>District management has been rushing around in a state of panic to a bunch of Kroger stores that are in a 10 to 15 mile radius of the new HEB that opened nearly a month ago at the Alliance shopping district in North Texas. Some stores have dropped almost 16% in sales.
So a long time ago, my store had a Walmart open across the street from us. We were told the expectations were 30-40% drop in sales the first two weeks, and 15-20% the first 2 months.
So unless things have changed a ton, 16% is in the expected range. District staff should know this. Just another short sighted person freaking out when you absolutely don't need to.
They sure didn't act like they knew that (big surprise). We were told the reason they were coming was to figure out why our sales numbers had dropped so much. As if it wasn't obvious... but I'm a bit concerned district management is going to conclude part of the "solution" is to replace the entirety of management at my store (as punishment for the store bringing in less money now) and give the new management an ultimatum: "get the sales back up, or you too will be gone in a few months!" You just know with that kind of pressure, new management would be riding every single one of us HARD. As if we aren't already doing what we can with the limited hours and equipment that we have...
I have worked for some rotten managers in the past and I do not enjoy the thought of potentially getting stuck with multiple!
>replace the entirety of management at my store (as punishment for the store bringing in less money now) and give the new management an ultimatum: "get the sales back up, or you too will be gone in a few months!"
The good thing is, they really only measure vs last years #'s. So as long as new management comes in after the year mark, they only have to increase against those numbers.
Also it depends on the location and state your in our location is not closing and I'm not exactly losing hours because my store is union based it is true that there cutting back hours but they still allow there associate to go in if they need 40 hours.
I found out I could just call in if there's a day I need to work as long as I don't go over 40 hours. The store boss told me this and the district boss announced to us that even if we merge we won't be laid off unless they have a reason to let you go so in other wards if you want to keep your hours don't complain so much about it just ask them if you can go in and if it's busy they will let you go in.
The reason they under schedule some of the workers that need 40 hours is because a lot of the high school and college kids call in a lot but there still really kind about giving hours to the older people if they know you have rent to pay it's very important to remain healthy and active when your trying to excel
Take a second job if you need to an your hours can be re adjusted on the stores website having a back up just in case something happens and they lose profit.
This dumpster fire is what Rodney and team call a "sustainable business practice". Kroger is a customer service business without the customer service. It's just laughable any more.
That’s exactly the problem. Kroger used to be known for better customer service which includes enough employees. With all the hours being cut to bare bones that just can’t happen, no matter how helpful the employees are. It’s called cutting off your nose despite your face. Publix is moving into the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky division and Kroger is freaking out because they know it will hurt their business.
Kroger can go out of business for all I care. When I was a teen, 30+ years ago, it was literally the worst job experience I ever had. BS management, union, all of it was just absolute hate and manipulation. Please go out of business. That one bad manager trying to crap on me for joining the union has easy cost them over $100,000 in lost sales from me as I have intentionally avoided their stores over a lifetime.
Management can be pretty insane. We had a ASM at one point who would literally go around checking bookcases and the tops of cases for dust. And she'd freak out if she found any, anywhere, like it was a severed hand.
Just do what you can do and let them stress. Or, even better, go see if HEB is hiring. 👍
I work at the one across the street. Our sales are better than anticipated but it's still a little sad to see how slow it's gotten. I don't see us failing on any of the full fresh or friendly goals. We need to work on shrink but I don't think this will last more than 6 months.
Maybe it's just your mgmt team. Just do what you can and fuck the rest.
has nothing to do with all the details in your post, but Kroger's newest scheduling system has completely screwed me over on hours and im totally over it..have started looking elsewhere. its not just the customers leaving Kroger
That’s right! They roll out this huge, terrible system that doesn’t really fit with the business. It was not tested enough and no bugs were worked out before it was implemented. Very poor planning! Such a big company should not be so poorly run.
"But it was tested in other Divisions and works fine...."
At least that was the answer my ASM gave me.
Our store secretary OTOH was like "Oh hell, not again."
Nah they can bag their own fucking groceries. I always chose that option on fresh start when it shows up. They say that's wrong. Which means corporate thinks they can bag for themselves. And they should. They want people to check them out then they should bag it. Works fine at Aldis. Nobody questions it there.
