Posted on 08/11/2013 1:59:50 AM PDT by grundle
First off, the reason you probably haven’t heard of WinCo is partly because at this point its stores are limited to a handful of states in the West. But WinCo is a little-known player also because the company is a privately held enterprise that seems to take its privacy seriously, preferring a low-key, low-profile approach—which is extremely rare in a world of retailers boisterously begging for shoppers’ attention.
Simply put, WinCo “communicates low prices by delivering low prices,” Jon Hauptman, a partner at Willard Bishop, a retail consulting firm, told Supermarket News. “WinCo doesn’t do much to communicate price and value. It convinces shoppers of value based on the shopping experience, rather than relying on smoke and mirrors to convince them.”
It all began, interestingly enough, when two Idaho businessmen opened a warehouse-type discount store with a name that could have been pulled from a movie slyly spoofing Walmart. Waremart, it was called. The company became employee-owned in 1985, and changed its name to WinCo (short for “Winning Company”) in 1999.
Prices are kept low through a variety of strategies, the main one being that it often cuts out distributors and other middle men and buys many goods directly from farms and factories. WinCo also trims costs by not accepting credit cards and by asking customers to bag their own groceries.
WinCo has a reputation for doing right by employees. It provides health benefits to all staffers who work at least 24 hours per week. The company also has a pension, with employees getting an amount equal to 20% of their annual salary put in a plan that’s paid for by WinCo; a company spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman that more than 400 nonexecutive workers (cashiers, produce clerks, and such) currently have pensions worth over $1 million apiece.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.time.com ...
Walmart is better logistically than our own government in time of a natural disaster.
Successful privately held business often “create” things.
The larger the company, especially publicly held companies, tend to not be as concerned about customers and employees as the privately held equivalents.
There are exceptions when the CEO or top management are particularly gifted.
Since the mid 1980’s, the LBO acquire then downsize strategy (which seemed to work so well in the beginning) have destroyed a lot of good businesses.
Like government, when businesses ownership/management gets so removed from the customers, insanity tends to develop.
If I remember right, the old cafeteria had a seniors day where senior citizens ate for free. Couldn’t beat those 25 cent hamburgers
Here in SC small Dollar Generals are popping up all over the place, and they are giving Walmart a rough run for their money. These small stores are a head ache. Our Walmart here is poorly managed, and insufficiently stocked. The produce section is an absolute joke. In the electronics department a fabulous expert that knows and speaks Obonics and ebonics very well, and can match up anything on display, whether it fits, or not.
WM is actually running tv price comparison ads vs Dollar General here in Indiana.
Yes they are feeling the competition.
Our local Wally's gotten way too thin on the restock part of that....for about the last two years, they've always been out of several "shopping list" items for as much as a week; way too much empty shelfspace.
In my experience the savings at a Dollar Store, Family Dollar, et al are miniscule on name brands. Often w/in a few pennies of Walmart. Some of their house brand cleaning items, like dish soap, are watered down. Liquidation and ethnic brands like Polar from Central and South America are the best buys. Walmart also stocks Polar and lately, some of the same off brands as Aldi’s.
I occasionally shop the salvage stores. Several in my area are run by Mennonites. You really have to check the expiration dates, but sometimes I get great buys on discontinued items I really like which are no longer available in distribution.
I didn’t know Woodman’s was a chain. They are my favorite store, competitive w/Aldi’s in many areas, but with a huge selection, including ethnic foods. Great produce and produce prices, but Aldi’s has great produce, as well and so does an area co-op.
Debit cards are not just EBT. I have one checking account with a debit option from my local bank. I keep it small, also use it to back up my eBay and PayPal accounts. If it gets hacked, I’m not out much.
You remember right The whole place never looked like much but you couldn’t beat them with a stick.
Some very high fallutin’ fancy people came from the yonder Land of Far Far Away in limos and Mercedes and Audis and Volvos and spent an entire day shopping. At any given moment there were vehicles from all the states around SW PA and every here and there, from states even farther away. And I’ll tell you what, those people spent some serious money.
The shelves would empty so fast and get restocked so fast, nothing had time to get old. You could go to their restaurant and buy a three course all you could eat lunch for less than five bucks.
You could even still get penny candy which the kids LOVED.
It’s been such a long time since I have been able to actually shop in a store I wouldn’t know how to act anymore, but I surely do miss those days.
You have obviously never been to a WinCo.
The prices are much lower than Wal-Mart and they always have plenty of cashiers on duty.
I like WinCo for many reasons. Great prices on bulk foods. It’s basically a Costco grocery store without the membership fees.
Every item is one dollar at the
Dollar Tree.
everything is a different price and usually much more than a dollar at the dollar general store.
so i shop at the Dollar tree and avoid the dollar general stores.
I also save time trying to price items and do accounting . time is also money .Dollar tree and walmart are the only places I shop.Walmart has more variety than dollar tree.
Did anyone else notice the hate filled, whiny nature of this screed?
I doubt they will have much luck in Arizona, because the grocery store competition there is murderous.
The largest chain is Kroger’s, which is ginormous, has a huge selection and moderate prices.
Then there is Bashas, and its Mexican oriented sub chain Food City, and high end sub chain AJ’s, and Bashas Dine, oriented to the Navajo tribe. It is mostly limited to Arizona. Food City always has huge sales on produce at silly low prices, often 3 pounds of whatever for a dollar.
Higher end, but not high end is Safeway, the second largest grocery chain after Kroger.
Sunflower/Sprouts market, which is a big health food oriented box store.
Affiliated Food co-op, Food 4 Less, Pro’s Ranch Market, etc.
Fresh and Easy, the UK chain, came into Arizona bragging as well, and proceeded to get its teeth kicked in. It is now leaving. A quick walk through one of their stores told me all I needed to know, that they were duck food.
Oh, yeah, there is Wal-Mart in Arizona as well. It’s groceries are fairly high priced compared to Kroger and Bashas.
And I didn’t even mention the bulk food stores like Costco, and Sam’s Club. But they are only competitive if you are buying a huge amount of food.
Another good thing about winco, no unions. Several in se idaho plus a huge distribution center in boise.
There is a WinCo, Walmart, and two local stores close to me in Oregon. WinCo prices are 20 to 30% below the other stores. If you don’t get to WinCo before 9:00 am, you’ll be fighting a crowd. They do an incredible amount of business compared to other stores.
Winco is a very well managed company that figured out it’s go to market strategy and rarely deviate from their strategy. They’ve also been very smart about growing the company and have made wise choices in where they locate their stores. They’ve also strategically placed their own warehouses for fast moving products close to their stores.
Winco has in fact caused some large chains to close stores...at least in WA and OR. So while Wally World isn’t exactly shaking in their boots...Winco has in fact taken some of the food business away from Wally World in the WA and OR markets.
Winco is also similar to Costco re employee retention. Because both Costco and Winco pay higher salaries and have good benefit plans, employees at both of these companies stay longer and there is less turn over...less turnover also reduces employee costs.
But to say Walmart is afraid of Winco...not likely. Walmart needs to be afraid of their own business model as they are struggling not to implode from within. IMO...Walmart will figure out how to retool and continue to do very, very well...at least for the owners of Walmart.
When a company is employee owned there is no reason for them to even attempt to outpace the international companies. I am certain the executives are well paid and the employees aren’t worried about their futures either.
“You have obviously never been to a WinCo.”
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No, never heard of them, but I have not been to ANY American store in the last ten years.
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