Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?

[somecyguy]

Aldi just licking their chops at Hyvee's departure. Already kicking hy-vee's ass everywhere, but watching hy-vee get completed eliminated from a market near their own headquarters has is pretty special to them... Aldi will $ave the day.

There is no chance that Aldi's take over that location or anywhere near it. Hy-Vee has shot itself in the foot too many times to feel sorry for them, and there are many good people living in the vicinity, but at the same time, that location is filled with many of societies' failures. Even McDonalds got tired of the crap around there and left.

I'm not happy about it because we all know that a dollar store (or two) is going to open in the area and those without transportation are going to be screwed further.

 

[CascadeClone]

As I said, I live near that area and I spend a lot of time there - walking, biking, going to the park. People in some parts of CR have an impression that is entirely false.

Agree to disagree I suppose. From about 15th to 20th Street, and say A to E Ave. Its's kind of penned in buy the 2 colleges, Franklin School and the businesses along 1st Ave. But if you live "uphill" of Franklin, then yeah its all right there.

Also the area north of Coe, between CP Road and the interstate. Go hang out at the Green Gable. Used to be where you went for "green" but now its where you go to get meth. Or robbed.

Less gang related stuff than Wellington/Bever areas (thus less shootings) but still lot of crime.

CR is weird in that you have pretty nice areas in town very close to "not so nice".

 

[Gunnerclone]

Feel free to go to that area, maybe. Not the greatest, especially toward the East which is one of the highest crime areas in town.

We’re talking about Cedar Rapids here? Lol.

 

[somecyguy]

CR is weird in that you have pretty nice areas in town very close to "not so nice".

It should be called the 19th street paradox.

 

[CRcyclone6]

Agree to disagree I suppose. From about 15th to 20th Street, and say A to E Ave. Its's kind of penned in buy the 2 colleges, Franklin School and the businesses along 1st Ave. But if you live "uphill" of Franklin, then yeah its all right there.

Also the area north of Coe, between CP Road and the interstate. Go hang out at the Green Gable. Used to be where you went for "green" but now its where you go to get meth. Or robbed.

Less gang related stuff than Wellington/Bever areas (thus less shootings) but still lot of crime.

CR is weird in that you have pretty nice areas in town very close to "not so nice".

No thanks. I remember when they remodeled the inside, somewhere between 2007-2010, I think. It was a fun place to hang out. A few of us went in a few years ago on a Friday night, ordered our beer and took it to go. We were all in ISU gear, maybe that's why the whole place looked pissed at us. HA.

 

[JayV]

Damn, I'd blocked out that memory. As a poor college kid I would sometimes shop there. Like a poor man's Aldi's. Weird brand names you'd never seen before and product availability was seemingly random. We felt like rich people when we shopped at the (then) new Econofood's on 52nd street.

Sun-Mart and EconoFoods were both owned by NashFinch and served as a retail outlet for their food warehouses. I believe "Our Family" was their house brand.

 

[throwittoblythe]

Sun-Mart and EconoFoods were both owned by NashFinch and served as a retail outlet for their food warehouses. I believe "Our Family" was their house brand.

Dang. I haven't thought about the "Our Family" brand in decades. We couldn't afford the fancy name brand stuff growing up. I had my share of Our Family colas and grape sodas.

 

[dmclone]

Maybe this has changed, but I don't remember Hy-Vee ever closing a profitable store. The smaller stores are usually the easiest to make money, so if they are closed, they are dogs.

 

[nfrine]

Maybe this has changed, but I don't remember Hy-Vee ever closing a profitable store. The smaller stores are usually the easiest to make money, so if they are closed, they are dogs.

This was probably one of HyVee's better business decisions.

 

[2forISU]

Statement for the 2 stores says "not meeting financial expectations." So not making ENOUGH money, as opposed to losing money. Sucks for north end of Waterloo.

That area is going to struggle

 

[carvers4math]

If only they sent Marky Mark there instead of WDM

 

[2forISU]

Closing brick & mortar stores is becoming more popular throughout the US. Walgreens, Wal Mart, Kroger, Hy-Vee, Family Dollar, CVS, Dollar Tree, etc are reducing their store count. Online ordering is the the future and a decade from now might be the only way to get groceries. Kroger already has a fully automated distribution center that fulfills the orders of customers.

 

[NENick]

That is the one of the two stores I am familiar with. I worked at the Hy-Vee in Cedar Falls and would cover the Logan Ave Hy-Vee once a year for their Christmas parties. Probably worked there 3 times total during college. The store got a bad rap from the other 4 Hy-Vee's in the CF/Loo area (at the time). Very poor performing compared to the other 4, but not hard to see why given the neighborhood it's located in. Wasn't a bad store just a crummy location in my opinion. I just find it interesting that Hy-Vee is starting to shutter some stores. It will actually be the 2nd Hy-Vee to shut down in the Cedar Valley in the past 5 years or so, the other one being on University Ave.

3rd Hy-Vee store to close in Waterloo, the other a tiny one on Byron.

I worked for 10 years at Eagles, the first 6 across the street from the Logan Ave Hy-Vee. Hy-Vee actually took that Eagles over, then built a new store at the current location.

 

[Gunnerclone]

It should be called the 19th street paradox.

Hate to break it to everyone, but that’s pretty much every city of like 100k +

 

[Kinch]

View attachment 128969

That’s an interesting photo, two different logos. Must have been in between the switch.

 

[jsb]

The one on Logan Ave in Waterloo was a very, very basic store. The only premium feature about it was having the Wine & Spirits section, which was also pretty basic, but better than some I have encountered.

The downside is, I'm not sure there's another local option in that immediate area.

it doesn't seem that the building on Logan Avenue is that old though. It must have done well enough not that long ago to justify a whole new building.

There's lots of stuff right near it that is also pretty new too.

 

[NWICY]

Aldi just licking their chops at Hyvee's departure. Already kicking hy-vee's ass everywhere, but watching hy-vee get completed eliminated from a market near their own headquarters has is pretty special to them... Aldi will $ave the day.

I know people give Aldis crap, but I shop there for 90% of my stuff. It is pretty good for the value.

 

[RustShack]

Maybe this has changed, but I don't remember Hy-Vee ever closing a profitable store. The smaller stores are usually the easiest to make money, so if they are closed, they are dogs.

Hyvee will keep stores that don’t make a profit open. They own most of their distributors, so if they are paying in more to Hyvee owned companies than they are losing, Hyvee is still making money. Obviously there’s a line and you don’t want to be on the negative side anyways.. but I think you have to be pretty negative for awhile to close. Also could be outdated information.

 

[Die4Cy]

It seems to me the business model is geared totally toward the suburban, $400 cart at a time, shopper, so it isn't all that surprising it doesn't work in the urban center. Groceries are a low margin business as it is. Grocery stores throw out thousands of dollars of produce and other expiring products every day. We joke about all the extra stuff HyVee has added to secure foot traffic and margin, but there is a reason for it. There is a balance point, and when you fall on the wrong side of it, it's real hard to get back over the hump. People will complain about everything.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Well, yeah, but you gotta wonder if HyVee hadn’t lost all that money trying to sell clothing and fancy soaps and creating upscale restaurants inside their stores, how far that money could have gone to support stores like these.

I mean, heck, their egg prices can be almost double what you pay at Target or KwikStar, there are serious profit margins visible there.