Crain’s Chicago Business has an “open letter” to whatever entity purchases Albertsons, which owns the Jewel grocery chain in the Windy City. The new owners, Crain’s writes, “must be careful to avoid the missteps that California-based Safeway made in this market when it bought Dominick’s Finer Foods.”
These mistakes include centralizing operations so that local flavor is lost, getting rid of local products in favor of a national private label program, and being so focused on efficiency that the stores’ effectiveness is reduced or eliminated – a real possibility because the new ownership is likely to be focused on competing with Wal-Mart on price.
These mistakes include centralizing operations so that local flavor is lost, getting rid of local products in favor of a national private label program, and being so focused on efficiency that the stores’ effectiveness is reduced or eliminated – a real possibility because the new ownership is likely to be focused on competing with Wal-Mart on price.
- KC's View:
- It all is going to depend on what company ends up owning Albertson’s many parts and who ends up running them. Will they be marketers and merchants? Or accountants?
