ECON What's currently happening at my grocery store...

Jubilee on Earth

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
We shop at a local grocery store here in Michigan, which is a medium-sized chain (about 10 or 11 stores total?). The one closest to us is our regular weekly shopping location.

I hadn't noticed any real gaps or anything on the shelves, although a few times I caught the little trick of "pulling everything forward to hide the big holes in the back". Still not a big deal -- we've been able to get everything we need and the store seemed to be fairly well-stocked.

Well, this past Sunday we went back, and I kid you not, almost everything we put in our cart had a bad expiration date, or one that was only a few days away. I mean everything -- tortilla chips, Pillsbury Grands biscuits, juice, tea, bacon, condiments... you name it. Truly, the only things that had decent dates were the meats, cheese and milk items. Oh, and the canned goods were fine. Anything that was pre-packaged or boxed had a bad date. At one point, when I could not find any Pillsbury biscuits with a date more recent than mid-January, I went looking for a manager. He didn't look the least bit surprised, but he did look very weary. His exact words were, "We're sorry ma'am. We'll be pulling those off the shelf right away. We must not have received a new shipment yet."

So either A) those items are all getting missed because they haven't received the new shipments and therefore haven't been restocked or B) the store is purposely keeping those there to make the shelves look full, because otherwise they'd be empty (for whatever reason that might be).

I'm heading out to Meijer's in a bit to do more shopping, so I'll report back anything unusual that I find. I'm guessing this isn't a concern of big, multi-state chains... but the littler guys are obviously hurting.
 
Wise Owl

Wise Owl

Deceased
Or the warehouses are getting bare and they stores are just leaving out what they have in stock.

Our little store was a bit bare in places yesterday also. They usually get a shipment on Tuesday so it may just not have been put out yet but a lot of the stuff that is on sale this week was gone. Empty shelves where it should have been. They had a good deal on olive oil in the big cans for regular oil or smaller can for the virgin. They only had a few cans of the virgin left and no reg oil at all. I mean this was about half off in price so it could be that people just snatched it up.

I will be going back again in a couple days to find those larger cans so I can grab a couple.

I also noticed that prices are going thru the roof. A single roll of 1000 sheet tp paper is now $.99 a roll for the name brand. Store brand was $.85. No selection of paper towels at all.

I did score on a big fresh pork pinic for $.99 a lb. We don't eat pork but the dog does so that was a good find.
Last week our ground turkey was $4.99 a lb! It was not the ground white meat either. Just the usual grind. Turkey at $5 a lb! That is rediculous. We use turkey like most folks use beef or pork as hubby can't eat beef or pork, (gout).

I am praying we get a roadkill deer soon as the meat at the store is getting hard to afford....
 
G-Man

G-Man

Inactive
GOOD ONE!

Closely observing the going-ons at your food stores and gas stations can gleam you valuable information about your LOCAL as well as general economy.
 
T

Troke

Deceased
Most people are not aware that most businesses run on loans that are turned over periodically. The loans are quite often (but not always) from the supplier who expects his payment at a later date. Sometimes if you pay earlier you get a little discount.

The MSM is full of stories that banks are refusing loans which means the supplier and the store are not getting loans to keep their business running.

You wonder why 'Helicopter Ben' is printing money like a Weimar German hoping to loosen up credit?

And all this time you thought it had something to do with houses.
 
Worrier King

Worrier King

Inactive
Maybe that grocers trying to increase his profit margin and is getting great deals on expired food knowing that most of his shoppers arent going to realize it?

I wonder if he really pulled the Pillsbury Biscuits?
 
G-Man

G-Man

Inactive
Most people are not aware that most businesses run on loans that are turned over periodically.
Click to expand...
Yepper!
at this stage of their games they are ALL running on credit (debt) they even borrow to make payrolls.....
 
CountryboyinGA

CountryboyinGA

Inactive
Troke said:
Most people are not aware that most businesses run on loans that are turned over periodically. The loans are quite often (but not always) from the supplier who expects his payment at a later date. Sometimes if you pay earlier you get a little discount.

