No Frills taking over another Baker's stores

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:02 pm

OWH wrote: No Frills to acquire Baker's store at 50th & G Streets

The Baker's grocery store at 50th and G Streets will become part of the No Frills Supermarkets group at the end of April.

No Frills announced Monday that the Omaha-based company had bought the 50th and G store from Baker's parent company, Kroger Co. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The sale comes after an earlier announcement by Kroger of poor companywide earnings in 2004 that included a $128 million net loss. Kroger officials promised to deliver better results this year.

The 50th and G store will be closed from 5 p.m. April 24 until 6 a.m. April 28 to allow No Frills to make renovations, which will include reopening the store's cafe. The cafe was integral to the store as a gathering place for the neighborhood, Rich Juro, No Frills chief executive, said in a press release.

Fred Witecy, executive vice president and chief operating officer for No Frills, said the store also will have a Daddio's pizza, which has Italian and Mexican food prepared to customers' orders.

After the conversion to No Frills, the store also will have self-checkout lanes.

The 73,000-square-foot store opened in 1990. It now employs between 80 and 100 people, which Witecy said could increase if No Frills increases the volume of customers.

"That all is based on sales," Witecy said. "We're projecting to have more volume, but I can't tell you until we get in there and run it."

No Frills now has acquired two former Baker's locations, the other in the Vinton neighborhood.

In June, No Frills and Bag 'N Save purchased 10 Albertsons stores after Albertsons abandoned the Omaha market. No Frills later purchased the former Albertsons store in Papillion, which had been closed since 2002.

Some of the changes in the grocery business can be traced to the increased competition from Wal-Mart, Witecy said.

"It's a fast-changing market environment," he said. "Once they come in things change, and either you stay and try to fight them, or you leave."

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, owns the Baker's chain through its Kansas-based Dillon Stores unit. Dillon officials did not return calls seeking comment.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:49 pm

Bloody heck!

This should be the other way around. Bakers should be taking over and making upscale the |expletive| that No Frills puts out.

j4nu · Post by **j4nu** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:41 pm

The thing is, Bakers have been slipping in quality since Kroger took over. Anymore, Hyvee is a supperior store in most cases.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:08 pm

Yes but No Frills is bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality super markets. They don't even bag your groceries. To me this only seems to be adding to the area's decline.

OmahaRules · Post by **OmahaRules** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:41 pm

What? Paying Bakers prices just so they can bag your groceries makes no sense. I would much rather see the money saved by paying No Frills prices and spent other places then to pay Bakers money to bag my groceries. First of all those annoying cards they use to track what you buy is absolutely ridiculous. Second if you happen to forget your card you have to pay outrageous prices. Give me a break that it helps promote the decline of the area. Paying higher prices for groceries doesn't make a store "upscale".

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:48 pm

It's been a while since I've been in No Frills... but the Bag and Save at 144th and West Center seems to be kept up every bit as well as the old Albertson's... and the prices really are that much lower... I can handle bagging my groceries. Oh yeah... and it's locally owned!

Raraavis · Post by **Raraavis** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:08 pm

I agree Hy-Vee has surpassed the Kroger/Bakers stores as the high end Omaha grocery chain. The new Hy-Vee at 156th and Maple is very nice.

With record high fuel prices this summer food prices are going to be skyrocketing. It is going to get real crowded at Bag n' Save, No Frills, and Super Wal-mart.

No Frills and Bag n' Save are both locally owned, Hy-Vee is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa. Hy-Vee is ranked as the 16th largest supermarket chain in the US, Wal-Mart is #1, Kroger is #2, and Albertsons is #3.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:46 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote: They don't even bag your groceries.

Guess which store my mom always dragged me and my brothers too? No-Frills and Aldi's. Aldi's charges for bags so we always brought our own. Now that's tacky.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:48 pm

does anyone see the trend here. Excluding Bellevue, there will be no more Baker's east of 72nd St, except that tiny little one up on north 30th st, which is right by a big No Frills so I don't think that one will be around much longer.

??? Who are they catering to???

See "new Bakers" on the rumor page

pieces_of_u · Post by **pieces_of_u** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:54 pm

Guess which store my mom always dragged me and my brothers too? No-Frills and Aldi's. Aldi's charges for bags so we always brought our own. Now that's tacky.

they charged for bags....????

now that's what i call pathetic customer service!

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:43 pm

The last time the cheerful little checker girl at Bakers told me gleefully that I saved $9.36 with my Bakers card I told her that Bakers needs to lower the prices and we wouldn't have to worry about the card.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:01 pm

You know the reason they have the bakers card is because it records the records of what you buy, so for instance if there were some kind of lawsuit where you slipped and broke a leg in their store, they could look on your record and show that you've bought a lot of alcohol in the past, so they could make an argument as to you being drunk at the time. The other reason is to record trends and reorder food, but those aren't as fun to talk about.

