. Just as they also have an absolute right to make sure that no grocery store will replace the one they have closed. (I am told Krogers has a long pattern of doing that, for business reasons.*) But I don’t want another damn chain drugstore. I only want a grocery store, damn it. I moved into this neighborhood in part because I could walk to the grocery store, and now I won’t be able to.
I am powerless, of course. But there is one thing I can do, and that is to vow that never again will I shop at a Krogers store. That company has earned my personal wrath, and even if it is inconvenient, I will go to Meijers or Busch’s. (And of course sound off to others to the extent that I can.)
It’s pathetic that all I can do is write this blog post, but what else can I do? Call and get put on hold so I can complain to bureaucratic robots (who have no power to do anything anyway) at their bloody corporate headquarters?
I’m not saying Krogers has to be reasonable or “democratic,” because they don’t.
And neither do I. This is all about business, and I am taking mine elsewhere.
* In other words, they not only closed this Kroger store, but they want to try to force customers to patronize their nearest megastore by not allowing another grocery store to open where this one was. That adds insult to injury, and I only wish there were some way to make them accountable.
MORE: It turns out that I was misinformed (my information came from neighbors) about what is happening, that in fact Kroger’s is not the bad guy at all, but has been unable to renegogiate its lease:
The Kroger store on South Industrial Highway in Ann Arbor will close this year after the Ohio-based grocery chain could not reach an agreement on lease terms with the property owner, Kroger officials confirmed Monday afternoon.
“Kroger is very disappointed that we have lost that lease,” said Kroger spokesman Dale Hollandsworth. “We have tried to get the lease renewed but have been unable to achieve that.”
The Ufer family owns the 3-acre property at 1919 S. Industrial Hwy, just south of East Stadium Boulevard. City records show the property has a 2013 assessed value of about $1.02 million.
Robert P. Ufer, son of legendary Michigan broadcaster Bob Ufer, said Kroger was operating on lease terms that were “dramatically under market” rate after the grocery chain moved onto the property in the 1980s and took over a 40-year lease. Kroger took over the building from A&P.
The article also states that there will be a new grocery store tenant:
Ufer said he has another grocery store chain that will begin renovating the 30,000-square-foot building after Kroger vacates the property. A closing date for Kroger has not yet been determined, but Ufer said it will be sometime in 2014. The store’s lease expires Aug. 31.
“I think (the new tenant) will be a very nice addition to the Ann Arbor community,” Ufer said. “They have made some commitments as part of our lease arrangement in terms of the contributions in the Ann Arbor community and I’m really excited about having them come in.”
Ufer declined to reveal the name of the new tenant and said the company will be making its own public announcement.
Wow. I sure would like to know who the new tenant is going to be.
At any rate, this news comes as quite a relief. (No way would I boycott Kroger’s now.)
I should be more careful about believing rumors, however well-founded they may seem.
AND MORE: The Kroger store is to be replaced by a Luckys:
The Kroger store on South Industrial Highway in Ann Arbor will be replaced by a Colorado-based natural foods store this year.
Lucky’s Market CEO Bo Sharon confirmed Monday evening that he has a deal to open a store at 1919 S. Industrial Hwy, just south of East Stadium Boulevard. The goal is to open Lucky’s Market in October, he said.
“We’re just super excited and honored to be a part of the Ann Arbor community,” Sharon said.
“(Opening a store in Ann Arbor) was always talked about, and when we went out to visit, we were like, ‘This is lovely.’ It’s a no-brainer,” he added.
Sharon and his wife, Trish, founded Lucky’s in Boulder, Colo. in 2003. The company has three existing stores, with one store set to open soon in Columbia, Mo. Lucky’s Market also plans to open a store in Billings, Mont. in a couple months.
Sharon describes Lucky’s Market as an “affordable natural foods” store. He said produce accounts for about 25 percent of the stores, along with grocery items, a meat department with a full-service deli, wine and beer, and a healthy living section.
I hope affordable actually means affordable. I’ve saved a lot of money at Kroger’s over the years.
Comments
8 responses to “A company I once liked betrays its loyal customers [WRONG. SEE UPDATE!]”
Dominick’s (Safeway subsidiary) did that to me here on the northwest side of Chicago. They sold the land on the condition that no new grocery store ever occupy it again, then, several years later, they pulled out of Chicago entirely. So their dog in the manger act was of no lasting benefit to them, but a royal pain for their former customers.
It may do little good, but register your anger with Kroger’s corporate. A boycott that no one knows about has zero hope of influencing anyone.
It was somewhat distressing a while back when Kroger closed one of its smaller Dillons stores ( not one that I frequented ) in the transition to the larger ones. Even more distressing, though, was the hue and cry from the surrounding neighborhoods for the local gov to “make” them stay open.
The government has no right to make a store stay open. What I don’t like is seeing a company prevent a store from opening. There are plenty of other grocery stores that would work here. Why should Kroger be interfering with the marketplace by stopping them? What they are doing is picking and choosing what store gets to be there, so we will likely end up with another useless Walgreens. (Right across the street from an existing CVS.) I think it’s corporate tyranny, presided over by snotty ass MBAs.
I smell Whole Paycheck. Certainly fits in Ann Arbor
Wait a sec, 30,000 squares might be small for them. Could be a Trader Joe’s. Certainly won’t be an everyday grocery franchise that sells food most people can afford, as how else is the owner going to bump the rent? No, you’re getting Yuppie/Hipster food with the concomitant pricing.
Thank walmart sam waltons business model we will sell cheaper then stores with unions as they will not only pay for their own employees health care ;but walmarts too when walmart employees go to emergency roon because they have no insurance and when some states started to charge walmart for this walmart tould its employees to use a phony name when they went to hospital! walmart republican partys number one contributor to keep from being prosecuted! Small southern towns near super walmart store are ghost town so the grand wizard now must work for walmart instead of running is klavern out of his now defunct business!
Did you get that out in one breath or did you fail your tovarisch and have to take a breath half-way?
Good story about checking out all angles before coming to a conclusion. I suspect that Kroger’s got a bargain lease with a flat rate for years, and bailed out when the landlord wanted to bring the lease up to current market rates.
There are four grocery stores within a mile of where I live, two of which I patronize. Within two and a half miles, there are three more. Which means that I can take advantage of each store’s loss leaders. I suspect that in the next five years, at least one of the stores will not be here.
I cannot say I am underserved when it comes to grocery stores.
Umm. “natural foods store” – do you really think that’s going to be affordable? Well, check it out anyway. They used to be, before “natural” became “elite.”