Omaha Forums

Baker's stores spruce up

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=46&u_sid=2201326

Major remodeling at two of its 13 stores and work on different aspects of others are part of Baker's Supermarkets' effort to put a new face on its business.

Baker's, a family-owned company established in 1926, was acquired by Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., a publicly traded company, in 2001. The Baker family sold the supermarket chain to Fleming Co. in 1992.

"We understand that Baker's has been through a lot of changes in a very competitive market in Omaha," said Philip Farmer, manager of the Omaha-area stores. "The changes customers should be seeing in the stores are indications that people really should take a fresh look at Baker's."

Baker's bought three Albertsons stores in 2004, and since then it has closed or sold five stores in the Omaha area, including one last year in Frederick Square on 84th Street about two blocks south of West Center Road.

Farmer said Kroger had to close some low-performing stores.

If they truly wanted to stand out in the market they should locate a large grocer in DTO.

MTO wrote:If they truly wanted to stand out in the market they should locate a large grocer in DTO.

-That HAS to be hard to do. Profit margins on many food items are so small, I wonder if they would be able to overcome the extremely high rent charges and be able to attract customers with very little parking.

It looks like the Bakes @ about 156 & West Center is getting a makeover too. This stor is about 5 - 6 years old and I was in there a couple of weeks ago and it was all tore up. Lot of construction plastic hanging in the ceilings ready to be droped down and all the sinage off the walls.

That being said, the WalMart at 180th & W Center is getting a complete makover too and it is even nwer than the Bakers. New floors, new shelving, new color sceme, same old Walmart.

nebugeater wrote:It looks like the Bakes @ about 156 & West Center is getting a makeover too....

Are you talking about the Bakers at 174th and Center? (Lakeside)

Lonnie

lonnie wrote:

nebugeater wrote:It looks like the Bakes @ about 156 & West Center is getting a makeover too....

Are you talking about the Bakers at 174th and Center? (Lakeside)

Lonnie

Yes, had 156th on my mind after reading the artical about the one at 156 & Dodge. Thanks for the catch!!

The money they could have saved by not remodeling could have been used to finance a DTO location.

The Baker's at Twin Creek in Bellevue is getting remodeled. Also, the Wal-Mart in Bellevue is getting completely remodeled.

Yea, they better spruce up, Hy Vee has been kickin their butts lately. (Biased b/c I'm a HyVee employee, I just can't ever pass up an opportunity to slam bakers)

OmahaJaysCU wrote:Yea, they better spruce up, Hy Vee has been kickin their butts lately. (Biased b/c I'm a HyVee employee, I just can't ever pass up an opportunity to slam bakers)

I worked at Baker's for 5 years, and now I just about never go. I drive the extra few min to a Hy-Vee because Bakers has NO Customerservice skills anymore and that is what they were famous for. Hy-Vee is big, bright, clean, cheep, and lots of people working. Hopefully they will never go to the self checkout systems like the other stores have. That just slows everything down.

^^I hate the self-checkout thing! If you don't place the items in the bag at the perfect time or perfectly on the scale thing the damn alarm goes off. Whats also stupid is then they pay someone to watch it, why not just let them do it themselves.

Oh and the Hy Vee on 132 and Dodge has self checkout.

Bakers at Deerfield needs major work. At least half of the time I go in there, it smells of spoiled food. Lots of "manager specials" trying to get rid of things that have been affected too, in my opinion. Really a shame. They have really given up on this location.

All other things aside..In the price comparison battle, Hy Vee pretty much kicks Baker's behind all over the place..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

nebugeater wrote:Baker's, HyVee, Walmart, Target ect all have difforent prices at difforent locations on items that are not in their advertised flyers. I go to the Hyvee on L by the stockyards area at noon once in a while and go to the one on 180th & Q. The prices are not the same. You guess witch is lower, it may not be as straight forward as you think.

-I once read an article about Wal*Mart doing. If I remember correctly, the company admitted it. While, the argument could be made that this is a good thing, helping out the less fortunate, I am sure people would still blast them for it.

About the whole what gets charged where thing, I've noticed that gas on north 30th consistently costs more than the same companies charge on north 72nd to 120th. Then it goes up again to the west. It's like the middle class joes get a gas break but those not quite in the middle get the shaft.

As for the grocery stores, I've gotten home only to discover I bought food past the expiration date multiple times at Hy-Vee and Bakers. The only things I'll buy at those places now is frozen food. I stick to Wild Oats and SuperTarget for dairy and produce. If I have a last minute pickup at hyvee or bakers I always check the expiration date because 50% of the time, the first thing I grab is expired.

The idea behind charging less in wealthier areas is basically because some reatailers believe that wealthier people are smarter shopers and if the prices are too high they will go somewhere else. Basically, it plays with the false stereotypes that poor people are poor because they're dumb. No idea who came up with that, but I've read that somewhere before.

When I lived in Cedar Rapids Iowa I lived next door to a HyVee manager. The story I got was that each store had a margin factor that was used to calculate shelf price. It include all the overheads like utilities, labor, theft, Capital depreciation, ect. The smaller stores, lower volume stores had to carry a larger % on each purchase along with teh fact that sone items were more at some stores. There was one store in Cedar Rapids where the Theaft number really effectected the toatl.