The MSM is full of stories that banks are refusing loans which means the supplier and the store are not getting loans to keep their business running.

You wonder why 'Helicopter Ben' is printing money like a Weimar German hoping to loosen up credit?

And all this time you thought it had something to do with houses.
Click to expand...

I had this explained to me when I was a teenager and running a sporting goods store (yes, you read that right) :D

I asked the owner how we could make payroll in february when no one was hunting or fishing and we sold $200.00 in product that week. Thus was I introduced to the concept of revolving lines of credit.

Here lately it is becoming pretty obvious what local businesses depend on that to survive. There are closed signs in the window, or "fire sale" signs.



CB
 
Jubilee on Earth

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
So I went out to do some shopping this morning at Meijer's, and it was completely dead. Granted, it's a Wednesday morning and I was there around 9:30am, but the store was almost completely devoid of people. I counted 11 customers in the entire checkout area, and I ran into 4 people while shopping in the store. I'm in a very populated Detroit suburb, so this was really surprising to me. Sure, maybe it's busier on a Saturday, but I remember the "old days" of 5 years ago when a Meijer's parking lot -- at any store -- would be packed no matter what day or time of the day. I got the second parking spot in an almost empty lot.

Now, the most bizarre thing was just how wide the spaces were in between racks and shelving units. It was almost eerie. It was obvious that there were big gaping holes that they were trying to fill. It was most noticeable in the clothing section. I was able to take some pics for you all to see, although they didn't come out particularly sharp (I was trying to be discreet in case anyone was watching me on cameras or something.) Notice the one photo where the endcap has a few un-exciting slippers filling the shelves -- I saw a lot of that sort of thing. Also notice in the photo with the men's clothing how bare the part is where carpet lies -- that is not a main aisle way. The aisle ways are bare wood floors (or whatever). It was clear that the carpeted area used to have more racks of clothes. Also notice how few items are actually on the racks.

Again -- it's not at all how I remember Meijer being. I don't shop here often, but I sure used to back several years ago. I remember the racks being so close together that you couldn't even maneuver between them. Making them wider and easier to navigate is one thing. But my shopping experience there today showed me clearly that something isn't right. Check it out for yourselves...

MeijersPhoto3.jpg


MeijersPhoto2.jpg


MeijersPhoto1.jpg
 
Smoke

Smoke

Veteran Member
As far as expired foods go, they ran an article awhile back saying that only drugs and baby foods have to pulled from the shelves...but I would see about getting a discount if I could...as I have stuff on my shelves from '97 and still good..
 
R

rs657

Veteran Member
Bare shelves are going to be much more prevalent in the near future.

I have been watching the grocery stores and Wally Worlds in my area and the shelves are being stacked so they don’t look so bare.

Look close at the shelves and you will notice items stacked to take up as much room as possible.

They leave an inch or two between rows and a few more inches between different products and if you look real close, they leave a few back rows empty to give the illusion that there is more there.

Last week was the first time I saw out of date cans. I could see this in a store that has been around for many years. This grocery store is only about a year old. The cans were six months out of date.

I think they are cleaning out what little is in the warehouses.

One more thing, the store brands are starting to disappear. It figures these will go first.

Get what you can today; tomorrow may be too late! :shkr:
 
Ravekid

Ravekid

Veteran Member
Jubilee on Earth said:
So I went out to do some shopping this morning at Meijer's, and it was completely dead. Granted, it's a Wednesday morning and I was there around 9:30am, but the store was almost completely devoid of people. I counted 11 customers in the entire checkout area, and I ran into 4 people while shopping in the store. I'm in a very populated Detroit suburb, so this was really surprising to me. Sure, maybe it's busier on a Saturday, but I remember the "old days" of 5 years ago when a Meijer's parking lot -- at any store -- would be packed no matter what day or time of the day. I got the second parking spot in an almost empty lot.
Click to expand...

