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It’s The New Lucky
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It’s The New Lucky If you’re not on the west coast, then you can visit www.groceryoutlets.com to see what type of store Grocery Outlet truly is. As its website says, “We are truly the store for bargains on grocery, household and health and beauty care products. We have a large selection of frozen food and deli items, plus produce and milk, at big savings.” Not only that, but the Grocery Outlet markets also carry an extensive beer and wine selection. Putting fun into food shopping, Grocery Outlet allows customers to win prizes by simply playing games. Their website offers both a chance to win two dollars if you can complete a word scramble, and the chance to win a ten dollar gift card after revealing your favorite shopping experience at Grocery Outlet. To sum it up, the 124-unit chain, “extreme-value” supermarkets offer its customers bargains and closeouts at stores throughout AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR and WA. Growth opportunities are being sought throughout northern CA and the Pacific Northwest. Grocery Outlet hopes to continue its success with a new store opening in Rocklin, CA called the “New” Lucky. Grocery Outlet refers to its most recent opening as “new” due to not only a current disagreement with Albertsons markets, but also as a means to give shoppers what Grocery Outlet currently offers and much more. “The New Lucky has a mix of closeout merchandise along with expanded perishables and basic grocery needs. It has the look and feel of a neighborhood grocery store, with low prices and ample service,” says Jon Wylie, the Vice President of Marketing for Grocery Outlet. Grocery Outlet’s preferred demographics includes a population of 10,000 within three miles earning $50,000 as the average household income. “The New Lucky will cater to a somewhat higher demographic than Grocery Outlet,” said Wylie.
The first difference between Grocery Outlet and the New Lucky is just the basics. Grocery Outlet’s current stores occupy spaces of 20,000 sq.ft. in specialty, strip and value centers, with a land area requirement of two acres. A typical lease runs five years and a basic shell is required. The New Lucky, however, will have a few changes, such as looking for sites in both strip centers and freestanding locations. “In the 1990s, when Lucky was part of American Stores, the footprints were quite large at 40,000 sq.ft. to 60,000 sq.ft. The New Lucky will have a much smaller footprint, probably 20,000 sq.ft. to 25,000 sq.ft.,” said Wylie. And while Grocery Outlet’s preferred cotenants include drug stores and value retailers, the New Lucky prefers to be near other retailers focused on women, such as fabric stores, clothing stores and dollar stores. And while Grocery Outlet cites Wal*Mart Supercenter as competition, the New Lucky will keep it simple. “Everybody selling foods, such as convenient stores and drug stores, supermarkets or supercenters and extreme value retailers would be considered as competition,” said Wylie.
Thanks to a federal judge’s ruling denying Albertsons’ restraining order against Grocery Outlet’s use of the Lucky name, the New Lucky is poised for growth. Since Albertsons hadn’t used the Lucky name since 1999, Grocery Outlet registered the Lucky name with a federal trademark office in hopes to not only revive the name, but to renew it. “We are not trying to clone the ‘old’ Lucky, thus we want to refer to this as the ‘new’ Lucky,” Wylie said. While that may be so, Albertsons isn’t buying it. However, the judge’s ruling is a good sign and Grocery Outlet, also known as the largest remarketing grocer in the United States, hopes to expand the New Lucky concept. If and when Grocery Outlet plans to open more Lucky stores, they will probably be in CA. Considering what the New Lucky will have to offer, locals would more than likely embrace a future expansion. “The New Lucky will offer a compact shopping environment with high service, a focus on both sharp pricing and perishables. It will be a little like the food retailers of the 1950s and 1960s” said Wylie.
Despite the dispute Grocery Outlet must face with Albertsons, the company is staying strong. Grocery Outlet has been weighing in with the federal law, declaring that companies that do not use trademarked names for three years lose exclusive rights to those trademarks. Albertsons must now prove that they have indeed used the Lucky name, at any time, within the past three to six years; and Grocery Outlet feels confident that the usage cannot be verified.
For even more information about Grocery Outlet and the New Lucky, contact Marc Drasin, Vice President of Real Estate, Grocery Outlet, Inc., 2000 5th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710-1918; 510- 704-2819, Fax 510-649-1484; Email: mdrasin@cfgo.com. |