Oh yea, as a HyVee employee, we kick butt!

projectman · Post by **projectman** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:04 pm

Well they will never find out about my time in jail. I only pimped for a couple of years until I could get back on my feet.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:44 pm

Aldi's also charges for carts, but you get the quarter back. It's so people don't walk off with them. I swear we would come out of that place with 6 carts full of stuff. I hated going there because it meant loading the stuff in the cart, taking it rom the register to the bagging area, bagging the food, loading the car, unloading the car, and putting all of the stuff away after we moved it 5 times.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:02 pm

Aldi's also charges for carts, but you get the quarter back. It's so people don't walk off with them.

I don't know about you but if I really wanted a shopping cart, or wanted to do something mischevious with one, my quarter deposit won't keep me from running off.

Aldi's is horrible. I'm in the pay-for-what-I-get camp and I would gladly pay a little extra for name brand foods, a cleaner store and more convience. Maybe I'm biased because I have bad memories of shopping with a great grandma in a real rathole of an Aldi's in Missouri, but I wouldn't buy a can of creamed corn in that place if it were the last store standing. It's closed on Sundays too.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:22 pm

From the outside... Fareway looks almost identical to Aldi with the exception of it's even more hideous use of a yellow plastic canopy. Anyone have impressions to share on Fareway? It's closed on Sunday as well.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:26 pm

I'm not big on Fareway either but you won't find a better meat department, even in the full service grocery stores. Unless the newer Aldi's have changed formats, Fareway more or less resembles a typical grocery store set-up from about 25 years ago. Aldi had product scattered pretty willy-nilly with narrow aisles and shelves that make you feel like you're shopping in a small bodega in the Bronx.

The funny thing is that Aldi is one of the better grocery stores to shop in in Germany.

OmahaRules · Post by **OmahaRules** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:26 pm

I shopped at the new Fareway on 72nd and Giles. The store itself is small and really doesn't have much but the meat counter is great. Its worth the trip itself I got 2 8 ounce bacon wrapped filets for $5.99. Fantastic deal, some of the best steak I have had. That was a special though but pretty much I only go there for meat.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:26 pm

Where's that at?

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:27 pm

Ain't that how it goes. You post your ? the same time as your answer.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:34 pm

I have been to the Fareway on 168th and Harrison. Small sort of retro - but yes the meat counter is what it is known for. Ran into a nurse from the Med Center there who was from Iowa and was so happy Fareway came to Omaha - she said it was the only place to buy groceries - so I guess it has a good reputation.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:39 pm

I grew up with Shaver's at 90th and Center... and I'll never forget being in shock when I walked into Cub Foods for the first time (when was that... like 1990 or so?) ... nearly being run over by a fork lift carefully placing a pallet of Fruit Loops a couple of stories above me.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:48 pm

I'm wondering how many people who hate bagging your own groceries are in the "we need an IKEA" camp. The only thing they do for you there is take your money. And I'm talking about moving heavy, hernia-indoucing furniture.

I'd rather see NFM thrive and expand to more cities.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:04 pm

Anyone ever been to Phil's on 30th and Ames? Now THAT place is geto. The milk was always out past the expiration date. I think they thought the expiration date was the day to put in on the shelf. You were in line forever because everyone had to talk with their frineds. There were no legit magazines, just Ebony, Black Hair, Tupac Lives, Jet, and the tabloids. They also have old guys that sit there and give rides for $5 if you didn't have a car. They called them jitneys. If you ever get the chance I would recommend going there for the experience.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 7:32 pm

I know they have them in Chicago.

I'd like to see the eventual downtown grocery store be a Trader Joes.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:20 pm

I do like how they match other people's sale prices too, most of the time w/o out checking up on it to see if its true...not that I would lie...

pieces_of_u · Post by **pieces_of_u** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:24 pm

our walmart...we no longer do price matching that requires ads...we just do it - and yah- some do lie - and i think that's no fair when they do that for a full cart of groceries!

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:42 pm

walmart is an evil corporation

OmahaRules · Post by **OmahaRules** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:04 pm

I agree about Wal-Mart being a evil corporation. But thats why I love capitalism! Greedy, Evil corporations have their place with the respect they deserve.

guy4omaha · Post by **guy4omaha** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:19 pm

jhuston wrote:From the outside... Fareway looks almost identical to Aldi with the exception of it's even more hideous use of a yellow plastic canopy. Anyone have impressions to share on Fareway? It's closed on Sunday as well.

I lived in Iowa for about 10 years and Fareway has a great reputation there. Its meat counter is a real attraction. It is not like the big, big stores and is not trying to be. The pendulum always swings and it may capture an audience for being a throwback to "simpler" times.

If they get a location here in Northwest Omaha, Fareway will get the majority of my business.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:23 pm

I usually don't do this but...