I shop at a very busy Meijers in Indy. They have never been packed that early in the day, ever. While I believe it is likely less busy than in the past, that early in the morning has never had a crowd at all.

Jubilee on Earth said:
Now, the most bizarre thing was just how wide the spaces were in between racks and shelving units. It was almost eerie. It was obvious that there were big gaping holes that they were trying to fill. It was most noticeable in the clothing section. I remember the racks being so close together that you couldn't even maneuver between them.
Click to expand...

Your pictures were very interesting. You are 100% correct in that the racks used to be very close together. Our Meijer here was like that (same for Kohl's and Walmart). I will have to check this out at our store. I can tell you that Walmart still has racks pushed close together, Kohl's was like that a month or so ago when I was there. However, I just now remember that a Dick's Sporting Goods on our side of town seemed more roomier than in years past.

A few years back, an in-law of mine said that he heard Meijer wasn't doing very well at all. None of the stores in Indy have closed, though one planned to the north of us (about 8 miles north of the store we shop at) was put on hold due to the economy.
 
Ravekid

Ravekid

Veteran Member
I forgot to add this about Meijer: I eat their organic apple sauce, Meijer store brand, unsweetened. Well, about two or three weeks ago I needed to stock up and had a coupon for organic goods. They were running low on the unsweetened kind, so I decided to buy them all. Well, over the last year, I noticed the apple sauce got from light, to darker with a sweeter taste, and was recently lighter. Well, the ones in the back were from the darker, sweeter batch. I ended up buying them all and I wonder if they will get restocked.
 
T

Troke

Deceased
I was down at the local WM. Rarely go there. Was surprised at all the open floor space in long lanes. Asked the DW.

They had their Christmas stuff in those lanes.

Before that it was Halloween/Thanksgiving

Before that it was their end of summer sale.

So.....we shall see if Spring pops up and fills those long wide open lanes.

I have a feeling........
 
blackguard

blackguard

Veteran Member
Seeing very similar things at the local WM

Been checking the area Wal-Marts, both the regular and SuperCenters. The grocery area at the super WM which is where I normally buy groceries had a large number of the pull-things-forward-with-nothing-behind-it areas (more than two dozen!). Another trick I noticed is seemingly full displays but upon closer inspection, yes the shelves are full front to back but it's all with the same product. In this case it was GV (great value, the WM brand) grated Parmesan cheese. Three shelves of it! Same the same in the dairy and cereal aisles as well.

So it is obvious to me that there is not nearly as much on hand as they once had. Also realized that they had removed one entire row of shelving and spread the others out (in the grocery area I mean). Much easier to navigate the wider aisles. Will continue to watch this.
 
M

Mixin

Veteran Member
In December I noticed the "sell by" date on a certain flavor of Whiskas moist catfood was November 2008 while others had "sell by" Oct. 2009.

I brought it to the attention of the store manager and he copped quite an attitude with me...telling me not to buy it if I was uncomfortable with it. I told him he should be uncomfortable selling catfood that had likely sat somewhere for almost a year considering the other sell by dates. The conversation went downhill from there.

I look at all the sell by dates because I tend to stock ahead.
 
K

KenGin31

Veteran Member
Winn Dixie just had a 20 cans for 10 dollars sale . All were dated 2011. Yes we did buy a bunch. Yes we got stare at.
 
G

Gingergirl

Veteran Member
In NW Indiana, I have noticed in past years that the local super stores (Like WalMart and Target) let their inventory wind down after Christmas and during the snowy weather of winter.

Spring stock usually shows up in late Feb or early March with the racks over flowing again.

If we are having a lot of heavy snow, grocery store deliveries also get delayed.

In general, our stores look pretty normal for this time of year and weather.
 
Y

Y2kO

Inactive
So either A) those items are all getting missed because they haven't received the new shipments and therefore haven't been restocked or B) the store is purposely keeping those there to make the shelves look full, because otherwise they'd be empty (for whatever reason that might be).
Click to expand...

Or C) Store sales are so dead that the products are about to rot on the shelf.

