Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?

Sousaclone

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Apr 29, 2006
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North of Seattle
I have lived across the US... I will rank grocery stores

HEB > pre 2013 HYVEE >Kroger> schnucks > mark walberg hyvee > Mejier > >supersaver> United foods > any IGAs

HEB is pretty damn hard to beat.

What's weird is to go to the west coast (LA area) and be used to shopping at HEB or the other larger "supermarkets" and then go to a Stater Bros and have the store be like a quarter the size.
 
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carvers4math

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Mar 15, 2012
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WalMart has the worst bags.
At least their produce bags are better than HyVee’s, which last time I was there, a kiwi managed to break.

Publix is a pretty decent store. They were great for getting my son a birthday cake from a distance. They remind me a bit of HyVee before it went nuts selling sporting goods, soap bombs, shoes, toys, medical clinics, etc. Was a good store for my son with limited cooking skills.

Wegman’s also a decent store in NY area. And when we lived in Indiana, always shopped at Martin’s and it was fine. Same with Dillon’s in Kansas when son was there, it was similar to HyVee without open air soap bombs so I could actually go in the store.
 
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1UNI2ISU

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Jan 30, 2013
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Waterloo
My list:

King Soopers>HyVee>Giant Eagle Market District>Albertsons>Kroger Marketplace>Safeway>Meijer>Price Chopper

Didn’t include Fareway because it’s a different thing. Didn’t include Trader Joe’s (that’s my favorite “grocery store”. Didn’t include WM or Target because it’s a different thing. I miss 1980’s Dahl’s.
Agreed. I'd kill up to three people to have access to a King Soopers.
 
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CloneGuy8

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In California Ralph's was their big one I remember when being out there.
 

BillBrasky4Cy

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I didn't know that Kroger and Hy-Vee may be talking, but it makes sense.

Kroger bought the Hy-Vee of the mid-Atlantic region, Harris Teeter, a decade ago. It kept the Harris Teeter brand, so I assume this would mean Hy-Vees would remain Hy-Vees as well and not be changed to Krogers.
I called this months ago. HyVee is positioning themselves to be sold to Kroger but will retain the HyVee name as well as their distribution network.
 
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Pat

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Oct 20, 2011
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I called this months ago. HyVee is positioning themselves to be sold to Kroger but will retain the HyVee name as well as their distribution network.

Agree that all the signs are there. Who cashes the check, though? Store managers? Does the board have an ownership stake?
 

ISUTex

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May 25, 2012
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Rural U.S.A.
Part of that is the ****** bags they use that are prone to breaking to begin with. Thicker plastic bags exist that won't break, but they don't use them because theyre more expensive.

Hey maybe they can charge extra for the bags like in California.
 

cyIclSoneU

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Apr 7, 2016
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Agree that all the signs are there. Who cashes the check, though? Store managers? Does the board have an ownership stake?

"Hy-Vee is employee-owned by direct stockholders — officers, district store directors and executive staff members — and indirect stockholders, the more than 45,000 Hy-Vee employees who participate in The Hy-Vee and Affiliates 401(k) Plan. A portion of the matching contributions made by the company to The Hy-Vee and Affiliates 401(k) Plan is directed to the Hy-Vee Stock Fund. This account is the largest shareholder in the company."


So Kroger would buy all of them out and most would see a nice little bonus. Or maybe it would be some kind of stock for stock deal where their shares get exchanged for Kroger stock, which is publicly traded.
 

Jer

CF Founder, Creator
Feb 28, 2006
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I check expiration dates on everything that has an expiration date regardless of store.

The very reason we don't use online order and pickup or delivery. You can save huge money and/or have much fresher food by going yourself.
 

Jer

CF Founder, Creator
Feb 28, 2006
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So what the heck is up with a name like "King Soopers"? Is it a cultural thing or am I just dumb?
 

carvers4math

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Mar 15, 2012
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The very reason we don't use online order and pickup or delivery. You can save huge money and/or have much fresher food by going yourself.
We use online order at Fareway and they pick better produce than I do. I think sometimes they just fill order from stuff still in the back they haven’t put on shelves. One of the women wheeling out the the groceries said they trained them to shop like they were buying their own groceries, so always choosing longest expiration dates.
 
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BryceC

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Personally, I like Hy-Vee a lot more. Selection is 100x better and that matters a lot with picky eaters in the house (myself included).

But, the thing I like most about Hy-Vee is actually the meat. Not only do you get a huge selection, but you can get the steaks, burgers, etc that last 2+ weeks instead of needing to be cooked in the next 2 days. That allows me a lot of flexibility when getting meat for the week (which we eat a lot of in our house).

Something weird is going on with our Hy Vee, just in the last few weeks every bit of meat we've bought has gone bad. I mean if I don't cook it in a day it reeks. Not so with the other stores, so something has to be going on there.
 

dmclone

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Oct 20, 2006
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Something weird is going on with our Hy Vee, just in the last few weeks every bit of meat we've bought has gone bad. I mean if I don't cook it in a day it reeks. Not so with the other stores, so something has to be going on there.

You've earned it!
 
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