Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?

[BryceC]

It's a slippery slope. When you have a company like Hy-Vee that just keeps making poor mistake after poor mistake and then passing those costs onto the consumer then that becomes a huge problem. I've been a very loyal HyVee shopper for years but I've stopped going there except for certain things. I'll shopped their adds but other than that I'm done. Iowans have been crazy loyal to HyVee despite the fact that we are the ones paying for all of their failed expansions and new ideas but that seems to be changing.

I've grown to actively dislike Hy Vee. I live by a pretty big one, literally just probably 500 yards away, and so I run there often for stuff... and they have a tremendous problem keeping stuff on the shelf. Basic things. Then I have to go somewhere else anyway. It drives me crazy and I'm just tired of it.

 

[JP4CY]

Only in Iowa do you get awesome pizza from a gas station and Chinese food from a grocery store.

Wawa and Sheetz (East coast) are incredible.

 

[BryceC]

Wawa and Sheetz (East coast) are incredible.

Went to a Wawa in Orlando when we were there for the bowl game - great store.

 

[Cyched]

That's a sensuous cucumber.

Vegetables are sensual. People are sensuous.

 

[Clonehomer]

One more thought on this. How annoyed are the employees going to get over this? I know working retail in college that the same music playing over and over again was enough to make you hate Christmas songs forever. At what point does a dating show shown on a loop kill your will to ever want to date someone?

 

[JP4CY]

I think their expansion into gas and convenience stores was actually executed well. Offer the quick items in a completely separate building to let people get in and out fast by avoiding the main store.

I think the ones with actual hot food are good but HyVee has some gross just gas station based stores and the only HyVee food items in it are donuts.

Seems like they're renovating some to have the hot food.

 

[JM4CY]

Hey, it worked with Mrs. Wormer...

View attachment 94529

Clonie award for “Obscure, otherwise useless picture that absolutely hits perfectly in a conversation”

 

[JM4CY]

I think the ones with actual hot food are good but HyVee has some gross just gas station based stores and the only HyVee food items in it are donuts.

Seems like they're renovating some to have the hot food.

Hyvee gas stations suck ass.

 

[JP4CY]

It's not quite the same in the Des Moines area but Quik Trip has a relative monopoly the convenience store market in the KC area. They accomplished this by having the fastest/best checkout process of any retail/sales establishment I've been in. The line can be 15 deep and it takes no more than 2 minutes to get to the cashier. The restrooms are clean, the layout is consistent, and most of the stores have been updated. In the updates they added the kitchens but it didn't detract from or disrupt their core business model.

Same thing with most newer Kwik Trips/Kwik Stars. There are still older stores in NE small towns but the new ones going in: the one off 100th in DSM is great.

 

[swiacy]

My wife had a friend who’s marriage went south due to the 80’s Farm Crisis. After the divorce & loss of the farm she started over by moving to California, taking a job as an apartment complex manager which included her housing as she had no money or car. Ten years later we were in California for a week or so and my wife said we were staying with this gal for a couple of days in her estate on the Pacific. I said “what are you talking about”? My wife said her friend was at a grocery store in the fresh fruit section and met an old guy and helped him pick out the correct fruit. Started dating & eventual marriage. The guy’s daughter’s name was Wendy. Which was the name he picked for his fast food change. Wasn’t long he got cancer and she ended up with the house. The next door neighbor was Ken Norton ex boxer & movie star. So, yes people do meet in the vegetable’s.

 

[JM4CY]

Why the hell does a grocery store have aTV network to begin with? They can run full seasons of the Bachelor in a damn store, but can't get my online order right without messing up 4 of the items...

This. Is this network actually a thing? Who pays for this? I have never heard of whatever this is.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

One more thought on this. How annoyed are the employees going to get over this? I know working retail in college that the same music playing over and over again was enough to make you hate Christmas songs forever. At what point does a dating show shown on a loop kill your will to ever want to date someone?

I don't know man, the Menards greatest hits album is fire.

