California Centers Magazine serves retailers, developers, shopping center owners, investment sales brokers and tenant representation firms throughout the state of California.
Issue link: https://californiacenters.epubxp.com/i/711240
32 California Centers Magazine | August 2016 C C Greensboro, North Carolina-based gourmet supermarket chain The Fresh Market has experienced success in the South and on the East Coast, but found no such luck in California, where it closed the remainder of its six stores in March. This shakeup has many wonder- ing if California's grocer landscape is just too saturated. After all, is it really that unreasonable to remain skeptical about a whole new crop of grand openings on the heels of the aforementioned demises? MacLellan believe it is unreasonable, citing very specific reasons why these three failed to capture California and, in some cas- es, other states. "Haggen expanded too quickly and Fresh & Easy misunderstood the market," MacLellan says. "The Fresh Market only opened a couple stores in California and pulled out of the mar- ket. These stores also lacked a brand identity, which is crucial to draw new customers out of their tried-and-true store brands." NOT FROM AROUND HERE Matt Hammond, partner and senior vice president of Coreland Companies in Tustin, agrees that the latest batch of market-movers is not likely to re- peat the mistakes of the past. Rather, they're taking these history lessons to heart. "I would not compare any of the expanding gro- cers to Haggen," he says. "Haggen made a sudden and brash entrance into a sophisticat- ed Southern Cali- fornia market, nev- er taking the time to understand the local culture. Aldi and Grocery Out- let's expansions have been much more calculated, and their real estate decisions much more scrutinized." German grocer Aldi, known for its exclusive brands that can save con- sumers up to 50 percent when com- pared to traditional grocers, plans to open 45 locations in Southern Califor- nia by the end of this year. True to its word, Aldi opened its first 25 stores during a three-month period that end- ed on May 19 when the grocer cele- brated seven grand openings. "We are thrilled with the over- whelmingly positive welcome we've received from California shoppers who are experiencing our premium, Matt Hammond Partner and SVP Coreland Companies We specialize in working with developer/owners and retailers. We have GPS tracking on the guards and 24-7 monitoring real time and online reporting. Contact Brent for more information 1-888-214-8273 brent@american-1.com Serving All of California MEMBER Aldi has expansion plans for California, with plans to open 45 stores by the end of 2016 in the state. (Pictured is a store in Roanoke, Virginia).