Costco "Considering" Oklahoma, however?

[Midtowner]

Welp... so much for that.

http://soonerpoll.com/poll-finds-vot...r-law-changes/

Wow.

Just remember that the average IQ is 100.

[foodiefan]

Welp... so much for that.

http://soonerpoll.com/poll-finds-vot...r-law-changes/

. . . they didn't ask me !!

[bluedogok]

Online polls are about as worthless as online petitions and newspaper comment sections.

[Dustin]

Ya, I heard they only polled about 500 people.

This is one of the biased and ridiculous questions they asked:

Oklahoma’s current laws restrict the sale of wine, beer of 3.3% alcohol content or higher, and malt liquors of up to 12 percent be sold in liquor stores where someone must be 21 years or older to enter. Would you support changing the law so that wine, strong beer, and malt liquor can be sold in grocery stores, knowing it would include products like Mad Dog 20- 20, Snoop Dog’s Colt 45 Blast, and 4 locos.

...Are you kidding me? Of course people are going to say no to that.

[MustangGT]

Poolsters are the biggest LIARS only behind politicians. By carefully crafting the questions and the order in which they are asked the pollster can get the person answering to say exactly what the pollster wants them to say. Companies that do this are paid a LOT of many and are very good at hoodwinking the public.

[Bunty]

Online polls are about as worthless as online petitions and newspaper comment sections.

I thought it was an off line poll. If Soonerpoll is serious, I doubt they would want to be associated with polls conducted online.

[Chautauqua]

Trader Joes announced last week they are scouting OKC locations.

I don't mean to dissect your words, but when you say "Trader Joe's" announced last week that they are scouting OKC locations, I don't think that sounds accurate. There is a huge difference with a developer or a broker exploring the possibility of landing a TJ and them "announcing" they are scouting "locations". They generally don't use local brokers, for one. They use a third party real estate development consultant to do their placements. That third party may be looking broadly at OKC, and Tulsa for that matter, but that is much different than "scouting locations". Most importantly, Trader Joe's, nor their trusted representatives, NEVER announces anything speculative. They are notoriously secretive. They only way this gets out is if they are meeting with a developer, and he/she yaps about it... at that point the deal is usually done. Anyway, I hope it is true that they are looking at Oklahoma.

The only hurdle I see is distribution. Not food, but liquor. Even if they can circumvent the liquor laws somehow here, or even if the law changes to allow grocery stores to carry wine, Oklahoma will still be a 4 tier (liquor) distribution system. Trader Joe's will have to use one of the established wine distributors here, (because the law states you cannot be a distributor AND a retailer) and that is not their preferred model. Whole Foods doesn't care as much because they always use an outside distributor.

[Larry OKC]

Not surprised by the religious and conservative/republican results but was about this:

A similar correlation exists when results are broken down by political label. Results reveal that on the most basic question on the subject, liberals remain evenly divided with 50 percent that oppose changing the law while a full 61 percent of conservatives oppose. Similarly, when respondents are offered more information about the changes, 56.8 percent of liberals and 71.5 percent of conservatives oppose them.

[kevinpate]

Larry, that shouldn't be a surprise. A huge chunk of the lib population in Oklahoma would be viewed as mildly moderate republicans by their new neighbors if someone scooped them up and plopped them into the general population of any traditionally blue state.

[flintysooner]

Costco CEO to Step Down (article requires subscription to WSJ)

James Sinegal, chief executive of Costco Wholesale Corp., is stepping down at the end of the year from the company he co-founded in 1983 and helped build into the country's biggest member warehouse chain.

Mr. Sinegal, 75 years old, will be succeeded by Costco veteran Craig Jelinek, 59, who was widely expected to assume the top spot after the board promoted him to president and chief operating officer 18 months ago.

[bombermwc]

^ well that would mean i would not shop there then. Raise your hands on the number of people with an AMX card? cricket cricket.

[Okie Yorker]

I think Costco would be a great fit for OKC...Their fresh meat (steaks, burgers, etc.) is actually very good for a warehouse club. Many people speculate that OKC is being passed over for Trader Joes / Costco because of Liquor Laws.....I don't know if I buy into that argument as if you look at North Jersey, for example, liquor laws are even more stringent than OKC. Not only can a grocery store NOT sell wine/hard liquor, but they also are prohibited from selling BEER! There are numerous Costco's / Trader Joes in the NNJ suburbs of NYC in Passaic, Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Morris and other counties despite the restrictive liquor laws. They recently opened Costco up in Omaha, NE, which has a singificantly smaller population than metro OKC, so hopefully they will consider us soon.

[bluedogok]

^ well that would mean i would not shop there then. Raise your hands on the number of people with an AMX card? cricket cricket.

I don't have an AMEX card (my wife has one for work), I have had one in the past, both a personal and business Amex. We just used cash or our credit union Visa/debit card at the Costco store. Their website does take Visa/Mastercard because I have bought some stuff off Costco.com with them.

[windowphobe]

I do, in fact, carry American Express. There have been times when I carried only American Express.

[bombermwc]

If it were the liquor law, then we wouldn't have Whole Foods in Oklahoma either. There are plenty easy ways to make it work, you just to design it into the building (ie a segregated area with a seperate entrance). It's not really that difficult to make it work, but it does require about 5 minutes of effort on the architect's part to put in a wall and a door. If someone says it's the liquor law, then they are just making an excuse because you can still sell it, you just have to figure out an "out-of-the-box" way to do it.....it doesn't HAVE to be in the same room as everything else you sell.

I'd like to see a World Market, but they sell wine as well. But even then, they could do the same thing.

[bluedogok]

Oklahoma also requires separate ownership by a resident of 10 years. Even though I lived 37 years of my life in Oklahoma but I have lived the past 8 in Texas, I could not qualify for a liquor store license. You are also limited to one license per person, these regulations are strictly to reduce competition from not only companies outside of Oklahoma but by those inside Oklahoma who would have the financial ability to open up multiple stores. The Costco "liquor store" at the ones here in Austin are completely separate and leased to an independent operator, you don't need a Costco card in there. The difference is the beer/wine is sold in the Costco proper (or Sam's Club) and therefore it is their profit and not the person who leased space from them. A beer/wine license in Texas is much more open than a liquor license which has limit of 5 licenses per person, families can pool licenses under one store name but each store is under a different operating company, this is how the Spec's and Twin Liquors chains have been built down here. Also the no refrigeration on liquor store beer or wine is ridiculous and the "no accessories" is ridiculous as well. Half the time that I go into Spec's I don't even buy alcohol, I buy some of their foods, imported waters (for my wife) or their selection of sodas, that is not an option in an Oklahoma liquor store.

Some of the small operators like it just the way it is because they don't have to worry much about competition because stores have a hard time differentiating themselves from one another. There are those that try but there is only so much they can do.

[MikeOKC]

I do, in fact, carry American Express. There have been times when I carried only American Express.

Same here. I've had my Amex card since 1982. I rarely use anything else.

[BBatesokc]

^ well that would mean i would not shop there then. Raise your hands on the number of people with an AMX card? cricket cricket.

While I have VISA and MC, my AMEX is the only card I use unless I have no other option. I've found them to have great customer service and perks. The AMEX I have gives me a generous additional warranty and return policy on my electronic goodies, access to VIP areas at lots of airports, free companion airline seats when I buy one at full fare, etc.