 

[Gonzo]

SunMart?! Were there any anywhere else but Muscatine? PS: I worked at the first Hy-Vee there. The one that was part of the mall (not the second one that was in the mall parking lot). Hy-Vee and SunMart always fought it out for business.

CR had several in the 80s/early 90s.

 

[BACyclone]

I think it's OK to expand beyond your core product as long as it doesn't lessen your product. All of these expansions into non-grocery items has taken away from the grocery shopping experience. In order to add the restaurants, the beauty sections, the walk-in clinics, the kitchen tools and pans, or the clothing sections they had to take away space that was dedicated to actual groceries.

I think their expansion into gas and convenience stores was actually executed well. Offer the quick items in a completely separate building to let people get in and out fast by avoiding the main store.

This. Maybe 4 years ago they "remodeled" the Cedar Falls store (there was a wave where I think all Hy-Vee stores got some of this) by adding the Market Grille, etc. There were several improvements I guess, but the key change was cutting out the middle section of the long food aisles by adding a cross-aisle and then put in some floating end caps. So instead of, say 6 aisles of food you technically have 12, but about 30% less shelf space. And the far aisles don't necessarily have anything to do with the near aisle if you just walk front-to-back.

It is THE single most brainless store design I have ever experienced. I despise shopping there. I feel like I am confused where everything is, still, and there is no efficient way to get in and get out. I hate shopping at Walmart for groceries, but at the end of the day it's the most convenient and efficient with adequate selection.

I more often go to a Hy-Vee to check selection in the Wine & Spirits store, maybe go in to get a handful of items I can't get anywhere else, or make a special trip to get Hy-Chi for dinner.

 

[Tri4Cy]

According to Wikipedia, yes. McDonalds also invested in Chipotle as well.

Redbox - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I vaguely remember the case study on Chipotle's success and rapid expansion. I believe McD's was a heavy investor/majority owner type situation. Because of this, Chipotle not only had access to McD's money, but almost as important, they had access to McD's supply chain. This allowed them to expand as quickly as they did all of which would have been very difficult and costly if they had to build it from scratch.

 

[ruxCYtable]

One of my best friends was an assistant store manager who, like many others, was forced out after 30 years of service. The current CEO seems to be a wack job. Fancies himself an ultra creative type who continually tries to force the business into things that make no sense. When they don't work, he blames the employees. He sounds like a moron.

 

[Cyched]

One of my best friends was an assistant store manager who, like many others, was forced out after 30 years of service. The current CEO seems to be a wack job. Fancies himself an ultra creative type who continually tries to force the business into things that make no sense. When they don't work, he blames the employees. He sounds like a moron.

Forced out?

 

[2122]

We got Walmart, HyVee, and ALDI. I go mainly to ALDI, less to Walmart, none to HyVee. ALDI has what I want, for less, and they know how to check out. And then there's KwikTrip, which I think is KwikStar in Iowa, they're popping up everywhere, and they really know how to do retail.

 

[throwittoblythe]

I think it's OK to expand beyond your core product as long as it doesn't lessen your product. All of these expansions into non-grocery items has taken away from the grocery shopping experience. In order to add the restaurants, the beauty sections, the walk-in clinics, the kitchen tools and pans, or the clothing sections they had to take away space that was dedicated to actual groceries.

I think their expansion into gas and convenience stores was actually executed well. Offer the quick items in a completely separate building to let people get in and out fast by avoiding the main store.

Agreed. It’s about adding value to the customers. I really don’t thinkmost Hy-Vee customers were in demand for shoe stores, clothing, bath & body, etc in addition to groceries.

Convenience stores, pharmacy, health food, all make sense. The others do not. If I were an exec at Hyvee, I’d be leaning REAL hard into the online groceries. Even post-pandemic, I think a lot of people enjoy how convenient and fast that makes their grocery shopping. People want less time in the store, not more.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

One of my best friends was an assistant store manager who, like many others, was forced out after 30 years of service. The current CEO seems to be a wack job. Fancies himself an ultra creative type who continually tries to force the business into things that make no sense. When they don't work, he blames the employees. He sounds like a moron.

I know for a fact the many of the retired HyVee executives are NOT happy with him.