As for the two stores I mentioned in the post above, the HyVee on L by the Old stockyard is consistantly higher then the one on 180th & Q.

As a Baker's associate, I can guarantee that our prices are the same at all of the locations in Omaha. I realize that it hasn't always been that way, but I would challenge someone now to find a product that we sell at different prices around the city. (Other than in-store specials.)

On a side note...(and I know this to be true)...I think it is huge that the editor of the World-Herald personally called Baker's to arrange an interview because he has noticed the changes going on. [/quote]

As a Baker's associate, I can guarantee that our prices are the same at all of the locations in Omaha. I realize that it hasn't always been that way, but I would challenge someone now to find a product that we sell at different prices around the city. (Other than in-store specials.)

Baker's has said for years and it wasn't true. It could be true now that they have closed almost every store EAST of 72md street, not including bellevue!

The price difference between the Baker's locations at 120th and 132nd and West Center and the Oakview Hy Vee is VERY noticable (Hy Vee prices being consistently less on most items than both Baker's)..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Would you guys say the major Bakers quality shift came with Kroegers or before?

To me, there was a noticeable difference (for the worse) in Baker's customer service several years before Kroger's took over..

Today, other than the name, the place is not even recognizable as a 'true' Baker's anymore..But like I stated, that process began to occur probably 5 years before the 'big bad' moved in..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Omaha Cowboy wrote:To me, there was a noticeable difference (for the worse) in Baker's customer service several years before Kroger's took over..

Today, other than the name, the place is not even recognizable as a 'true' Baker's anymore..But like I stated, that process began to occur probably 5 years before the 'big bad' moved in..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

When Flemming Foods bought them.

Correct me on my timetable Brad..

Kroger's moved in 2001/2002..Flemming was mid 90's right?..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Omaha Cowboy wrote:Correct me on my timetable Brad..

Kroger's moved in 2001/2002..Flemming was mid 90's right?..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

I started in the June 1993 and Flemming had just bought them. Jack Baker kept saying "we are still Baker's, we just have Deeper pockets" Well the pockets were not that deep because Flemming Foods went bankrupt.

It was around the mid-late 90's when it became very noticeable to me, the overall drop in quality customer service at Baker's..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

I've noticed for years that the prices in the older parts of Omaha for stuff like food and gas are always higher then out west which upsets me off. You'd think they'd make stuff higher out west and lower in the east. Basically there screwing the poorer folk.

OPlaya wrote:I've noticed for years that the prices in the older parts of Omaha for stuff like food and gas are always higher then out west which upsets me off. You'd think they'd make stuff higher out west and lower in the east. Basically there screwing the poorer folk.

-Well, one thing you have to consider is the much higher losses from theft. When I was in high school, I worked at Half Price Store on 132nd and Center and my girlfriend at the time worked at Target on Saddle Creek. I did a paper for one of my high school classes. For the life of me, I cannot remember what the point of the paper was, but I know I interviewed people from the Loss Department for both stores. The average annual items stolen at the Half Price Store was around $150,000 a year. The amount at Target was near a million dollars a year.

But still it's f'ed up.

refreshed wrote:Bakers at Deerfield needs major work.

Throwback Tuesday - the exterior of Deerfield is getting a $30k facelift.

I wonder if they think with a Freddy's in their front yard, a BP Bucky's across the street and the Lumberyard starting up, that Deerfield might have a resurrection...

Coyote wrote:

refreshed wrote:Bakers at Deerfield needs major work.

Throwback Tuesday - the exterior of Deerfield is getting a $30k facelift.

I wonder if they think with a Freddy's in their front yard, a BP Bucky's across the street and the Lumberyard starting up, that Deerfield might have a resurrection...

Deerfield needs an execution. That place looks awful.

It looks like Woodhouse is now interested in Deerfield Plaza. They will be taking over the old True Value bay.

...to sell cars?

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:...to sell cars?

If they took over that whole area from TrueValue to Baker's, you could have a dealership similar to Plaza. I don't know what kind of lease the Flea Market and Dollar Tree have though.

There's plenty of unused parking lot to put cars on.

If it's just the one bay, maybe they want more office space.

The Sadlle Creek Baker's now has a Murray's Cheese Kiosk:

What I wish Kroger (Baker's) would spruce up, is their craft beer offerings. Compared to most every HyVee bottle shop in the Omaha metro, Baker's gets crushed. It's embarrassing..

But then again, the Kroger model for Omaha doesn't appear to put too much stock in craft beer selection...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Coyote wrote:The Sadlle Creek Baker's now has a Murray's Cheese Kiosk:

Picked up some Murray's Flagship Cheddar tonight. It's delicious.

Nice to see them investing in their midtown store.

Greg

choke wrote:

Coyote wrote:The Sadlle Creek Baker's now has a Murray's Cheese Kiosk:

Picked up some Murray's Flagship Cheddar tonight. It's delicious.

But do they have american cheese singles wrapped individually in plastic?

nebugeater wrote:

choke wrote:

Coyote wrote:The Sadlle Creek Baker's now has a Murray's Cheese Kiosk:

Picked up some Murray's Flagship Cheddar tonight. It's delicious.

But do they have american cheese singles wrapped individually in plastic?

Ha. I'm guessing they will at some point. I see that Kroger acquired Murray's here recently so I would expect the quality to go down hill fast along with wrapped, sliced cheese singles.