People don't have the money...........
No job; no money.

Yeah, and bad weather is another factor. No one in my family has been to the store in 2 weeks. We are still shoveling snow and ice.
 
A

AustinPSD

Inactive
Meijer used to be one of my software/systems customers, along with HEB (similar super-grocer chain here in Texas), Target, and a few others.

Meijer itself when I last looked was a $10B private corporation, and acted as part of a loose consortium with other independent grocer/retailers like HEB to try and attain competitive parity against Wal*Mart/Sams Club.

Our software provided assortment planning, promotional planning and inventory management (i.e. how much of any particular item to stock in a specific store and related distribution center in a sales period/season).

The basic business goal was to minimize the inventory and related inventory carrying cost for the chain, without ever going out of stock on an item during normal or promotional marketing. This in turn helped them remain (or try to remain) competitive with Wal*Mart.

There are side effects associated with using this kind of software system; inventory gets depleted strictly against FIFO (i.e. near the end of a period, season, or near the change in packaging for an item) you'll see older merchandise on the shelves, nearer its expiration date. You'll see thinner inventory of an item in general (think the equivalent of just-in-time manufacturing - this is just-in-time supply chain/inventory). These are just a few of the potential side-effects.

One problem is that less resiliency in item stocking can be a problem - for example items at store and distribution center level can deplete at normal pace, and if there is an unanticipated or unplanned promotional effect, or supply/delivery problem upstream at the manufacturer an item can get near zero or deplete from inventory entirely.

All this has the effect of thinning the store shelves and aisles in general.

In difficult times, the effect is even more apparent/exacerbated - inventory planners/buyers, etc. will depress inventory in anticipation of slow sales, etc.

When one combines the underlying inventory management system with a declining economy, seasonal bad weather, credit short-falls on revolving/operating capital lines, etc. it all gets really dicey.

Grocery and mass market retailers are having nationwide problems keeping even basic, expected commodities on the shelves because so much volatility exists in the system as a whole.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
KenGin31 said:
Winn Dixie just had a 20 cans for 10 dollars sale . All were dated 2011. Yes we did buy a bunch. Yes we got stare at.
Click to expand...

Winn Dixie had that same sale here a few months ago and I bought 180 cans. I did go to the store manager with a list and he got most of it from the back, I told him I didn't want to empty the shelves. He said he liked their store brand of veggies too and he would stock up on them when they had a good sale. No comments from the cashier either. I have them stashed everywhere.

Judy
 
maric

maric

Short but deadly
I was in our local WM today. It was dead as a doornail and they're calling for snow in these parts which means run to the store while the roads are still good. The shelves were stocked so that they looked full but if you took an item off the shelf, it was bare in back. Everything was pushed forward. As far as the expiration dates, all were fine. I didn't see anything expired, well in the dairy section anyway.
 
B

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Back last spring, I put a thread on this website which described how the local WalMart was selling packages of fruit pectin (something you use when you are home canning fruit jams and jellies) that were several YEARS out of date.


We didn't buy the old stuff. My wife bought some at another store that was dates 2010.


But she still noticed that this years jams (all of them - strawberry, peach, plum and blackberry) were very slow to gel. She never changed anything in what she does, but it took as much as two weeks for the jams to gel when in years before, it would only take 24 hours or so.
 
Josie

Josie

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We have three places to buy groceries in this town, Wal-Mart, Kroger and an IGA. Front page of the newspaper announced that the Kroger will be closing at the end of the month. The decision was based on preformance supposedly. I'm thinking if that's true, then the other Krogers must be doing a really brisk business because this one always seems to have people shopping there. The closing of that store will have an impact on the K-Mart and Dollar General that share the same parking lot.
 
Red Baron

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
Noticed at the Pick and Save how quickly the 10 for $10.00 items run out and many of the coupon specials are out of stock.

IMHO people like me only go there for the specials. I had a $25.00 bill the last time that included over $12.00 in savings. 50% off! Now that's cherry picking a sale.

