Under Burkle, the chain tried to find new ways to woo shoppers. In March, the chain said it was closing 50 stores and rolling out new store formats. Ideas included even smaller convenience stores and an e-commerce service that allows customers to buy groceries online and have food waiting curbside at the store. Now, the company is hoping for a new owner willing to give it another go.
Any potential buyers, such as German budget grocery chain Aldi or drugstore company CVS, will be going for the real estate. Musk blames glitches on early Model S cars; one report says Tesla reliability improves. Shan Li covered the retail and restaurant industries for the Los Angeles Times. She previously reported on the California economy and the technology sector. A Texas native, she graduated from the business school at New York University, where she decided journalism was much more interesting than a job on Wall Street.
She left The Times in SpaceX crew launch marks space travelers in 60 years. Hot inflation report slams bond market, sends stocks lower. Justice Department sues Uber over wait-time fees charged to disabled passengers. The original vision was to transform the struggling company into a chain of healthful convenience stores, a kind of Whole Foods meets local mini-mart. To test the concept, Yucaipa rebranded a Scottsdale, Ariz. Another Las Vegas store also experimented with new ideas such as a hot food bar and an espresso bar.
Since then, Yucaipa has also diversified its investments beyond supermarkets, so it can no longer focus all of its time and money in the grocery space, Flickinger said. This year, the grocer tumbled into bankruptcy again and said it would sell or close its remaining stores.
Yucaipa did make some changes. Store hours were expanded, with some locations open until midnight and others turning into hour operations. That drove down sales dramatically at many stores.
They were also briefly allowed to order extra products to create displays, but that authority was quickly taken away. For instance, another manager said, Ralphs can be seen as a full-service supermarket, and Whole Foods has developed a reputation for upscale shopping and fresh produce.
Tesco had sunk millions into an ,square-foot distribution center, which put enormous pressure on the chain to quickly expand. Those problems got worse under Yucaipa after suppliers were changed, the employee said. Meats would arrive already brown, and fruits and vegetables would be spoiling. Shelves would be empty of popular items, sometimes for weeks at a time.
Problems multiplied as Yucaipa cut costs, including slashing employee hours and shutting 50 stores this year in California, Arizona and Nevada. With fewer stores, distribution can get trickier, analysts said.
On the store level, employees said they scrambled to complete tasks as their hours were drastically reduced this year. At one store, managers had to work off the clock just to clean up, an employee said. Events Innovation Festival. Follow us:. By Kate Rockwood 1 minute Read. Design Co. Design Forget wind turbines. Start harnessing the tides for energy Co.
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