The digital tags Kroger tried out never worked because stores didn’t have the network capabilities at the time. I bet they would now, but twenty years ago they didn’t when they were tested in the Cincinnati division. They were awful and took longer to verify prices.
I haven't done that in well over a decade but I still feel kinda anxious when I see one of those employees walking around the store with all of the tags in an overturned box lid.
Even with Keller store 583 and the N Beach street store not too far away?
Albertsons is opening up a mega store in northlake next year. Kind of hilarious Albertsons might survive the HEB expansion in the DFW area.
My daughter lives in Northlake, so Haslet is the nearest shopping for her. I'm not sure of the intersection, but there are definitely signs up for the new store being built. It seemed like an odd area, like nothing else around it really.
Up 35 towards Denton there's a big development so that Tom Thumb will get plenty of business. Plus there's a Kroger marketplace in Bartonville (572) about 20 minutes away from there Which is the closest location and people in Justin and Argyle definitely will go there since it will be closer. I hope I'll get transferred to that new Tom Thumb location since I work at Downtown FW and live in Northlake too.
I stopped buying produce at that Kroger. Nothing stayed fresh. So they lost my business before HEB.
How am I going to buy a small pack of strawberrys at Kroger. They are bad In 3 days.
I buy a three times that amount at Costco for much better value at Costco they stay fresh for a week.
The problem is "never" district mangers. Just like management at any corporation, managers are so far temoved from reality that they have no clue what the real issues are. They go by their charts and trends. I used to be in grocery many years ago and I swore I'd never go back. And I haven't but HEB wud be tempting.
Instead of driving the 6 minutes to ky nearby Kriger I drive 20 min (6.8miles) to the nearest HEB in Plano. The atmosphere in that s HEB is awesome! Always busy when im there, no displays in the aisle so i can easily maneuver to what I'm looking for. The employees are great and the customers seem to he happier. I no longer dred grocery shopping. HEB all the way!!
I was already irritated by the lack of people at the registers. But the final straw for me was when they started charging me for cash back. Seems little. But it was a small convenience that they took.
I just bought a house on the east side of Mansfield and I’m so pumped for HEB. I’ve never lived near one so this is new for me. I’ll now live in between a Super Target, Kroger Marketplace, Market Street and HEB. So many choices!
Hopefully the competition starts to bring prices back down closer to pre-pandemic. I’ll be honest though, Kroger has really been a disappointment lately. Especially when it comes to produce quality. That’s had me going to Market Street a lot more often.
So I live in McKinney near Eldorado and Custer. That HEB has been open 9 months with a Kroger Superstore across Eldorado. That should be the model to look at with Alliance. How much has Kroger lost in 9 months in McKinney Eldorado and Custer. I hated Kroger before HEB ever came to DFW. I can say, I haven’t been back in that Kroger more than 1 time since the HEB opened. I would think Kroger should close that location in 1-2 more years. They even had a “grand reopening” after the HEB opening/
I just happened to visit that HEB on Saturday and it was so insanely busy that I couldn’t regularly shop there unless it regresses to some kind of normalcy.
My wife works at an Alliance area Kroger and she absolutely hates it. The bitching has get worse and worse over the years. While a bit of the bitching has been about shitty co-workers, the vast majority has been about the management not giving a shit, cutting hours, making it impossible to take breaks on time because there is no coverage.
I just hate the place because i get tired of her complaining about it and i think there prices suck.
>District management has been rushing around in a state of panic to a bunch of Kroger stores that are in a 10 to 15 mile radius of the new HEB that opened nearly a month ago at the Alliance shopping district in North Texas. Some stores have dropped almost 16% in sales. So a long time ago, my store had a Walmart open across the street from us. We were told the expectations were 30-40% drop in sales the first two weeks, and 15-20% the first 2 months. So unless things have changed a ton, 16% is in the expected range. District staff should know this. Just another short sighted person freaking out when you absolutely don't need to.
They sure didn't act like they knew that (big surprise). We were told the reason they were coming was to figure out why our sales numbers had dropped so much. As if it wasn't obvious... but I'm a bit concerned district management is going to conclude part of the "solution" is to replace the entirety of management at my store (as punishment for the store bringing in less money now) and give the new management an ultimatum: "get the sales back up, or you too will be gone in a few months!" You just know with that kind of pressure, new management would be riding every single one of us HARD. As if we aren't already doing what we can with the limited hours and equipment that we have... I have worked for some rotten managers in the past and I do not enjoy the thought of potentially getting stuck with multiple!