Went back to Sam's Club after a five year absence. Got a free membership, so what the heck.

Very noticable was the amount of open floor space and the reduction in selection and diversity of products. More noticable was the amount of out of season goods taking up space.

Who really needs pallets of charcoal, lighter fluid and gas grills in the dead of a Wisconsin winter?

The only OK deal was meat. The food items are a lot of overpriced name brands. Bigger quantities but the actual cost wasn't much better than a smaller quantity on sale elsewhere.
 
P

PolyEsther

Contributing Member
No offense, but I've always pretty much glazed over the "bare shelves" threads because they've never been like that in my area.

Tonight though I have to say that I was amazed at how much wasn't in my local Wallyworld. Every week I shop on Wednesday because it's pay day for me- last Wednesday the shelves were looking pretty weak but I was still able to go and get what I went in for. Tonight, I was supplementing my *usuals* with other stuff that I didn't want. For instance my el-cheapo laundry detergent had a HUGE gap on the shelves and I wound up buying more expensive stuff. After I got a little PO'd about that, I started noticing at how bare the shelves were. It was stupid things though, laundry detergent, hairspray (couldn't find my favorite :( ) trashbags.... I could see people buying up canned food etc but hairspray??

Didn't make sense to me until I read about the revolving credit..... I guess I have to come out from under my sheeple rock and start noticing this stuff....
 
Dex

Dex

Constitutional Patriot
Last Sunday one of our Safeway stores was off the hook. At first I thought it was pre superbowl shoppers but it wasn't it was regular shoppers who were there because many of the soda products were on sale. I mean the lines were going down the food isles like I've never seen before.

I think people are eating out less, stocking up on food more and jumping on everything that is on sale. I would hate to have to be in there if the excrement was colliding with the ocillating device. Just reminds me that I need to restock on a couple of things I've let get low.
 
S

savurselvs

Veteran Member
similar

A local wm on Monday morning had noticeably thin products.
They had (faced) all the products, pulled forward, looking full, but none behind them.

A buddy (prepper) in a nearby town, noticed his Tractor Supply had 3-4 isles empty.
Possibly a seasonal change over?????
 
T

tm1439m

Veteran Member
rs657 said:
Bare shelves are going to be much more prevalent in the near future.

I have been watching the grocery stores and Wally Worlds in my area and the shelves are being stacked so they don’t look so bare.

Look close at the shelves and you will notice items stacked to take up as much room as possible.

They leave an inch or two between rows and a few more inches between different products and if you look real close, they leave a few back rows empty to give the illusion that there is more there.

Last week was the first time I saw out of date cans. I could see this in a store that has been around for many years. This grocery store is only about a year old. The cans were six months out of date.

I think they are cleaning out what little is in the warehouses.

One more thing, the store brands are starting to disappear. It figures these will go first.

Get what you can today; tomorrow may be too late! :shkr:
Click to expand...


Went to our local wally world a few weeks ago. The shelves were pulled to the front as many here are saying. One thing my son and I noticed was that almost the entire aisle that has storage containers was empty. We are talking an isle about 50 feet long. In the past all areas of this aisle were fully stocked and now you could have gotten all the items in an area of maybe ten feet or so. This would have left the rest of both sides empty. So does this mean the sheeple are starting the hoarding process and are buying containers to store things in?
 
A

ARMY RANGER

Inactive
Jubilee on Earth said:
We shop at a local grocery store here in Michigan, which is a medium-sized chain (about 10 or 11 stores total?). The one closest to us is our regular weekly shopping location.

I hadn't noticed any real gaps or anything on the shelves, although a few times I caught the little trick of "pulling everything forward to hide the big holes in the back". Still not a big deal -- we've been able to get everything we need and the store seemed to be fairly well-stocked.

