Word: albertson
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...have noticed the additional shelf space that low-carb goods are getting in your supermarket. The Albertson's chain now offers more than 100 low-carb products, compared with just 10 less than a year ago. "We found it's having a profound effect," says Andrew Kramer, Albertson's director of ethnic marketing and specialty foods. Sales in his category more than doubled last year, led by growth in low-carb lines. Meanwhile, the central action alley at Wal-Mart SuperCenters crammed some 200 low-carb products into a 16-ft. run during prime dieting season after New Year...
...Like too many of his fellow grocers, Davis thought getting bigger himself would make things better. Before Wal-Mart, he says, "we tried to limit our distance from our warehouses to 300 miles. Now we're going 500 miles" to reach stores as far as the Gulf Coast. Kroger, Albertson's and Safeway each went on an acquisition spree a few years ago, but whatever savings that resulted from centralizing operations have been offset by the obliteration of local ties and customer service. And Albertson's isn't finished. The company (2003 sales: $35.4 billion) just bought New England...
Since then, Albertson's and other big chains have publicly vowed to follow suit. Safeway, for instance, has gone dead net with a few vendors but admits that the evolution is slow because it takes so long to sift through years' worth of byzantine allowances in order to compute--and compare--dead net. "It's a little bit like translating some ancient scrolls that you might find in the Dead Sea that are in a language that you don't know," Burd told analysts. It's an honest--and stunning--admission that Safeway doesn't know what its true costs...
Music retailing has traditionally been a fragmented industry of mom-and-pop stores. Guitar Center, however, is following the lead of retail giants like Wal-Mart. After raising $101 million in a 1997 IPO, Albertson and his co-CEO, Larry Thomas (himself a frustrated rock guitarist), went on an expansion run that included opening new stores at the rate of one or two a month and acquiring, in 1999, the Musician's Friend catalog for $48 million. In 2001 the company purchased a 19-store chain catering to schoolkids and beginners called American Music, and last year it opened...
Guitar Center hopes to avoid the growing pains that often plague expanding businesses. Albertson says he expects a bump in his customer base in the near future. After dropping for decades, the population of men ages 15 to 29, the chain's prime customers, is projected to rise 6% by 2010. The company is expanding its pro-audio selection and is exploring opening stores in Canada and Britain...