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If Wal-Mart's triggering any of this grocery-chain chaos, let me report that I went to the Toronto-prototype Wal-Mart Supercentre on the Golden Mile today--and it seemed even tireder and dingier than your regular Wal-Mart locations, Woolco conversions not excepted. Almost like the ghost of Knob Hill Farms is rising where it had been slain.

Maybe it's a central-Scarborough thing--or a foreshadowing of where this is all headed...
 
The 7M loblaws...1/2 done

Just an update on Victoria Park Market, my local Loblaws, which is now 1/2 through a $7,000,000 overhaul.

So far:

New shelving (ho hum)
Most of the murals erased (whitewashed).... - Why?????
New marinated meats at the Butcher Counter (no ingredients listed though)
New Artisinal breads (Fred's Breads, Ace, etc)
Way more freezers (one whole new freezer aisle)
New Cashes (no more magazine or impulse buy stuff, just naked registers!)
New fridges in produce, (more organic berries)

Promised, but not yet seen:

New Joe Fresh section (cause everone puts socks on their grocery list!)
More produce
More variety/gourmet brands
More/better meals-to-go

Conclusion: (so far)

Not bad, but for $7,000,000 I would hope to get much better!
 
adma said:
and it seemed even tireder and dingier than your regular Wal-Mart locations, Woolco conversions not excepted. Almost like the ghost of Knob Hill Farms is rising where it had been slain.
Click to expand...

How brilliantly vivid. :)
 
Metro to dump A&P, Dominion names

From: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/08/07/metro.html?ref=rss
_________________________
Metro to dump A&P, Dominion names
Last Updated: Thursday, August 7, 2008 | 10:29 AM ET
CBC News

Montreal's Metro Inc. plans to spend $200 million to switch the names of a number of popular Ontario grocery chains over to its flagship Metro brand, the company said Thursday.

That means that by the end of 2009, well-known supermarket labels, such as A&P and Dominion, will likely cease to exist, although the outlets themselves will continue to operate.

"We will convert our five conventional banners over a 15-month period to the Metro name. Following this conversion, the Metro banner will be a 376-store-strong national network that will contribute to the company's future growth," Eric La Flèche, Metro's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The move, announced as the company released its third-quarter financial results, is designed to build the Metro name as the firm fights for market share in Canada's fierce supermarket wars.
Consumers confused, experts say

With too many brands slapped on too many stores, shoppers get confused as to which companies run which outlets, retail experts said.

In Metro's case, consumer befuddlement means the company is missing out on an opportunity to build a brand name across Canada, the company said.

The company's major brand, Supermarket Metro, is popular in Quebec but unknown outside the province. Metro wants to create a Canada-wide identity and gain the cache already enjoyed by archrivals Loblaws and Wal-Mart.

Grocery consumers tend to go to stores with the same name as long as they are conveniently located, retail experts argued.

Metro owns more than 200 grocery stores in Quebec and another 274 in other parts of Canada.

Superstores popular out West

In recent months, Loblaw Companies Inc. has expanded its well-known Real Canadian Superstores, a format especially popular in Western Canada.

As well, Nova Scotia's Sobeys Inc. has begun changing over some of its IGA stores to the Sobeys banner.

Wal-Mart has announced it will be opening or expanding as many as 27 new 215,000-square-foot superstores by next January. These stores, the latest of which opened in Surrey, B.C., in July, will carry fresh produce and meats along with other grocery items.

Metro made its announcement as the company posted earnings a nickel higher in the May to June period this year compared to the same three months last year.
Three month stock chart for Metro Three month stock chart for Metro

Also Thursday, Metro said it earned $92.6 million, or 82 cents a share, in the most recent quarter, up almost four per cent, compared to a profit of $89.3 million, or 77 cents a share, for the third quarter of 2007.

The company posted sales of $3.4 billion in the period, an increase of less than one per cent compared to revenue for the third quarter of 2007.
 
samsonyuen said:
With too many brands slapped on too many stores, shoppers get confused as to which companies run which outlets, retail experts said.
Click to expand...