Well, this past Sunday we went back, and I kid you not, almost everything we put in our cart had a bad expiration date, or one that was only a few days away. I mean everything -- tortilla chips, Pillsbury Grands biscuits, juice, tea, bacon, condiments... you name it. Truly, the only things that had decent dates were the meats, cheese and milk items. Oh, and the canned goods were fine. Anything that was pre-packaged or boxed had a bad date. At one point, when I could not find any Pillsbury biscuits with a date more recent than mid-January, I went looking for a manager. He didn't look the least bit surprised, but he did look very weary. His exact words were, "We're sorry ma'am. We'll be pulling those off the shelf right away. We must not have received a new shipment yet."

So either A) those items are all getting missed because they haven't received the new shipments and therefore haven't been restocked or B) the store is purposely keeping those there to make the shelves look full, because otherwise they'd be empty (for whatever reason that might be).

I'm heading out to Meijer's in a bit to do more shopping, so I'll report back anything unusual that I find. I'm guessing this isn't a concern of big, multi-state chains... but the littler guys are obviously hurting.
Click to expand...

Say you dont live in Hooterville do ya? Sorry I had to ,just joking!:lol:
 
Gitche Gumee Kid

Gitche Gumee Kid

Veteran Member
Could it be that inventory is allowed to thin out because of some states having a personal property tax on all inventory on the shelves at a certain date.:shr:

GGK
 
Signwatcher

Signwatcher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I've noticed a lot of odd things going on in the store sales locally in the last few weeks. One of them is the weird sales they've been having. Like buy two bags of onions get THREE free. Now I might be able to do a buy one get one free, but I certainly don't need FIVE bags of onions!

This week they have buy five boxes of of Pasta Roni get five free. Haven't had time to look at the expiration dates to see what they are. Will probably do so in the next few days.

Strange things happening in the grocery stores. Things will probably get stranger. Stay tuned.
 
B

BoatGuy

Inactive
Worrier King said:
I wonder if he really pulled the Pillsbury Biscuits?
Click to expand...

Might be worth a trip back to the store, to see if he did. I hardly ever look at expiration dates on anything but milk and meats. (I'll have to start looking, I guess). But, if they are still out, I would let him know and take my business elsewhere.

He may just be dealing with the effects of the economic downturn and trying to keep his store in business by running it to the limit. But, if you see the same thing at Meiers (a fairly large chain... I used to live in Detroit), that would be very bad... It would indicate some serious supply line issues that aren't being talked about by the MSM.

For the record, we are seeing a tremendous drop in marine shipments, offshore. Even the oil companies are cutting back... See a soon to be released message in BS.
 
D

Double_A

TB Fanatic
tm1439m said:
Went to our local wally world a few weeks ago. The shelves were pulled to the front as many here are saying. One thing my son and I noticed was that almost the entire aisle that has storage containers was empty. We are talking an isle about 50 feet long. In the past all areas of this aisle were fully stocked and now you could have gotten all the items in an area of maybe ten feet or so. This would have left the rest of both sides empty. So does this mean the sheeple are starting the hoarding process and are buying containers to store things in?
Click to expand...

Could be. But January about three years ago I bought some storage containers and put them in the garage. Later when I started to straighten things out, I found several other storage containers I'd bought the january before! Still tucked away unused. Then I realized something, it seemed like every January, stores had sales on storage containers. Good Sales. Later after asking I found out that "getting the place organized"was a very common New Years Resolution and retailers took advantage of this.

So maybe this is an explanation?
 
C

cdwarior

Senior Member
I mentioned this in January and on my last trip on Saturday there are still LARGE numbers of empty racks in the food area. Almost all of that section is only stocked on the bottom row, nothing on the two higher ones.
 
C

cdwarior

Senior Member
cdwarior said:
I mentioned this in January and on my last trip on Saturday there are still LARGE numbers of empty racks in the food area. Almost all of that section is only stocked on the bottom row, nothing on the two higher ones.
Click to expand...

Sorry, Sam's club, Pittsburgh Area. Deurrr....
 
LindaSW

LindaSW

Senior Member
Was away all week, needed some items from store ie. paper towels $2.69 roll :sht: Stop & Shop Amityville, NY
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top