Quality grocery stores in OKC

[Jersey Boss]

stile99 mentioned up thread that it is changing to their at-cost +10% at the register model.

Unless I'm blind I don't see where that poster said that 23rd is changing.

[bchris02]

^^^^^ If you look at the flier that was posted in post # 686, it is clear that the only two locations making the change are Yukon and Norman.

True, yet something is happening at 23rd and Penn. Curious as to what they are doing.

[stile99]

Unless I'm blind I don't see where that poster said that 23rd is changing.

Don't feel bad, I don't recall saying it either. B-)

[stile99]

I'll keep this brief, as I don't have much positive to say. Went to the Yukon location of Smart Saver today and was completely unimpressed. Some (SOME, not all) of the prices in their ad (ad was in-store, not sure if they intend to mail them or set up a website or just leave them in the store) were pretty good. Some were just barely under what a regular sale price would be. For instance, Totino's Party Pizzas are 79 cents. I very often see these on sale for 99 cents or even 88 cents, so once you add the 10% to the 79 cents this really isn't that great. Kraft Mac and Cheese 68 cents. Plus 10% would be 74 cents. Regular price at Walmart 98 cents. To be fair, the price for KC Masterpiece seems to be a steal if you like that sauce...99 cents (before markup) for a 28 oz bottle.

That's the prices in the sale (no, this is not every single thing listed in the ad). Now the regular prices. You're kidding me. You're absolutely kidding me. Someone has GOT to be pulling some kind of joke here. Everything not listed in the sale paper was either the same price it was last week or higher. A can of soup that was $1.25 last week was still priced at $1.25, except now of course it is really $1.37...or $1.38 if they round up. The only possible answer is they haven't changed the prices 'yet' and still intend to, but if this is so what were they doing for the three days they were closed?

Bottom line, I left the store completely unimpressed. Since there were a few things in Aldi's ad I wanted, I then went there and actually got offended. I don't know what game Smart Saver is playing, but when you shop there and then shop at Aldi it's not funny at all. And again, the posted prices are BEFORE a 10% surcharge is added, and then tax on top of that.

[soonergooner]

Could someone on this board bother to quantify "Quality grocery store?" Is it price? Ease of finding what you need? Consistent quality at a "fair price?" Best in store Starbucks?

Being in the industry, I have observed these discussions and have never been able to understand the disappointment with the offerings in our city. We have not had as many "upscale" options as some would like, if you ignored Crescent market the was locally owned but was run out of business so Whole foods could have the run of Nichols Hills.


"Stile99" has piqued my inquiry today as I was slightly involved with the transition to super saver in Yukon. Let it be known, early results are quite positive. He/she is clearly a well developed cherry picker, bless his/her heart. But his/her assertion that some prices were the same is wrong. EVERY price tag and sign was changed to reflect the new marketing strategy. If a price went up, generally it was because it was formerly a hold down price with the new price reflective of actual cost. 99 was not impressed as the new theme undercuts her/his shopping style. 99 spends much time and effort finding the cheapest can of corn in greater Yukon. Many are finding filled baskets cost less than the old pricing structure of loss leaders.

Anyway, back to "quality." What might your top 3 or 4 quality issues with your grocers. Mine - Convenience - closer/better. Cleanliness - IS next to good. Consistency - trustworthiness is big in my book.

[bchris02]

Could someone on this board bother to quantify "Quality grocery store?" Is it price? Ease of finding what you need? Consistent quality at a "fair price?" Best in store Starbucks?

Being in the industry, I have observed these discussions and have never been able to understand the disappointment with the offerings in our city. We have not had as many "upscale" options as some would like, if you ignored Crescent market the was locally owned but was run out of business so Whole foods could have the run of Nichols Hills.

Anyway, back to "quality." What might your top 3 or 4 quality issues with your grocers. Mine - Convenience - closer/better. Cleanliness - IS next to good. Consistency - trustworthiness is big in my book.

This issue is most apparent to those who have lived in other cities. There is a lot less to complain about with OKC's grocery scene than there was just a few years ago. With Uptown Grocery opening at May and Britton, Homeland remodeling their 122nd and Rockwell store, Sprouts opening several new locations, Crest opening a new Fresh Market in Norman, and WinCo and Trader Joes both on their way, there are more options now. Five years ago, before Whole Foods came in, Wal-Mart neighborhood market was about as good as it got here.

If there is an easy way to sum up the problem with OKC's grocery market its that Homeland doesn't pull its weight and it is the ONLY mid-tier grocery chain in the metro. Homeland is inconsistent being that you have great stores like 122nd and Rockwell and awful stores like 18th and Classen. Other major chains like Kroger and H-E-B do have their nicer locations and their not-as-nice locations, but you will be hard to find one of those stores that has been let go as far as the 18th and Classen Homeland. Even if the location is older and is not as "pretty" as the nicer locations, the older locations should be as clean, well-stocked, and provide comparable customer service to the nice locations. The 18th and Classen Homeland completely misses the mark and its hard to believe its even the same chain as stores like May and Britton and 122nd and Rockwell.

