Tag Archives: winco

Idaho, Influenza

The Day After Medical-Martial-Law Was Declared: Shopping mayhem at Pocatello WinCo!

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14 March 2020 / 09:19 (UTC-07 Tango 06) 24 Esfand 1398/19 Rajab 1441/21 Ji-Mao 4718

CoViD-19=CoronaVirus Disease 2019

On the morning of 13 March, Idaho’s Governor Brad Little declared a State of Emergency over the CoViD-19 pandemic.  Shortly after that President Donald Trump declared a National Emergency.  Later in the day Governor Little revealed the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Idaho.  Without warning the store I prefer to do my grocery shopping at, and the only remaining 24 hours operation in the Pocatello/Chubbuck area, suspended their overnight sales purportedly to “clean” the store as a result of the CoViD-19 pandemic.

“24 Hours of Savings WinCo Foods” re-opened at 05:00 (5am), I arrived at 05:30 and it was already mayhem!

The pics were taken with my phone cam which has a fogged lens.  These checkout lines are what greeted me at 05:30, just 30 minutes after WinCo re-opened! They run to the back of the warehouse style store.

Many of the fresh meat items were gone, all the fresh ground beef was gone, by 05:30!

The empty shelves on the left side of the above pic used to be filled with pancake syrup.  Pancake syrup, really, do you people need that much pancake syrup?  The empty shelves on the right of the pic is where sugar used to be, all gone now.

The infamous toilet paper isle, this time WinCo was not able to re-stock before opening.

I bought $60 worth of food.  I got in at 05:30 and didn’t get out until 07:00, the lines were that long, and despite most of WinCo’s check stands being open.

I stopped in at the next door Fred Meyer, they weren’t crowded, but were missing many items as well.  An employee told me things have been getting crazy after 08:30 and they’ve been having trouble getting orders into corporate.   One of the items I noticed they were out of was bottled water, mmmm, I don’t remember CoViD-19 being able to shut-off your water supply.

pocatello fred meyer

Fred Meyer at the former Pocatello Mall location

The employee I talked to pointed out something that makes sense; many people in eastern Idaho save up their money for the end of year holiday season, but people are now spending money like mad due to the CoViD-19 fear-mongering, on top of that people are already being told not to come to work, the result will be that many people here in eastern Idaho are not going to have money to spend for the end of year holidays.

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE FOR EASTERN IDAHO: COVID-19 SHUTDOWN 24HRS WINCO?

Business/Economics, Idaho, Influenza

More economic decline for eastern Idaho: CoViD-19 shutdown 24hrs WinCo?

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14 March 2020 / 05:15 (UTC-07 Tango 06) 24 Esfand 1398/19 Rajab 1441/21 Ji-Mao 4718

CoViD-19=CoronaVirus Disease 2019

No more “24 Hours of Savings WinCo Foods”, at least for a week.

After yesterday’s declaration of State of Emergency by Idaho’s Governor Brad Little, then followed by President Donald Trump’s declaration of National Emergency, the store I prefer to do my grocery shopping at, and the only remaining 24 hours operation in the Pocatello/Chubbuck area, halted their 24 Hours of Savings!

I’ve always shopped there after midnight because I don’t like crowded grocery stores.  I and several dozen people arrived after midnight, 14 March, to find the doors closed for the first time.  No signage was posted to explain it.

I drove back home and checked Boise based WinCo’s website and sure enough there is a message saying they’re halting 24hr operations at selected stores due to CoViD-19.

“March 13, 2020

Dear WinCo Customers,

As we all deal with the Coronavirus fallout in these unprecedented times, WinCo Foods remains committed to taking care of our customers, our communities and our employee owners.

As we experience higher than normal demand on a variety of products, we are working around the clock to not only keep our stores open, but also clean and as stocked as possible. We are also ever-mindful of keeping our employee owners, our customers and our communities as safe as possible. To that end we are working with the CDC and local Health Agencies to make sure we follow all Coronavirus protocol, as well as our own internal hygiene and food safety protocols.

We at WinCo Foods understand that you are relying on us in these difficult days to continue providing you with quality food at the lowest possible prices. On behalf of our 19,000+ employee owners, we have no intention of closing our stores and every intention of keeping our shelves as stocked as we possibly can. To help this, we will be temporarily closing various locations between the hours of 12am and 5am for the next week, so the stores can clean and re-stock. We will re-evaluate this policy after this week has passed.

We appreciate your patience while we do this. WinCo remains committed to all of you, and to providing you with foods for your hungry families.

 

Thank you,

The employee owners of WinCo Foods”

I guess the ’employees of WinCo’ don’t realize that most people are not going to think of checking WinCo’s website before heading out to the store.

This was WinCo’s toilet paper isle several days prior to their overnight lockdown.

The only difference between a State of Emergency and martial law is that under martial law the military is in total control: “States of emergency can also be used as a rationale or pretext for suspending rights and freedoms guaranteed under a country’s constitution or basic law.” 

Going Viral, 11-12 March 2020: “STOP SAYING IT’S A BAD FLU!”

