NW OKC to get another Crest Store

[Jay]

A friend of mine has informed me that the Homeland at Hefener and Rockwell will be closing in two weeks.

Crest Foods has bought the store and will remodel and re-open the store as a Crest in two months.


Now if CVS or Walgreens would build a drugstore on Memorial and Macarthur. I would be a happy camper.

[okcpulse]

The more Homelands to close, the better. Their stores are a joke.

[mranderson]

What I want to know is where the location they promised for the far sountwest side.

[raneman]

Crest = the devil

I'll explain more when I get time. I worked there 7 years, was in management for 5.5 years.

[Curt]

A friend of mine has informed me that the Homeland at Hefener and Rockwell will be closing in two weeks.

Crest Foods has bought the store and will remodel and re-open the store as a Crest in two months.


Now if CVS or Walgreens would build a drugstore on Memorial and Macarthur. I would be a happy camper.

Where ever a CVS goes in, a Walgreens is soon to follow on the opposite corner.

[hipsterdoofus]

Raneman is just bitter :-)

[Patrick]

The more Homelands to close, the better. Their stores are a joke.

I agree. Homeland charges similar prices to Albertsons, but there's no comparison. Homeland stores are dark, dreary, and depressing inside. They need a lot of work, and Affiliated has only put a few cosmetic touch-ups on the stores since they purchased the chain. For the price, I'm going to Albertsons.

[Jay]

It seems to me Homeland is focusing on becoming a hometown grocery store.

http://www.homelandstores.com/locations/locations.html


The majority of thier stores are in smaller cities now. I think the only OKC area stores that will remain will be the local neighborhood stores that are buffered by the inner city that surrounds them. However, Wal-Mart has been building thier stand alone grocery stores in inner city areas. So the inner city Homelands may not last long.

[mranderson]

It seems to me Homeland is focusing on becoming a hometown grocery store.

http://www.homelandstores.com/locations/locations.html


The majority of thier stores are in smaller cities now. I think the only OKC area stores that will remain will be the local neighborhood stores that are buffered by the inner city that surrounds them. However, Wal-Mart has been building thier stand alone grocery stores in inner city areas. So the inner city Homelands may not last long.

If they want to be a grocery store instead of a super market, they will need to reduce their size dramatically, install wooden floors, buy "retro" shelves and cases, hire a butcher, and reduce the number of items. That makes way for a rapid expansion of Crest. Which, by the way, is just about the only real competing super market for Wal-Mart.

[Patrick]

The story about this was in the news today:


"Homeland store on North Rockwell is sold to Crest Foods

By Ja'Rena Lunsford
The Oklahoman

The Homeland store at 11120 N Rockwell Ave. in Oklahoma City is closing, but it will reopen under another grocer's label.
Crest Foods President Bruce Harroz said Crest is purchasing the property in a deal that will be finalized by the end of the month. Homeland's last day of operation there should be no later than Monday, he said.

The 46,000-square-foot store will be remodeled and operations as Crest Foods will begin in October, Harroz said. It will be the sixth Crest location in the Oklahoma City area and the company is scouting for locations in Yukon and Norman.

"We're excited about expanding our customer base," Harroz said.

Oklahoma City resident Glorene Dillard hopes Crest will be able to offer the same coupon deals as Homeland.

"The double coupons are a blessing," she said. Dillard took the closing as an opportunity to save 20 percent on remaining merchandise.

"I like Homeland," she said, weeding through a bin of marked-down items. "I hate to see them go."

Merchandise seemed to go as quickly as news of the closing spread through the store Wednesday. A display once filled with greeting cards sits empty, while a milk cooler holds only a few gallons of juice. There's no beef or chicken or pork chops in the meat coolers and signs advertising "20% Off Storewide" line the shelves that still have items.

Alex Akbaran, who has worked at Homeland for two years, straightened what was left in a frozen-food case.

Akbaran said employees were offered jobs at other Homeland locations.

Homeland executives did not return calls from The Oklahoman. "

[escan]

Sure wish we could get a decent store...a Whole Foods or Trader Joes. Just wishful thinking I guess.......

[Keith]

I agree. Homeland charges similar prices to Albertsons, but there's no comparison. Homeland stores are dark, dreary, and depressing inside. They need a lot of work, and Affiliated has only put a few cosmetic touch-ups on the stores since they purchased the chain. For the price, I'm going to Albertsons.

To be real honest, I think that Albertson's and Homeland both, are over priced. I feel that Albertson's has the better quality and selection, plus, they have some very nice bakeries and deli's.

From 1980 to 1990, I was a salesman for a food brokerage company. My main job was to make sure the Homelands in the OKC metro area were well stocked with the products we sold, and to make sure that all of our damaged merchandise was picked up. We even had items in the meat department, so I was always talking to the meat market managers on a daily basis.

Most of the time when I went into the stores, there were very few people shopping. I am assuming that the majority of shoppers shopped there in the evenings, because there were very few there in the daytime.