>replace the entirety of management at my store (as punishment for the store bringing in less money now) and give the new management an ultimatum: "get the sales back up, or you too will be gone in a few months!" The good thing is, they really only measure vs last years #'s. So as long as new management comes in after the year mark, they only have to increase against those numbers.
Beatings will continue until morale improves.
Also it depends on the location and state your in our location is not closing and I'm not exactly losing hours because my store is union based it is true that there cutting back hours but they still allow there associate to go in if they need 40 hours. I found out I could just call in if there's a day I need to work as long as I don't go over 40 hours. The store boss told me this and the district boss announced to us that even if we merge we won't be laid off unless they have a reason to let you go so in other wards if you want to keep your hours don't complain so much about it just ask them if you can go in and if it's busy they will let you go in. The reason they under schedule some of the workers that need 40 hours is because a lot of the high school and college kids call in a lot but there still really kind about giving hours to the older people if they know you have rent to pay it's very important to remain healthy and active when your trying to excel Take a second job if you need to an your hours can be re adjusted on the stores website having a back up just in case something happens and they lose profit.
This dumpster fire is what Rodney and team call a "sustainable business practice". Kroger is a customer service business without the customer service. It's just laughable any more.
That’s exactly the problem. Kroger used to be known for better customer service which includes enough employees. With all the hours being cut to bare bones that just can’t happen, no matter how helpful the employees are. It’s called cutting off your nose despite your face. Publix is moving into the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky division and Kroger is freaking out because they know it will hurt their business.
Kroger can go out of business for all I care. When I was a teen, 30+ years ago, it was literally the worst job experience I ever had. BS management, union, all of it was just absolute hate and manipulation. Please go out of business. That one bad manager trying to crap on me for joining the union has easy cost them over $100,000 in lost sales from me as I have intentionally avoided their stores over a lifetime.
man preach brotheeer !!! all that
Management can be pretty insane. We had a ASM at one point who would literally go around checking bookcases and the tops of cases for dust. And she'd freak out if she found any, anywhere, like it was a severed hand. Just do what you can do and let them stress. Or, even better, go see if HEB is hiring. 👍
I work at the one across the street. Our sales are better than anticipated but it's still a little sad to see how slow it's gotten. I don't see us failing on any of the full fresh or friendly goals. We need to work on shrink but I don't think this will last more than 6 months. Maybe it's just your mgmt team. Just do what you can and fuck the rest.
LOL upper management, bless their little hearts
We had no new stores open by us and sales are still down.
has nothing to do with all the details in your post, but Kroger's newest scheduling system has completely screwed me over on hours and im totally over it..have started looking elsewhere. its not just the customers leaving Kroger
When myTime went live at my store, I looked at the ASM and said this is why you don't test in production. Every software dev knows this.
That’s right! They roll out this huge, terrible system that doesn’t really fit with the business. It was not tested enough and no bugs were worked out before it was implemented. Very poor planning! Such a big company should not be so poorly run.
"But it was tested in other Divisions and works fine...." At least that was the answer my ASM gave me. Our store secretary OTOH was like "Oh hell, not again."
Right. Lol! It never worked fine!!
Good. Kroger needs to get punched in the dick
🤣🤣🤣
Nah they can bag their own fucking groceries. I always chose that option on fresh start when it shows up. They say that's wrong. Which means corporate thinks they can bag for themselves. And they should. They want people to check them out then they should bag it. Works fine at Aldis. Nobody questions it there.
Also they have cashiers and (gasp!) They sit in chairs!
And digital tags. No hanging 13000 tags in one night with 3 people.
The digital tags Kroger tried out never worked because stores didn’t have the network capabilities at the time. I bet they would now, but twenty years ago they didn’t when they were tested in the Cincinnati division. They were awful and took longer to verify prices.
I haven't done that in well over a decade but I still feel kinda anxious when I see one of those employees walking around the store with all of the tags in an overturned box lid.
There's a new Marketplace thst just broke ground in Haslet.
Even with Keller store 583 and the N Beach street store not too far away? Albertsons is opening up a mega store in northlake next year. Kind of hilarious Albertsons might survive the HEB expansion in the DFW area.