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: NO MORE IDAHO SHOPKO? THERE NEVER WAS A SHOPKO IN POCATELLO!

2013: ECONOMIC RECOVERY? WINCO ABOUT TO CLOSE STORE NUMBER 5 IN POCATELLO! 

U.S.

U.S. Food Crisis June 2016 : Ohio farms human trafficking! No more Eggo? Maryland kills park geese to feed homeless!

Incomplete list of announced United States food supply shutdowns for the month of June, 2016: Many food suppliers/distributors are consolidating operations and killing jobs due to the collapsing grocery store and restaurant industries, as well as rising costs of food production, spread of disease and extreme weather.

Circle of Blue reports that since 2010 there’s been an average increase of 48% in municipal water rates across the U.S., despite a 22% drop in residential water use since 1999! In other words, to make up for citizens actually conserving water (like they’ve been told to do, for decades) cities have lost money and are jacking up rates!

Alabama: After 55 years McCollum’s Catfish and Seafood Restaurant shutting down next week, the owner saying “Food cost have gone up, and we just don’t have the business to keep it open.”

Arizona: In Phoenix, Sir Veza’s Taco Garage suddenly shutdown its Speedway location because “It just didn’t fit our needs anymore.”  In Tempe, after 33 years Nello’s Pizza shutdown, supposedly to be replace with a different pizza joint.

California:  In Santa Fe Springs, JBS USA Food issued a shutdown WARN, 60 jobs lost by mid-August.  In Tracy, Taylor Farms issued a mass layoff WARN, 192 jobs lost by mid-September!  In Oakland, after 50 years Nellie’s Soulfood Restaurant shutdown, the family owners called it quits and local news reported customers are shocked.  Save Mart issued a shutdown WARN for their Vacaville distribution center, 325 jobs gone by mid-August!  Mi Pueblo issued a shutdown WARN for their Newark grocery store, 76 jobs gone by mid-July. Illinois based food service company Levy Restaurants issued a shutdown WARN for their Ontario location, 167 jobs gone by mid-July!  Vegetable grower Hiji Brothers shutting down, 260 people in Oxnard jobless by August!  Switzerland based Nestlé issued a layoff WARN, 72 people in Modesto jobless by the end of July (supposedly temporarily).   In Los Angeles, restaurant Yamashiro shutdown, 82 jobs lost. Also in LA, Bloomingdale’s shutdown their 59th & Lex Cafe, 17 jobs lost (supposedly temporarily). In Santa Monica, Buca Restaurant 2 issued a shutdown WARN, 39 jobs lost by August.  Food packager Pactiv shutdown their Vernon operations, 106 jobs gone!  In Salinas, food packager Foothill Packing has been fined $235-thousand USD for falsely firing U.S. citizens and replacing them with H-1B migrants: “The employer claimed the workers — who were U.S. citizens — had failed to meet production standards. Investigators found that many of them had consistently exceeded the production of many of the foreign workers doing the same jobs, yet Foothill did not terminate these foreign workers.”-U.S. Department of Labor press release

Colorado: In Colorado Springs, after 33 years the Old Chicago Pizza joint shutting down mid-July, 48 jobs threatened due to the landlord jacking up the rent: “This is 100% a leasing situation.”-Todd Wyatt, regional manager

Connecticut:  After 16 years Salem Feed & Grain shutting down due to declining sales, the owner will focus on other businesses.

Florida: Miami news media report the following restaurants shutdown; Cena by Michy, The News Lounge and BLT Steak.

Idaho: Janitorial contractor DCS lost its contract with WinCo Foods, at least 121 jobs suddenly gone!  Due to a lawsuit, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is withdrawing its approval for the way Idaho measures toxic arsenic levels in lakes and rivers. It sounds similar to what happened in Flint, Michigan: “EPA violated the Clean Water Act when it allowed arsenic levels in Idaho waters that are up to 1,000 times greater than the agency has determined are acceptable for this toxic chemical. EPA placed political expediency over human health protection.“– Nina Bell, Northwest Environmental Advocates

The U.S. Department of Agriculture declared Canyon, Owyhee, Payette and Washington counties drought disaster areas: “The water quantity through the reservoir systems, through the river systems for irrigation was very good and is still very good. However, you do have those pockets….dryland, non-irrigated, that rely on Mother Nature.”-Mark Samson, USDA

“Members of Idaho’s agricultural industry sponsored a bronze plaque honoring Armando Orellana, the long-time director of Idaho’s Mexico trade office, who died in March.  It hangs on the wall of the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho in Nampa.”

The Idaho Statesman revealed that at least 4-thousand 4-hundred “guest workers” were brought into The Gem State in 2015 under the guise of there not being enough people to work the farms!

In Jerome County, “A farm worker ……was flown to the University of Utah Hospital after an irrigation riser blew apart and a three-quarter-inch steel crank handle impaled his eye socket.”

