Dear Editor:
I must get into this Wal-Mart battle. My expertise with this is
that I have been in the grocery industry all my working life.
Dear Editor:
I must get into this Wal-Mart battle. My expertise with this is that I have been in the grocery industry all my working life. I have built over 17 stores for Nob Hill all over the Bay Area. Mr. Dillon’s comments to Mrs. Rogers are wrong, with much sarcasms and unfair to someone only stating her concern for a better community in which to live.
In my development and research where to put the next Nob Hill, we always us the calculation of 3,000 homes within a 10-mile radius to place a new store. This is the minimum in which we begin our research for a new location. Mrs. Rogers is accurate with the 3,000 residents if she was referring to homes and not people. This would relate to about approximately 7,000 people within a 10-mile radius.
The problem with Mr. Dillon stating that Costco is not a conventional grocery store is correct, however, that non conventional store reduced the sales of Safeway, Nob Hill and I would put my best guess that would include PW and those other retail stores selling food at a reduction of 10 to 15 percent of their business. Will they survive? Most likely yes, because they will adjust their labor and expenses to their sales. This will incurs layoffs but not to the degree that the unions will say. In my option Wal-Mart has every right to build their new store and the public will decided their success.
Buying groceries at Wal-Mart will never be a pleasant experience but they do have a customer. Pricing is their driven momentum and service is non-existent. Their marketing commercials are great but what actually happens at store level is another story. Nob Hill, PW and Safeway will have to do what they do best and that is make grocery shopping a pleasure and not an trying event. I am not against Wal-Mart but Mr. Dillon don’t pick on someone trying to make Gilroy a better place.
Jim Oteri, Gilroy
Submitted Wednesday, Oct. 29 to
ed****@ga****.com