Aside from Homeland, your only options in OKC are discount grocers (Wal-Mart, Buy For Less, Crest) or upscale specialty grocers (Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, Sprouts). The biggest issue is there isn't really an acceptable full-service grocery store in the urban core. If something like Uptown Grocery opened up somewhere downtown, Midtown, or even 23rd St, that would solve a lot of the remaining complaints about the grocery scene here.

For me, "quality" is clean, consistent, convenient, easy to find what I am looking for, well-stocked, and NOT Wal-Mart.

[turnpup]

^^^^^

What BChris said, except I wouldn't mind if it were a *nice* Walmart Neighborhood Market (see, Bentonville Promenade area, for example).

[corwin1968]

^^^^^

What BChris said, except I wouldn't mind if it were a *nice* Walmart Neighborhood Market (see, Bentonville Promenade area, for example).

I would add that I like a grocery store that has a lot of "extras", preferably upscale and/or unique extras. Crest just installed a self-serve olive bar and it's a small, simple thing but I LOVE it! I buy something from it every time we go to Crest. Also, a store with a lot of room, both horizontal and vertical, is nice. I love the bakery/deli/specialty section of Uptown Grocery and I like the fact that the regular grocery shelves both there and at Crest are almost always "faced" and neat looking. I guess for me it's modern, clean, attractive and has a good selection of both routine and unique items.

[Canoe]

I am willing to pay more for better quality. The homeland on prime land between Classen and Western only offers convenience. In fact in our family we call it the convenient store. It is thought of in the same class of store as Oncue.

If you are to lazy to drive to NW Expressway or if you want to some exercise or if you need 1 onion for a recipe are then you go.

Until you take that store seriously, you will never get my family's weekly grocery basket. It is a real shame bordering on stupidity, and Oklahomans hate stupidity.

[soonergooner]

Homeland needs to address their inaction at 18th and Classen, for sure. It would have been better if Darrel had not said anything about the location. Downtown grocers in OKC is really going to be interesting to watch. Where and what would a downtown Uptown look like? Heads and dollars always dictates grocery investments, and is the reason behind 18 and Classen. Longtime Okc residents are all delighted to see what is going on downtown/uptown. Wonderful. 18th and Classen is what it is because of lower numbers in their service radius plus those bodies lower cash values. Also Hispanic Asian growth seriously effected sales. Changing inner city numbers make new options inevitable. As the city is still more horizontal than vertical, access and parking will have toe in the equation. Those expenses will have to be folded into pricing making it once again occasional/store of last resort. No parking? How many of the new city hoarde will carry 80lbs of weekly groceries 12 city blocks? The larger cities I visit all have local small quick markets. All have nice fresh limited variety. Expansion of those sort of options will expand as the city dwellers numbers expand, at some point a bigger store will become viable.
Thanks to those that responded.

[bchris02]

Homeland needs to address their inaction at 18th and Classen, for sure. It would have been better if Darrel had not said anything about the location. Downtown grocers in OKC is really going to be interesting to watch. Where and what would a downtown Uptown look like? Heads and dollars always dictates grocery investments, and is the reason behind 18 and Classen. Longtime Okc residents are all delighted to see what is going on downtown/uptown. Wonderful. 18th and Classen is what it is because of lower numbers in their service radius plus those bodies lower cash values. Also Hispanic Asian growth seriously effected sales. Changing inner city numbers make new options inevitable. As the city is still more horizontal than vertical, access and parking will have toe in the equation. Those expenses will have to be folded into pricing making it once again occasional/store of last resort. No parking? How many of the new city hoarde will carry 80lbs of weekly groceries 12 city blocks? The larger cities I visit all have local small quick markets. All have nice fresh limited variety. Expansion of those sort of options will expand as the city dwellers numbers expand, at some point a bigger store will become viable.
Thanks to those that responded.

18th and Classen is far enough north it should be able to pull from the high-income neighborhoods of Heritage Hills/Mesta Park along with Jefferson Park, Edgemere Park, and the rest of that area. It's also convenient enough to downtown. There is a large customer base to pull from, most of whom would prefer to have a more convenient alternative to having to drive to NW Expressway to go grocery shopping. Part of the reason more people don't shop there is because the location is so awful. I don't think lack of rooftops is the reason today. It may have been the case 15-20 years ago but in 2016, there is enough rooftops to support a quality grocery store somewhere in the urban core. Maybe not in downtown proper quite yet, but somewhere south of 36th between Classen and Broadway.