 “Wife of Bliss farmer given probation in organic seed fraud case”

Some good news? 15 years after shutting down their Power County phosphorus operations FMC declared their EPA superfund site is now ready to be the new home to Rupert based Valley Agronomics‘ new fertilizer plant (Valley Agronomics is owned by Minnesota based Land O’Lakes). The arrogant ‘christian’ governor of Idaho, Butch Otter, proudly boasted that this was a sign the area’s economy has “risen from the ashes” and then flat lied by saying “…when somebody says we’re gonna return, we’re gonna come back! You can trust us that we will keep our promise in coming back. I want you to remember this day Valley Agronomics and FMC because they told us that! They told us that we can trust them…” This is a lie because it’s not FMC “coming back”, and Valley Agronomics never operated out of the site before! The so called Phoenix Site (as declared by Otter) will employ a measly 50 people once it’s up and running in 2017 (incompetent local TV stations have been reporting 70 jobs created, but those are the temporary construction jobs). I don’t think that qualifies as a local economy that’s “risen from the ashes”.

Illinois: Cookie and cracker maker Enjoy Life Foods issued a shutdown WARN for their Schiller Park location, 44 jobs lost by mid-August, no reason given.  Local news say Oak Brook based McDonald’s will start bribing corporate level employees to quit (voluntary buyouts) in July. Insiders report that already “several hundreds” of employees have been made the offer to voluntarily become unemployed.  Aramark Educational Services laid off 297 people after the University of Chicago canceled the food service contract!  In Chicago, after 34 years Itto Sushi shutdown. Pleasant House Bakery shutdown, supposedly it’s being replaced with a pub. Oak+Char restaurant shutdown due to disputes between the owners. The state Attorney General is suing Jimmy John’s sandwich shops for forcing employees to sign illegal ‘noncompete’ contracts!  At the Switzerland owned Nestlé Willy Wonka factory in Itasca a chemical spill caused at least 11 employees to be hospitalized, a total of 17 required attention by EMTs.  In Galesburg, Hammer’s General Feed Store shutdown after 35 years of serving pizza.

Indiana: In Mishawaka, American Pancake House & Restaurant on Grape Road shutting down due to outrageously jacked rent and property tax!  In White Township, after 17 years Ironwood Grill shutdown due to a combination of unaffordable upgrades and a disagreement with the landlord.  In Mishawaka, after 31 years Honker’s restaurant shutting down due to the recession and increased competition: “It was getting harder and harder. We just didn’t have the financial strength to change concepts.”-Jeff Nickerson

Iowa: The city of Des Moines threatening to shutdown Hagar’s Manhattan Deli and the Greenwood Lounge if owner Lee Family Properties fails to make necessary upgrades. The battle between the property owner and the control freak city is years in the making: “He is the worst property owner I have encountered in my entire political career. We can’t get him to do anything, so this is our last resort.”-Christine Hensley, authoritarian city council member

Kentucky: In Lexington, two years after a grand re-opening Shorty’s Market shutting down. The 2013 shutdown and this new shutdown both blamed on lack of sales.  ValuMarket shutting down their Louisville store on Hurstbourne, by July. Local news media says the property owner is redeveloping the property.

Maryland: “100 to 300 geese at two parks in Maryland will soon be euthanized and turned into food to be served at a food banks…”

Massachusetts: Williams-Sonoma shutting down their Holyoke Mall cooking supply store in July.

Michigan:  Kroger shutting down one of two of their West Bloomfield grocery stores by mid-July, 85 jobs affected.  In Midland, Oscar’s Bar & Grill shutting down on Wednesday, according to employees. The owners refused to talk to local news media.  The residents of Flint already pay the highest water rates in the U.S., soon their rates will double due to the incompetence of past ‘elected lawmakers’. Rowe Professional Service says the cost of replacing the water system in Flint will be at least $214-million USD, and take 50 years to do it! The pissed-off Sheriff of Genesee County blames an incompetent authoritarian government for escalating violent crime through lead poisoning: “The crime rate in Flint, for the last 10 to 15 years has been high, number one per capita of violent crime… This crisis…wasn’t created by a natural disaster, people created it. They put dictators into Flint, they called them emergency managers. One of the emergency managers signed over the Flint River without all of the safeguards built in. Now they’re all pointing their fingers at each other, but the lesson has got to be that you cannot take government away from the people. ……this is America? We’re giving money to Iraq….Afghanistan and we’re not taking care of our own people, that’s bullshit!”-Robert J. Pickell, in the documentary Fighting for Flint

Minnesota: After 39 years Shady Acres Herb Farm shutting down, the owners blame their health problems. Without warning Old Country Buffett shutdown restaurants in Duluth and Mankato, the restaurant equipment went up for sale immediately. In Buffalo, the employee owned Coborn’s Superstore grocery store shutting down in July, but not because of low sales.  The administrators claim they need to expand, but the First Street South location will not allow it.  However, there was no mention of plans to build a new store in Buffalo, 60 jobs affected. 

Mississippi: After 27 years Que Sera Sera restaurant shutdown after a two years failed attempt to sell it.