[rant]I agree that capitalism is good - but when a giant bully moves down the street and sucks dry an entire community without giving anything in return destroying their infrastructure and just smiles when 65 year old Mertle can only pay for her medication by being a greeter at the same Walmart that put her 40 year market out of business, there is something very unethical about this. I refuse to support the Waltons in their plunder and pillaging tactics and would rather support some local merchant whom I know puts my financial offerings to them back into our local economy.[/rant]

mchine73 · Post by **mchine73** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:15 pm

I personally can't stand going to walmart. They make you feel like cattle, their customer service is horrible(but what do you expect when you're paying your cashier $7.00 an hour). However they do buy from small manufactures, a buddy of mine's father made a deal to sell something like 600,000 cases of baked goods(not a bad deal at $15 a case).

To get this back on topic, the thing my grandmother always complained about was that they put so much damn salt in their pork chops. But, if your going grocery shopping at ole' wally world what do you expect.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:19 pm

I can't even believe I'm sharing this but my mom had the nerve to |expletive| when she got a bad hair cut at Walmart. How embarrasing. Me and my brothers still give her |expletive| for that.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:54 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:Yes but No Frills is bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality super markets. They don't even bag your groceries. To me this only seems to be adding to the area's decline.

The No Frills in Papillion does bag your groceries automatically. It is a very nice store...with a coffee bar and fresh seafood. Not all No Frills are like this, but the trend does seem to be to make them nicer.

Golden Eagle · Post by **Golden Eagle** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:07 pm

You know, I was in Omaha a few months ago (2) and took a little side journey through Council Bluffs. I was coming up from Dallas, seeing relatives in Sioux City, and ventured off of I 29 into Omaha a little too, and thought I would check out Council Bluffs to. Now I was very impressed with Omaha. But Council Bluffs disgusted me. I went a ways down Broadway, and saw a total of two of those god awful looking No Frills Supercenters, and many other ghetto buildings. There was some butt ugly high school (people were boasting about this on SSP, is it new or something?) and countless pawn shops. Very reminiscent of Oak Cliff south of Downtown Dallas.

Are these No Frills Supercenters really a good thing?

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:19 pm

No... No Frills aren't really a good thing... but they have been raising their standards somewhat as they've backfilled in Albertson's absence. Same goes for Bag and Save. Their west Omaha stores, thus far, seem to be clean, well maintained.

But I just wanted to let you know you missed the best part of Council Bluffs... it's downtown district and bluff clinging neighborhoods. Let's face it... every city has it's 'Broadway'. It just happens to be Council Bluff's 'welcome mat'.

A few photos of beautiful and historic downtown Council Bluffs...

http://www.eomaha.com/gallery/cb/downtown/
http://www.eomaha.com/gallery/cb/residential/

And of course you'll find the best views of Omaha from CB
http://www.eomaha.com/gallery/lewisclark/

GoWest · Post by **GoWest** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:39 am

I always liked the No Frills in Millard until it closed. I just wanted the lowest prices and the least crowded store and I think No Frills fit the bill. I could care less if they bagged my stuff. They always had interesting employees as well. Purple haired punk rockers and leather wearing head bangers need jobs too. The only thing I like about Bakers is their self checkout lane. I think its one of the best working self checkouts there is.

skibum21 · Post by **skibum21** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:02 am

Golden Eagle wrote: I went a ways down Broadway, and saw a total of two of those god awful looking No Frills Supercenters,
Are these No Frills Supercenters really a good thing?

Really there are only two grocery stores along Broadway, only one is a No Frills. But yes, no Frills has an ugly appearance. The only school on Broadway is Thomas Jefferson and it's a historic building recently renovated. I guess that's what you are talking about? I don't know what ssp is.
Glad you were impressed with Omaha though. Where did you go?

Golden Eagle · Post by **Golden Eagle** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:10 pm

My uncle in Sioux City is the curator at the Sioux City art Museum. It is a step up from his old position at the Joslin Art Museum, which I don't mind telling you was my first destination when I arrived in Omaha.

This belongs in a differant thread, but thank you for A, welcoming me, and B, showing interest in my trip.

On another side note, is jhuston the person that goes as eomaha on SSP (http://www.skyscraperpage.com, D rated urban forum, SSC is better) that posted those same pics?

I am not one for urban blight, and I wimp out when I see it. So whatever was at the end of that ugly rainbow I'll have to see another time.

I am glad No Frills maintain West Omaha supercenters better than Council Bluffs supercenters.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:24 pm

Golden Eagle wrote:This belongs in a differant thread, but thank you for A, welcoming me, and B, showing interest in my trip.

On another side note, is jhuston the person that goes as eomaha on SSP (http://www.skyscraperpage.com, D rated urban forum, SSC is better) that posted those same pics?

GE,

You will find several people here that post to SSP, eOmaha (jhuston) StreetsofOmaha, Zephyr, GRID...

Welcome here.