We are The Village...
Hey, Publix... that's right, I'm talking to you big P! Just in case you want to know a little bit about the area you could potentially move in to, why don't you check out The Village of Spring Hill's web site.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Union Jack...
Interesting article in yesterday's P-R, which evidently came from The Birmingham News, regarding labor contract disputes with the bankruptcy court. After doing a little more research, it appears as though there has been a potential buyer in the wings for some time now, but negotiations seemed to consistently stall over labor contracts and union rights. All three parties---Bruno's, the bankruptcy court, and the potential buyer---have been tightlipped about who the negotiating party actually is. Could be Winn-Dixie... could be Publix... I'm not so sure.
One area where Publix may face opposition is in employee retention. This is a rash generalization, but in my experience Publix has preferred to hire their own staff and has often required employees of the stores they are buying to go through their own application/vetting process.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
What's this all about?
This idea started off as a joke a week ago, with a challenge from my wife to "create a web site that will leverage support to finally get a Publix grocery store in Mobile." Now that our neighborhood Spring Hill Bruno's is slated for closing on May 17, 2009 (see posts below), this seemed like an opportune time to reach out to the community in hopes of establishing a critical mass that may be useful in courting a grocer like Publix to occupy the soon-to-be empty retail space.
From a retail standpoint---particularly a retailer like Publix---utilizing the (old) space of a previous business is fraught with difficulty, and in some extreme cases can actually be more costly than building new retail space. This couldn't be more true in today's economic climate where commercial construction costs are lower as compared to the previous five years. From Publix's point of view, this means that they would have to make certain concessions for their "normal" store plans in order to utilize the existing space, ultimately resulting in a shopping experience for their customers that is somewhat diminished from the Publix norm.
Having shopped at Publix for more than twenty years, I can honestly say that even their older stores, and those that have been incorporated into existing commercial space, are pretty darn nice. Their employees are courteous, attentive, and helpful. Their stocks are always plentiful. Their perishable foods are actually NOT expired while sitting on the shelf (not to point fingers). Their meat, poultry, seafood, and deli are excellent. Their bakery is wonderful. Their fried chicken is out of this world. In addition, the general shopping experience is on any given day much better than most grocery stores... in fact, it's the best in my opinion.
I love Mobile, but I really miss being able to purchase all of my groceries in one store! Until recently, we often made a four-store rotation to get all of our food-stuffs... to Bruno's for some necessities, down to Naman's for Boars Head deli meat and cheese, back over to Wal-Mart for some box and canned goods, and down to Fresh Market for produce and poultry. So why hasn't Publix taken an interest in Mobile? T-Town has Publix stores, so do the folks over in B-Ham and up in Huntsville. Even the citizens of Montgomery have a Publix. Lately, Publix has started to push into southwest Alabama with stores in Orange Beach and now Fairhope. Why should Mobile be left out? Come on Publix... we have a nice little space for you right in the heart of Spring Hill.
Fast forward to present time...
Things have been relatively quiet for the past four weeks... haven't heard or read much "new" news regarding store closings in our area, but realized that Bruno's timeframe for a buyout was waning. I was chatting with a neighbor the other day regarding groceries and supermarkets, and she commented that an employee at our local Bruno's grocery store had mentioned that they would be closing soon. Very interesting, indeed.
So I started digging around for news and information last night and came across the following program at the Alabama Department for Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA): State Dislocated Worker Unit (DWU) / WARN Act and Rapid Response Team Assistance. Click here for the jump. As part of the WARN Act, ADECA maintains a WARN list which seeks to inform the citizens of Alabama about impending job losses and store closings. The WARN list can be found here. If you were to follow this link and select the WARN list for 2009, you would find the following entries for Mobile:Closing or Layoff Report Date Starting Date Company City Affected Employees Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Food World Mobile 48 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Food World Mobile 52 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Food World Mobile 47 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Food World Mobile 55 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Food World Mobile 55 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Bruno's Mobile 58 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Bruno's Mobile 77 Closing 3/16/09 5/17/09 Bruno's Mobile 110
As best I can discern, that is every Food World and Bruno's location in Mobile. In particular, the Bruno's locations are shown in the graphic below (image courtesy Google - Map data copyright 2009). No more Bruno's in Spring Hill... no more Bruno's at Airport and University... no more Bruno's at Hillcrest and Grelot. Just plain no more Bruno's. The worst part is now I will actually have to get in the car and drive to a grocery store... no more walking two blocks to pickup a few items! What a shame.
He said... She said...
The recycling hadn't even gone to the curb with the previous day's Press-Register (3/23/09), which contained the notification of a Saraland Food World closing and a statement from ADECA that "most or all" of the company's stores in Alabama are likely to close, when this AP story hit the wires (we don't really have many wires anymore, do we?) and was subsequently picked up by Mobile CBS affiliate WKRG News 5.
Wow, yesterday (3/23/09) "most or all" of the Bruno's stores in the state of Alabama are likely to close according to ADECA (recall that this followed the initial announcement of 10 store closings, plus the Saraland Food World that came later), and then we read the following in this AP news story, "The company already has announced plans to close 10 of its 66 stores, and it said Monday it has no current plans to close more stores..."
Huh? Someone is talking out of both sides of their mouth. You either are or are not closing more stores... you cannot have it both ways.
Fast forward one month...
After Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC, announced as many as 10 possible store closings in the state of Alabama back on February 18, 2009, things were relatively quiet for about one month. The news kept recycling some information about the company's attempt at restructuring, and also discussed the possibility of a buyout from another chain grocer, but nothing of great interest emerged until...
The Mobile Press-Register ran the following story on March 23, 2009 lamenting Bruno's economic troubles and announcing the impending closing of a Saraland Food World store. Potentially more interesting was the following quotation of reporter Jeff Amy who wrote, "ADECA officials confirmed by telephone today that they've received notices for most or all of the company's 34 Food Worlds and 21 Bruno's in Alabama."
It sounds like we're about to lose our neighborhood grocery store, folks.
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