Missouri: In Saint Louis, local news media reporting the following restaurants shutdown; The Stratford Bar & Grill, Hilltop, Cafe Eau, Chaser’s, Fort Taco, Lilly’s Music & Social House, Noodles & Company and Soulard Supper Club.  Also in Saint Louis, the Luna Lounge shutting down, the owner saying “a lot of factors” were responsible with the deciding factor being “I don’t want to be working until 1:30 a.m. any more.”

Nebraska: In Lincoln, after 59 years Conroy’s Bakery shutdown.  “Nebraska’s overall economy may appear strong, but a Federal Reserve economist cautions that strong businesses in the state’s biggest cities are masking weakness in rural areas…..  …the farm economy is softening because of weak crop prices and lower land values, so the outlook is more negative in rural areas of the state.”

New York: In Brooklyn-NYC, after 75 years the Florence Food Center shutting down due to migrants! Local news media says the Florence Food Center caters to Italians, but the area is experiencing skyrocketing immigration from “Asians, Russians, Central Americans, and Middle Easterners” while Brooklyn Italians are getting the hell outta Dodge!  Old Country Buffet issued a shutdown WARN for their Bay Shore operation, 42 jobs gone by mid-September. In Mount Cisco, Via Vanti! shutdown due to the operator losing his lease to an unnamed future tenant (the landlord refuses to name the tenant) who is willing to pay much more in rent.  Fairway Lake Grove issued a shutdown WARN for their two years old Fairway gourmet grocery store, 107 jobs gone by the end of July!  France based food contractor Sodexo lost their contract with Mount Saint Mary College, 72 jobs gone by the end of July.

North Dakota: In Bismarck, after six years burger joint Reza’s Pitch shutdown.  The building has been home to several restaurants over the past 40 years, the owner is retiring.

Ohio:  “….the leader, was sentenced to 15 years in prison while….the woman who ran the operation in his absence, was sentenced to 10 years in prison…..    …Most of the trafficking was from early 2013 to late 2014 as the group brought migrant workers from Guatemala to the U.S. illegally and required them to work for their companies providing laborers to Trillium Farms….”

Oklahoma: In Tulsa, after more than 50 years Cooper’s Fruit Stand shutting down due to a death in the family.

Oregon: Despite claiming a “return” in 2002 Coffee People shutdown the last five of its coffee shops. At one time there were more than 40 Coffee People (Coffee Man) shops.  After ten years Altar Bar shutdown, supposedly sold to raise money to open a steel mill.  “Breaking From Custom, One Small Oregon Farm Pays [immigrant] Strawberry Pickers by the Hour”

Pennsylvania:  HMS Host apparently lost its food contract with the Pittsburgh Mills Mall, 51 jobs gone by the end of July.  It’s been revealed that the Presbyterian/Agnostic Warren Buffett owned Kraft-Heinz Tassimo coffee shutdown will kill off 341 jobs by Xmas!  In Chadds Ford, Chef Anthony’s Italian Market shutdown due to competition from larger operations.  The tax hungry city of Philadelphia created a tax on soda, not just for so called ‘sugary’ soda (since the mid-1990s 90% of soda’s are made with GMO corn syrup + chemical sweeteners, not true sugar) but for ‘diet’ sodas as well! The tax goes into effect January 2017.  “Perry County man dies in farm accident, drowns in manure”

South Carolina: Southern Season suddenly shutdown its Mount Pleasant restaurant/cooking school, claiming “…the Mount Peasant store was too large and too expensive to keep open.”  In Charleston, Two Boroughs Larder shutting down by the end of July: “This is one of the hardest decisions we have ever made, second only to the day we opened the restaurant almost five years ago….Restaurant work is not easy….”-owners

Tennessee: Kellog’s eliminating 155 Eggo waffle factory employees in Rossville, by 2017, due to automation upgrades!  In Knoxville, after 45 years (and surviving an arson attack) elitist snobbery restaurant The Orangery shutdown.  The owners would only say that they are “preparing for new opportunities”.

Texas: In Houston, The Durham House restaurant shutdown, apparently after only a few months.   The owner blames a family emergency, but a local news report said it “rarely seemed busy”.

Vermont:  Coffee products maker Keurig still in trouble, now 108 people being laid off as production of Keurig Kold is shutdown! It’s blamed on non-stop crashing sales.

Washington: In Colville, after 11 years Lovitt Restaurant shutting down due to sales not being enough to support the owner’s growing family. The restaurant has been for sale for the past year, the owner’s are hoping to move to a larger city in the hopes they could have better sales.

Washington DC: The USDA has finally approved “the final safety net provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, which provide farmers and ranchers protection from weather disasters, market volatility and other risk factors”.     The U.S. Department of Agriculture also pushing for stricter rules for the use of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, incorrectly called Food Stamps). The new rules will make it harder for poor people (who qualify, like in Idaho I being a single healthy male do not qualify for SNAP even though I’m poverty level) to buy food by restricting them to only those food sellers that meet new ‘variety’ rules for uncooked/fresh food and restrict the purchase of cooked/prepared food.    According to local news reports the following restaurants have or will shutdown; Atlas Room, Bakehouse, Bistro Francais, Cashion’s Eat Place, Food & Wine Company, Melt Shop, Olivia’s Diner and Poste. 