Since I was in Homeland stores all of the time, I got to know many of the employees and managers. After talking to some, a few would actually tell me what their hourly wage was. They were always saying that I was a big shot, wearing the suits, and making the big money, however, what they didn't realize was that some of them were actually making more money that I was. I always wondered how they could pay their employees such high wages, yet they didn't have that much business.

The answer came when they started selling off their stores and when they shut down their warehouse. They were actually losing money, and their business was being sucked away by other grocers. I do have to agree with OklaCity_75, though. I travelled the state of Okla., and I did see many Homelands that were in smaller towns...and they were doing all of the business. The store in Guthrie was always busy, no matter what time of the day you went in.

I don't have a problem with Crest, other than the way they treat some of their employees. I would never suggest anybody working for Crest, however, they do have some great prices. My dad was a salesman also, and Crest Foods was one of his customers. He practically lived in the two stores that Crest had at the time. Dad sold him truckload after truckload of products, but even dad did not care for their management. He said they treated their employees like dogs.

[mranderson]

"I don't have a problem with Crest, other than the way they treat some of their employees. I would never suggest anybody working for Crest, however, they do have some great prices. My dad was a salesman also, and Crest Foods was one of his customers. He practically lived in the two stores that Crest had at the time. Dad sold him truckload after truckload of products, but even dad did not care for their management. He said they treated their employees like dogs."

Actually, most employers treat their staff like dogs. And, yes. Crest has some good prices especially on produce. Their meat prices are quite high, however.

[boat49]

I worked in the retail grocery business here in OKC from the mid 70's until 1993. It's been sad watching the area go from one of the strongest and most competitive Independent markets into a mostly corporate market that it is today. I have lots of opinions on this but will hold my tongue!!! Its been common knowledge for years that you didnt want to work for Crest.....my 2 cents.

[Jay]

When I worked for Pratts most of are butchers where ex-Crest people. They all told me to never eat the meat they sell there. They run thier meat departments riding the razor thin line of the health department code. They do many of things that Food Lion was busted on 90's.

This was back in 1994 when I heard this so I would be willing to bet things may have improved since then.

I do know that one time I went to the one in Moore and bought a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables. I bought enough to stock up for two weeks just like I normally do at Super Target, or Albertsons. All the produce I had bought had gone bad almost four days later. (usually when I buy it last 10-12 days) It irritated me after spending all that money I had to throw out all my fresh fruit and vegetables.

Now I only go to Crest for the prepacked stuff and I check expiration dates on everything.

I worked in a grocery store for three years in high school and once you work in one. You obtain a sixth sense of what to buy and what to avoid. Just because it's on sale doesn't always mean it's a great deal. Sometimes it's old stuff stores are trying to squeeze a last minute profit on. Such as a multi-pack of trayed up lunchmeat. Usually it's expired lunchmeat taken out of the wrappers.

[Karried]

Man, it's incredible how wages are held down here in OK. I worked in the grocery business for 13 years. It was union and I loved working for a union, my husband worked union and make three times there what he makes here. Yeah, the housing is cheaper but the utilities heating and cooling to adapt to the weather and the insurance to offset hail and tornados adds up fast.

When I started at age 16 as a courtesy clerk ( bagger ) I started at 6.00 an hour with full benefits.... when I left in '93 I was making 17.00 an hour as a produce clerk - journeyman. Now they are getting close to 25.00 an hour I'm sure with full health benefits and vacation time, 401K plans etc.

When I think of how hard people work here for so little, it makes me ill.

[mranderson]

Man, it's incredible how wages are held down here in OK. I worked in the grocery business for 13 years. It was union and I loved working for a union, my husband worked union and make three times there what he makes here. Yeah, the housing is cheaper but the utilities heating and cooling to adapt to the weather and the insurance to offset hail and tornados adds up fast.

When I started at age 16 as a courtesy clerk ( bagger ) I started at 6.00 an hour with full benefits.... when I left in '93 I was making 17.00 an hour as a produce clerk - journeyman. Now they are getting close to 25.00 an hour I'm sure with full health benefits and vacation time, 401K plans etc.

When I think of how hard people work here for so little, it makes me ill.

Part of it is because a lot of people stereotype unions. They have the mistaken idea all unions are like Jimmy Hoffa, Sr. was. If these people would realize they would make more money and the unions will help protect them from rude and self centered employers who take advantage of them by treating them like a piece of meat, then wages would rise.

Contrary to another sterotype, cost of living will not rise like a balloon releasing helium. If it does go up, it would barely be noticable.

A union would stop the way Crest apparantly treats their "slaves."

[Patrick]

I was raised in a union household. My father has been an active member of NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) for years. If it wasn't for the union, mail carriers wouldn't be making decent wages. Why would a larger company choose to pay more out of the goodness of their hearts? Think about it. Big corps are going to pay with as little as they can get by with. They're all about profit. That's why we need unions to represent the little guy.