[Bunty]

18th and Classen is far enough north it should be able to pull from the high-income neighborhoods of Heritage Hills/Mesta Park along with Jefferson Park, Edgemere Park, and the rest of that area. It's also convenient enough to downtown. There is a large customer base to pull from, most of whom would prefer to have a more convenient alternative to having to drive to NW Expressway to go grocery shopping. Part of the reason more people don't shop there is because the location is so awful.

It's awful where NW Expressway was not planned with side roads. I discovered that getting into On the Border Restaurant directly is a problem when going west.

[bchris02]

With Natural Grocers going into the Gold Dome and Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market potentially going near the 21c Hotel or in east Bricktown, it's now or never for the 18th and Classen Homeland. If they don't remodel soon, I doubt the store will be open in 3 years.

[jdcf]

Last week visited Tulsa Trader Joe's, Jenks Reasor's, and Tulsa Reasor's on Peoria. The Reasor's on Peoria was impressive in terms of design and product selection. IMO it sets a standard that is above anything in OKC although Uptown Grocery might come close.

[Jersey Boss]

Interesting article on BLOOMBERG about evolving trends in the grocery game and marketing to the millennial crowd. Article compares and contrasts ALDI, 365 ( Whole Foods related entity) and some others.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...nzJ?li=BBnbfcL

[Soonerman]

I'm surprised Reasor's isn't in Oklahoma city, They would be a huge step up to what OKC has now.

[Dustin]

Oh man... I am so impressed with the Sprouts on MacArthur. Everything was so fresh and the isles are easily shoppable. By far my favorite grocery store in the city. Only complaint is they were out of mint!

[Martin]

^
no kidding. i'm not usually in that part of town but happened to be in the area and stopped by a few weeks ago. it's a really impressive store.

my only gripe, and each of the sprouts locations i've visited suffer from this, is that ordering anything from the deli counter is a painfully slow process. don't know why it takes them so much longer than other places. -M

[Pete]

^

Yes, the one time I was in that Sprouts there was a huge line at the deli counter and the store wasn't super busy.

But, I'd love to see more of them in OKC.

[Martin]

But, I'd love to see more of them in OKC.

absolutely... all in all it's a great chain. i'm really hoping to see one in south okc sooner than later. -M

[oklip955]

I talked with one of the area managers recently. He said that after opening the 122nd st, Yukon and Stillwater stores this year, there are no immediate plans to open one on the southside of OKC. They also have recently opened a bunch of stores in the KC area. They are expending in the Florida and the east area right now.

[d-usa]

Stopped at the 122nd Sprouts today to get some groceries. I was looking for some hot Italian turkey sausage and couldn't find anything. Their manager noticed me and asked what I was looking for and told me that they don't keep turkey sausage on hand, but that he will just have one of the guys grind up some turkey breast and mix their seasoning to make me a fresh batch. He told the guy behind the counter to just make a 5lb batch and stick the rest in the case. Also gave me his card so that I can call ahead next time and shop without waiting.

Very impressed.

[Pete]

Amazon looking to get into the brick-and-mortar grocery business with compact stores relying mainly on on-line purchasing and pick-up.

As Walmart is doing something similar, this seems to be the direction of the grocery industry.

There will always be people who want to go in and hand-pick produce and meat but I have always hated grocery shopping. Usually when I go to a traditional grocery store, I'm looking for a few smaller things (can buy the rest at Sam's) and it always takes *forever* without anyone to help you. You see it every time you go in... People wandering up and down the aisles and zero help available.

Also, I know tons of moms and dads who would love to be able to go get their groceries without dragging their kids inside.

Interesting to see where this goes and give Walmart credit for being out on front of this trend.

http://www.moderncities.com/article/...6mynw5.twitter

[Pete]

Amazon looking to get into the brick-and-mortar grocery business with compact stores relying mainly on on-line purchasing and pick-up.

As Walmart is doing something similar, this seems to be the direction of the grocery industry.

There will always be people who want to go in and hand-pick produce and meat but I have always hated grocery shopping. Usually when I go to a traditional grocery store, I'm looking for a few smaller things (can buy the rest at Sam's) and it always takes *forever* without anyone to help you. You see it every time you go in... People wandering up and down the aisles and zero help available.

I love the idea of search on-line and then selecting the specific item I am looking for. BTW, why on earth do grocery stores not have in-store kiosks for searching? ?

Also, I know tons of moms and dads who would love to be able to go get their groceries without dragging their kids inside.

Interesting to see where this goes and give Walmart credit for being out on front of this trend.

http://www.moderncities.com/article/...6mynw5.twitter

[jerrywall]

I can see the appeal, especially on staples, but browsing and finding unexpected stuff is half the fun for me.