Wisconsin:  In Madison, restaurant AJ Bombers shutting down saying it wasn’t worth it to renew the lease.  Restaurant Pastiche shutting down their Bay View-Milwaukee location in August. The owners are focusing on their other restaurants.  In Waukesha, after 33 years Weissgerber Gasthaus shutdown, it’s being replaced with a strip mall.  In Middleton, after 34 years Scott’s Pastry Shoppe shutting down by the end of Summer.  Southern Wisconsin Foods issued a shutdown WARN for their Milton Burger King, 20 jobs lost by the end of July.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

May 2016: “we have no other choice.”

Business/Economics, Idaho

WinCo: New stores for Texas, Washingtonians & Oregonians want WinCo out!

20 February 2016 (08:49 UTC-07 Tango 01)/01 Esfand 1394/11 Jumada al-Ula 1437/13 Geng Yin 4714

Idaho based employee owned anti-unAmerican corporate America grocery store chain WinCo Foods continues to expand, while many publicly traded corporate grocery stores shutdown.

Carrollton, Texas (home of model kit builder’s iconic Squadron Mail Order), is about to get a new WinCo supermarket in a recently abandoned Target store.  Reports out of The Lone Star State say WinCo now has six food stores (since invading Texas in 2014) and is planning two more in Arlington and Fort Worth.  The Carrollton store isn’t expected to be ready until 2017, the vacant Target store must be torn down first.

In Utah, WinCo is constructing a new store in South Salt Lake, expected to open by the end of the year.  As many as 2-hundred jobs are expected and city administrators hope WinCo will make their top ten list of local taxpayers.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared South Salt Lake a ‘food desert’, meaning residents had limited access to food.

Speaking of food insecurity, in the not-so Golden State of California (see my Job Losses reports), a Ventura WinCo was hit by middle aged shoplifters who  threatened a security guard with a tazer.  Police are searching for them, security cam vid was captured.

In Grants Pass, Oregon, WinCo opened its 105th store.  It’s smaller than the normal WinCo supermarket, yet has managed to hire 150 locals (and transferred at least 11 people from other WinCo stores). Already the new WinCo has been hit by a food shoplifter.  The 25 years old woman is a meth and heroin drug addict, police had her hospitalized for an infection on her arm.

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals is about to hold a debate over plans to open a new WinCo in Albany.  Supposedly the issue is over the use of windows, however, a complaint was filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.  Unions are anti-employee owned businesses, because employee owned businesses are a bigger threat to unions than unAmerican corporate America.  Employee owned operations get better benefits, and pay far less in ‘dues’ than union shops.

 It should be noted that Oregon suffered the mass shutdowns of Washington based Haggen grocery stores in 2015 (connected to the Albertsons-Safeway merger).

In Edmonds, Washington, city administrators have revised zoning rules to allow retail development next to the local WinCo.  Previously, in the 1990s the WinCo location was a Top Foods grocery store.  Local news reports did not indicate whether the WinCo had any influence on the city’s decision to change the zoning.

Washington state is known to be a haven for anti-WinCo-ites.    In Moses Lake an anti-employee owned business organization is suing the city to stop the potential construction of a WinCo, accusing the city of not complying with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process.  The city has yet to even approve WinCo’s request to set up shop.

It should be noted that Washington saw the demise of its Haggen grocery store chain in 2015.

Back in Idaho, the co-founder of WinCo (originally Waremart) was honored during the Twin Falls Rotary Club meeting.  Ronald L. “Bud” Williams died last month, of acute myeloid leukemia, he was 87 years old.  Local Rotary members say over the past 40 years Bud always helped with the local Xmas celebrations. His leukemia came on suddenly, being diagnosed the week before he died.

On a national level, WinCo Foods recently promised to sell only Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) rated farmed seafood.  By the end of this year all their farmed seafood should be three star rated BAP, by the end of 2017 it’ll be four start rated.

Currently WinCo Foods employs more than 15-thousand people, all part owners of the grocery chain.

Employee owned WinCo is the new business model of the 21st Century!

WinCo expanding big into Arizona! Delays caused by Arizona aesthetics cops! 

Business/Economics

Albertsons Vons Safeway officially sucks according to Consumer Reports!

14 May 2015 (11:34 UTC-07 Tango 01)/24 Ordibehesht 1394/25 Rajab 1436/26 Xin Si (3rd month) 4713

UnAmerican Cerberus-AB Acquisition now controls Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United (aka United Supermarket & United Express), Pavilions, Star Market, Market Street, Amigos (aka Amigos United) and Carrs.  But, Consumer Reports doesn’t have good things to say about their fresh food or prices.

click the pics to make bigger

Consumer Reports judged 68 supermarkets and eight of them are owned by Cerberus-AB Acquisition.

Out of the 68 grocery stores Tom Thumb ranked 38th, Vons 49th, Albertsons 50th, Randalls 57th,  Safeway 58th, Jewel-Osco 59th, Acme 61st and Shaw’s 64th.  In other words most of Cerberus-AB Acquisition stores suck.