I agree with this part of the article quite a bit. A consolidation of names would be nice, and tying up all the loose ends would help companies create a better brand image. Hopefully the name change isn't just cosmetic, and consistency and quality control between individual stores is improved. Variety is nice, but it seems like Canada is the grocery store capital of the world, there are so many. I'm all for lots of choices, but it seems to adversely affect the quality of the stores as I find myself disappointed by most of the big chains.
 
Loblaw's is the worst for this, of course, because depending on where you are in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, your version can be a Loblaw's, Zehr's, Fortino's - so the article seems to be missing something when Metro says it wants the same cache as it and Wal-Mart(!).
 
egotrippin said:
I agree with this part of the article quite a bit. A consolidation of names would be nice, and tying up all the loose ends would help companies create a better brand image. Hopefully the name change isn't just cosmetic, and consistency and quality control between individual stores is improved. Variety is nice, but it seems like Canada is the grocery store capital of the world, there are so many. I'm all for lots of choices, but it seems to adversely affect the quality of the stores as I find myself disappointed by most of the big chains.
Click to expand...

From a business perspective, I agree. I also think you've raised a good point about quality -- all the brand image in the world won't help them if they can't improve their stores and stay competitive.

I have to say though, I do mourn the loss of the Dominion banner, from a historic and nostalgia perspective.

As someone from Ottawa, I also will shed a tear for the loss of the Loeb banner, a longstanding name on the local business scene. In the 1910s, my great-grandparents (recent immigrants from Eastern Europe) started selling candy out of their front living room window, supplied by Moses Loeb (who still operated his wholesale business out of a cart and buggy). They went on to start their own fruit store, first in Lebreton Flats, then on Bank Street in the Glebe, all the time supplied by Loebs. My grandfather started a radiator/auto repair business behind the fruit store, and eventually converted the fruit store to a radio/tv repair shop (anyone familiar with Irene's pub and Mexicali Roses on Bank Street - that's where the old fruit store and repair business were located).

Whenever I was back in Ottawa, shopping at a Loebs supermarket, I always felt I was coming full circle somehow.
 
It's rather sad that I prefer going to No Frills than the Dominion across the street. I hope Metro does spend more money improving its operations, including better inventory and service.
 
I don't even think there are that many overlapping brands for Dominion/A&P. Most of the GTA have A&P, outside the GTA, A&P, except for Eastern Ontario, where they have Loeb. I tried the Metro "Irrestibles" (I hate brands that sound stupid, but are chosen because they mean the same thing in French and English), and it's not as good as Master Choice. I have no idea what The Barn or where Ultra Mart are either.

I don't know why they have two no-frills brands then (Super C and Food Basics)...
 
I'm hoping Loblaw's pulls through, as it's usually my favourite of the big grocery stores. Mostly because their in-house brand, President's Choice, is the best of the store brands.

On a curious note, is Longo's independent, or are they owned by one of the bigger companies? I'm looking forward to their return downtown.
 
samsonyuen said:
I don't even think there are that many overlapping brands for Dominion/A&P. Most of the GTA have A&P, outside the GTA, A&P, except for Eastern Ontario, where they have Loeb. I tried the Metro "Irrestibles" (I hate brands that sound stupid, but are chosen because they mean the same thing in French and English), and it's not as good as Master Choice. I have no idea what The Barn or where Ultra Mart are either.
Click to expand...

The Barn is the A&P equivalent in the Hamilton region - it's an geo-specific name like Zehrs in Central-West Ontario.
 
"Metro" sounds foreign to me. Dominion and A&P had real history in those names. This reminds of the the Quebec firm Reno-Depot that tried to sell under that banner in English Canada, until they realized it sounded foreign, and went with RONA (who knows what that means).
 
Reno-Depot was trading under the name "The Building Box" in southern Ontario. RONA was a separate company until it purchased R-D.

Was Metro ever in the GTA?
 
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