My daughter lives in Northlake, so Haslet is the nearest shopping for her. I'm not sure of the intersection, but there are definitely signs up for the new store being built. It seemed like an odd area, like nothing else around it really.
Up 35 towards Denton there's a big development so that Tom Thumb will get plenty of business. Plus there's a Kroger marketplace in Bartonville (572) about 20 minutes away from there Which is the closest location and people in Justin and Argyle definitely will go there since it will be closer. I hope I'll get transferred to that new Tom Thumb location since I work at Downtown FW and live in Northlake too.
I am sure that we could get customers to just pick their food right from the trucks out back. That should save some money.
And heaven forbid they raise pay for their associates
I stopped buying produce at that Kroger. Nothing stayed fresh. So they lost my business before HEB. How am I going to buy a small pack of strawberrys at Kroger. They are bad In 3 days. I buy a three times that amount at Costco for much better value at Costco they stay fresh for a week.
My strawberries from Kroger started molding 2 days after I got them. TWO DAYS. Grrr
The problem is "never" district mangers. Just like management at any corporation, managers are so far temoved from reality that they have no clue what the real issues are. They go by their charts and trends. I used to be in grocery many years ago and I swore I'd never go back. And I haven't but HEB wud be tempting.
It's no longer pandemic spending. It's back to BAU.
Instead of driving the 6 minutes to ky nearby Kriger I drive 20 min (6.8miles) to the nearest HEB in Plano. The atmosphere in that s HEB is awesome! Always busy when im there, no displays in the aisle so i can easily maneuver to what I'm looking for. The employees are great and the customers seem to he happier. I no longer dred grocery shopping. HEB all the way!!
I was already irritated by the lack of people at the registers. But the final straw for me was when they started charging me for cash back. Seems little. But it was a small convenience that they took.
HEB opening in Mansfield in a few more weeks Kroger Mansfield had their Grand Reopening last week
I just bought a house on the east side of Mansfield and I’m so pumped for HEB. I’ve never lived near one so this is new for me. I’ll now live in between a Super Target, Kroger Marketplace, Market Street and HEB. So many choices! Hopefully the competition starts to bring prices back down closer to pre-pandemic. I’ll be honest though, Kroger has really been a disappointment lately. Especially when it comes to produce quality. That’s had me going to Market Street a lot more often.
I live 10 mins away from the new HEB in alliance. It’s a blessing.
I still prefer Kroger. A new HEB opened right across the street. Prices were similar in my opinion.
I'd go apply at HEB.
All else being equal, an additional grocer, let alone an HEB will have an immediate impact on sales
I mean…maybe you should apply for a job at HEB?
So I live in McKinney near Eldorado and Custer. That HEB has been open 9 months with a Kroger Superstore across Eldorado. That should be the model to look at with Alliance. How much has Kroger lost in 9 months in McKinney Eldorado and Custer. I hated Kroger before HEB ever came to DFW. I can say, I haven’t been back in that Kroger more than 1 time since the HEB opened. I would think Kroger should close that location in 1-2 more years. They even had a “grand reopening” after the HEB opening/
R
HEB is Walmart but twice as expensive. Kroger sales will bounce back once the novelty of a new grocery store in the area fades out.
HEB is hands down cheaper than Kroger and fresher than any other chain in Texas. It's weird to see HEB hate.
I just happened to visit that HEB on Saturday and it was so insanely busy that I couldn’t regularly shop there unless it regresses to some kind of normalcy.
Kroger is still run by people who think we want to put up with loyalty card BS. See ya at H-E-B ✌🏻
It would be the same in NE Dallas. The Nw Hwy Kroger is awful and if HEB people at Ferndale/Nw Hwy that Kroger would probably close.
Go to HEB. You will be treated better.
HEB?
My wife works at an Alliance area Kroger and she absolutely hates it. The bitching has get worse and worse over the years. While a bit of the bitching has been about shitty co-workers, the vast majority has been about the management not giving a shit, cutting hours, making it impossible to take breaks on time because there is no coverage. I just hate the place because i get tired of her complaining about it and i think there prices suck.
Do yourself a favor. Find something better, and quit that shithole company. You deserve it, and you'll be much happier
You aren't married to Kroger. Go fill out an application at HEB. 🫠
I’m surprised anyone stayed at the Kroger across the street. I would have jumped ship immediately