Idaho based employee owned (privately held) WinCo ranked 11th.  Washington based publicly held (traded on NASDAQ) Costco ranked 6th.  The number one grocery store is New York based family owned (privately held) Wegmans.

By the way, Walmart came in 67th out of 68!

kills hundreds of jobs! Demands money for earthquake victims! 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Economic recovery for Pocatello? Some things aren’t as they appear!

20 July 2013 (17:48 UTC-07 Tango)/12 Ramadan 1434/29 Tir 1391/13 Ji-Wie (6th month) 4711
Click the pics to make bigger

Business/Economics

Employee owned WinCo expanding big into Arizona! Delays caused by Arizona aesthetics cops!

01 June 2013 (23:26 UTC-07 Tango 31 May 2013)/22 Rajab 1434/11 Khordad 1391/23 Wu-Wu (4th month) 4711

Since 2010 news out of Arizona talked of Idaho based WinCo opening a store in Gilbert, and a second one in Glendale.

The latest news says WinCo is also opening a massive warehouse near Phoenix, creating as many as 300 good paying jobs, with great benefits!   WinCo has already spent $12 million USD cash for the warehouse property.

The warehouse will be located on 74 acres, and employee owned WinCo has $78 million in cash to spend on the project (although it’s expected actual costs could go over $90 million).  It’s hoped it will be completed in 12 months.  According to my contacts at WinCo it is company policy to try and fund all their new projects with cash.  I’ve also been told that not one WinCo store is losing money!

It’s also company policy not to talk too much about future plans.  That’s because WinCo is an employee owned company, and publicly held crony corporations hate employee owned operations (and so do unions).

WinCo already has Arizona stores in Phoenix (a former Walmart), Mesa and Glendale (both former Costcos).  A new store is under construction for Gilbert (located where a former Dodge dealer was), and another in Glendale.

It was revealed that the Gilbert store was delayed last year when the Gilbert Design Review Board rejected WinCo’s architectural plans, on aesthetic grounds.  The new design was only recently approved by the Gilbert aesthetics cops.

Some advise for WinCo employees:  Don’t be tricked into taking the company public, it’ll be chopped up by Romney style vulture capitalists!

Washington Unions & city officials opposed to employee owned WinCo!

Business/Economics, Idaho, Opinion

Washington Unions & city officials opposed to employee owned WinCo! It’s not evil crony Walmart man, it’s employee owned WinCo!

31 May 2013 (14:51 UTC-07 Tango)/21 Rajab 1434/10 Khordad 1391/22 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711

“Bellingham will not win with the opening WinCo…..It is an unfortunate ‘race to the bottom’ for jobs, wages and benefits in Bellingham.”-Jack Weiss, an obviously ignorant Bellingham city council member

I’ve been shocked to learn of a growing anti-WinCo movement in Bellingham, Washington.  It involves unions and some city council members.

They claim WinCo will crash local wages, and hurt other businesses.  On the first count, WinCo actually pays well, damn good in fact.  And the benefits are considered some of the best in the whole U.S. of A.

My ex-wife worked for WinCo for at least a decade, she admitted to me many times that it was the best damn job she ever had (considering she never finished high school, at one point she was making more money than me).  She loved the medical benefits!  She also loved the employee ownership of WinCo stocks.

My eldest daughter is working for WinCo, nine years now, and she’s extremely happy with her income and benefits, especially since she sees what’s going on with the rest of the grocery industry.  She was started several dollars an hour above minimum wage (a WinCo policy. WinCo’s pay policy is also adjusted according to region) and gets periodic raises.  She’s now making more money than her mother did while she was working for WinCo.  She also loves the medical/retirement benefits and the employee ownership of the company through stocks.  That’s the real threat to unions, they don’t own the company.

As far as hurting other businesses, I know another Idaho based grocery store, Albertsons, went down, but not because of WinCo, but partly because of their unions!  The unions forced Albertsons to charge outrageous prices for food.  (There are cases of mom and pop stores going under because of competition from bigger stores, but not any case that could be specifically pinned on WinCo.)

Employee owned businesses threaten both the traditional ‘publicly’ held evil elitist corporations and unions (I think some unions have become a type of evil elitist club).

Employee owned businesses usually have tougher employee work policies, which are voted on by your fellow co-workers so it’s hard to challenge (WinCo employees don’t dare be late to work, and if you’re sick for more than one day better get a doctors note).  Isn’t that similar to a union, except, once again, the union doesn’t own the company.  Also, no outrageous union dues, in fact WinCo employees get back more in their medical/retirement/stock benefits than what the average union member gets from their union!

A weakness is that it is possible for the employee owned business to be tricked into becoming a publicly held company, which would open the door to Romney style vulture capitalists.

In Pocatello, the new WinCo 117 recently opened up across the street from the ‘new’ Fred Meyer, yet I don’t see any sign that Fred Meyer is being adversely affected by the new expanded WinCo.  Fred Meyer is still just as busy (my other daughter works for Fred Meyer and loves it, employee pay/benefits similar to WinCo but it’s not employee owned), as is the evil Chubbuck Walmart.   I have noticed a lot of out of county and out of state license plates on the vehicles parked in the WinCo 117 parking lot, so it seems the WinCo is actually bringing new customers into the area.

The manager of the Bellingham, Washington, Fred Meyer was asked about any concerns over the idea of a WinCo being built.  His response: “It’s just an additional competitor in town. I’m sure there will be some customers who are price sensitive and will go to WinCo for certain items. But we have the one-stop shopping concept, where WinCo is just the basic food store.”-Bill Pelan, Lakeway Fred Meyer store director

(if Bellingham has a publicly held Fred Meyer, then there’s no excuse for Bellingham not to have an employee owned WinCo!)

Construction/remodeling started on the new Bellingham WinCo on 09 May 2013.  It should be ready to go before the end of the year.

WinCo is proof that employee owners know how to run a company better than unions or corporate elites! 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Economic Recovery? WinCo about to close Store number 5 in Pocatello! Blame massive company expansion! Proof that employees know how to run a company better than elites!

13 February 2013, a visit to your local Pocatello, Idaho, WinCo grocery store will reveal shelves that are fast becoming bare.  All orders for Store number 5 have been stopped, the store will cease operations sometime in March.

The Pocatello store was the fifth store to open in Idaho, after Ralph Ward and Bud Williams started the grocery operation back in 1967.  Various stores were called Waremart Food Centers, or Cub Foods until 1999.

The official WinCo web site says the current name stands for Winning Company, but I swear I remember being told, by WinCo employees I knew during the name change, that WinCo was the creation of a school kid who won a contest for coming up with the new name. Supposedly WinCo actually stands for the U.S. states that the grocery chain operated in at that time: Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon.

Click pics to make bigger

In 1985 the employees of the company became majority owners in the business.

Since the name change WinCo has been expanding.  That expansion has picked up pace ever since the downfall of competitor Albertsons (once a Idaho based grocery store chain, but not anymore).

Since 2006 Albertsons has been passed around to several new owners (despite the website making it look like it’s still owned by the Albertsons family):  A Minnesota based company called Supervalue, an affiliate of evil Cerberus Capital Management called AB Acquisition, and CVS.  Finally in January 2013 evil Cerberus Capital Management became sole owner (I wouldn’t be surprised if they liquidate).

According to Albertsons’ website they are down to 450 stores across the country (WinCo has a ways to go, with only 85 stores and 14,000+ employees).  But employee owned WinCo is exploding.  In the past ten years they’ve built a giant distribution center south of Boise, added new stores and another distribution center in California, and expanded into Utah. Now Pocatello will get what many loyal WinCo shoppers have been demanding, a giant new WinCo.

But wait, there’s more.  WinCo has announced a new store for Bellingham, Washington, in the Old Joe’s Sporting Goods building (at a cost of $7 million).  WinCo just spent $5.1 million buying land in Gilbert, Arizona. The property is currently a car dealership, but will become WinCo’s fourth store in the Grand Canyon State.

There are some concerns for WinCo, like a lawsuit in Vallejo, California, which is trying to stop the building of a new store based on environmental reasons.  Also, some of WinCo’s new HQ management jumped over from the sinking ship known as Alberstons, which causes many WinCo employees to worry.

I’ve known some WinCo employees who had a tough time dealing with WinCo’s employee policies (which are very strict compared to publicly held companies), but it’s hard to challenge those policies since they are supposedly approved by fellow employees.

Also in California, a mom and pop grocery store in Merced is shutting down, they blame Walmart and WinCo: “Things are changing in the industry. It’s getting harder and harder every year to compete, especially family-owned types of businesses such as ours.”-Gary Lowe, General Manager

In today’s economy an employee owned company is as close as you can get to a family owned operation, and there’s less of a chance the company will be sold off just for the value of its assets (like Sears and Kmart), so my money’s on WinCo (too bad you can’t buy stock in privately held WinCo, lucky employees, and besides I don’t really have any money to invest).

Pocatello’s new WinCo store number 117 was built on the Old Fred Meyer building site (aka Alameda Plaza) right next to a former Albertsons (on the land I used to do property management, for JP Reality who then sold out to General Growth Properties).  Number 117 is at least twice as big as the Old Fred Meyer building.

The New Fred Meyer building is located where the Old Pocatello Mall used to be.  So now Store number 5 will be called the Old WinCo, and the Old Fred Meyer will now be called the New WinCo, and everyone will forget there was an Old Fred Meyer just like they’ve forgotten about the Old Pocatello Mall.

That’s progress!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Don’t forget to add the Sears stores bought by GGP to the closing list. All part of REIT plan to change the way you shop, and they blame you the shopper!

“….those with high occupancies, solvent anchor tenants, good population density and access to affluent shoppers, as stable, low-risk, income-producing assets and will pay up for them today. Poor quality malls, on the other hand, are either not trading or selling at a steep discount, and perhaps are scheduled for demolition or conversion.”-Ryan McCullough, Property and Portfolio Research

21 October 2012

Back in February 2012, it was announced that General Growth Properties (the largest mall owner in the U.S., and also struggling) bought eleven Sears owned and leased anchor stores at various GGP malls throughout the United States.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the overwhelming majority of the $270 million USD paid for those 11 Sears stores, is going towards just one store at the GGP mall in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Even though the Hawaii Sears store was the jewel of the deal, GGP wants to shut it down: “General Growth intends to eventually raze the store and build in its place several smaller shops, which deliver more rent in aggregate than department stores.”-Wall Street Journal, 23 February 2012

Other reports say all 11 Sears stores bought by GGP will be closed by the end of 2013: “The stores will continue to operate as Sears locations into 2013 with final closing dates to be determined and announced later this year.”-RetailTraffic, 23 February 2012

So the purchase of Sears owned and leased anchor stores, by GGP, was not an effort to save those stores, but part of bigger plan to shut down big department stores (except for WalMart of course).

According to a 03 October 2012 article by CoStar Group (a commercial real estate information company), what’s happening with Sears and Kmart is part of a much bigger plan to drastically change up shopping malls and plazas in the United States: “I don’t think we’re overbuilt, I think we’re under-demolished……there are projects that are not going to lease. Retail has a finite lifespan and once you reach that lifespan, you can put up all the signs you want, and charge as low rent as you want, but that doesn’t make tenants want to take the space.”-Daniel Hurwitz, DDR Corp (formerly Developers Diversified Realty Corporation)

Big corporate retail property owners are also known as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT), for tax reasons.  GGP, as are other mall/plaza owners, is a REIT.

According to the CoStar article, REITs claim that traditional malls/plazas/stores only do well in areas with high population and a relatively high level of income for the people who live there.  Does that leaves most of Idaho out?

Foothills Plaza, Pocatello, Idaho. What'll happen when the WinCo moves from here to their new location in the Alameda Plaza?

GGP owns malls in Idaho Falls, Chubbuck, Boise and Coeur D Alene, plus Alameda Plaza (aka Old Fred Meyer store) in Pocatello (some hope there is that it’s now the site of the new bigger WinCo store).  Boise might be the only area of Idaho that meets REIT description of a successful commercial area; Boise is a “lifestyle & power center”.

pine ridge mall

Fading Pine Ridge Mall, Chubbuck, Idaho. Some hope, this anchor store is the new home to upscale Herbergers (never heard of them).

According to CoStar Group data, regional malls, power centers and community center properties averaged a vacancy rate of 50.6%!  But the bigger malls did not enjoy less vacancy; super-regional malls averaged 54.5% vacancy!

The problem, according to most vulture REIT crony capitalists is location, location, location.  Most retail operations are now located in parts of the country where personal incomes are down, hence shopping is down (in a round-a-bout way the vulture capitalists are blaming you the shopper, never mind the fact that vulture crony capitalism is what’s causing most people to lose jobs or see their incomes go down).

“When you have tenants looking for space and nothing new being built, and we’re sitting at mid-90% occupancy levels, it’s hard to argue we’re overbuilt when they’re scrambling to find 10,000 square feet.”-Daniel Hurwitz, DDR Corp

What Hurwitz is saying is that there’s plenty of empty stores for rent, but retail tenants don’t like what is available.  Those potential tenants are basing their preferences on what they perceive to be what shoppers want.

To make matters worse, the closing down of Sears, Kmart, The Gap and Office Max stores will add another 15 million square feet of available store space to the flooded commercial real estate market!

Moody’s Investors Service pointed out that malls located in lifestyle & power centers continue to make profits, while malls outside those areas are losing money and will continue to lose money. Also, it’s probably not worth trying to rebuild those malls located outside of lifestyle & power centers: “Renovating or reconfiguring an underperforming mall may cost many millions……What’s more, should the location lose its viability for retail altogether, the value to revert to land less demolition cost will produce an even greater loss.”-Tad Philipp, Moody’s

In other words, these vulture REIT crony capitalists don’t think things are going to improve for areas outside the lifestyle & power centers anytime soon.

As I quoted Ryan McCullough at the beginning of this article,  new retail businesses need to be located where there’s a lot of people, and those people have high levels of income.    So what we’re seeing, with the closing down of many iconic U.S. retail businesses, is part of the bigger plan of those Mitt Romney style vulture crony capitalists who are simply, in their minds, following the big revenue money from the big income consumer (rich people living in those lifestyle & power centers).

Here’s the list of 11 Sears stores now owned by GGP:

Iowa: Coral Ridge Mall, and Mall of the Bluffs

Texas: The Woodlands Mall

Florida: West Oaks Mall

Utah: Fashion Place, and Provo Towne Centre (note the evil British empire way of spelling town & center)

Oklahoma: Quail Springs Mall

Hawaii: Ala Moana Center

Washington: Bellis Fair Mall

Minnesota: Apache Mall

Illinois: Market Place Shopping Center