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April 28, 2008

Giant Food Stores to Offer Less Selection

2007_1026_giant.jpgThe Associated Press had a story over the weekend reporting that as part of their restructuring efforts, Giant Food grocery stores are discontinuing many products that don't sell as well to make room for larger quantities of fewer products.

Those of us who regularly shop at Giant aren't quite sure how to feel about this. The AP quotes a couple of customers complaining that having an even worse selection of items is exactly the opposite of what Giant should be doing, and it's hard to disagree with that, but every Giant seems to be different: I live two blocks away from the O Street Giant, and yet once a month or so, I get a Zipcar and drive up to the Columbia Heights store, because it has a much wider and more reliable selection of many items. I can mostly find what I need at the closer store, but there are more than a handful of items I want to buy that just aren't available to me unless I go to the other one. The reality that all Giants will pare down the number of different goods they carry could well send me elsewhere for that trip, like the new Harris Teeter.

What's your Giant experience? We know they have a relatively negative reputation, but the company is at least now trying to fix up their stores and make improvements. Have you noticed items disappearing from the shelves already? Are you more interested in making sure their prices stay low rather than having a lot of specialty food items available?

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Comments (75) [rss]

as long as they continue to carry peanut butter, jelly, Kendall Jackson, and lubricated domes, I have no complaints.

 

Indeed. Like a few people I know, I don't mind a little Kraft Mac & Cheese now and again. I noticed recently that the CH Giant appeared to stop carrying the single-serving box (though they do have the five-pack, along with Spirals, Shrek-shape, and a few boxes of whole grain). Sent them an email & they confirmed that it had been discontinued.

Really? Shrek shapes are more popular than the standard variety?? I don't buy it. (Well, I did...)

 

i hate giant. i can't wait to move back to CT so i can get my groceries at super stop and shop. giant has crappy produce and i always leave the store not being able to get things that I need. a smaller selection is the exact wrong thing for giant to do.

 

i really don't have a problem with this. i don't need to choose from 10 different types of orange juice, wheat crackers, or string cheeses. hopefully it will make it easier to just get in and get out. without worrying if i got the most whitening-est toothpaste out of the 20 varieties available.

 

I no longer shop at Giant or Safeway. I no longer put up with dirty stores, empty shelves, and rude treatment from store employees. I now do all of my shopping at either Trader joe's or Harris Teeter. Both offer much more enjoyable experiences.

 

While it's no whole foods, and I don't want it to be, it is great for everyday shopping. I do 98% of my shopping at Giant. If they get rid of many of the things I buy, I will have to go elsewhere. I'll have to see if any of my regular items are white tagged.

 

If you live only two blocks from the O Street Giant, you're probably in walking distance of the P St Whole Foods too. Is the cost of the Zip Car plus driving to another Giant still cheaper than just shopping at WF? I know other people say WF is ridiculously expensive, but every time I price compare, it's about the same as Giant, Safeway, and Harris Teeters in similar neighborhoods (two exceptions: junk food that WF doesn't carry and old stock they're trying to get rid of, which I think WF must throw out, donate, or turn into its prepared foods).

The new HT had some good deals on ice cream, mangos, etc., but everything else there looks like its within 20 cents of the WF price.

 

First they start shrinking icecream packages without shrinking the price, and now this. This is a Giant mistake...

 

Except for the sales (a lot of 50% off & 2-for-1), I avoid Giant as the prices generally are higher than the other stores, even tho I have a frequent buyer card.

I live in Mo Co so there are plenty of cheaper choices. The closest ones to our home are SFW which is pretty cheap & still good variety, and Safeway which I go to occasionally. Also nearby that I frequent are Bottom Dollar, Bloom & SuperFresh.

Due to rising food prices, I resort to buying a lot of packaged goods from dollar stores, Entenmann & Wonder Bread outlets, Costco & KMart or Target...

 

FYI eteeling -- Giant and Stop and Shop are owned by the same people.

 

Giant has been OK for basics, but I find that if I want anything even remotely "exotic" I have to go elsewhere. Bad enough that they discontinued the full service seafood dept at my local store.

 

I am a fervent member of the Church of Harris Teeter. Great store, great selection, happy employees and a speedy checkout. They're sometimes more expensive for some things, but generally around the same price as Giant or Safeway. I'll shop at Safeway in a pinch, but gave up on Giant a while ago.

I used to go to the Giant at Virginia Square, but their selection was so abysmal. The one down in Kingstowne near my wife's parents was always infinitely better after the renovation. Hence, if Giant is serious about "restructuring" maybe they oughta update their stores accordingly.

 

I just want to be able to shop without having the staff actively hate on me. There's one guy at the Old Georgetown Road Giant who I really think wants to kick my ass; he gives me the stink eye every time I'm there.

I sincerely apologize for needing pasta sauce while you are restocking, Mr. Angry Giant Stock Dude.

 

i used to live in sommer's neighborhood, and the shaw giant was my default store. now that i'm up in bloomingdale, i was spending more time at the rhode island ave. giant and the safeway across the tracks.

i went to harris teeter on opening day, and i went again yesterday. i'm just about 100% sure that i'm never shopping at giant and safeway again. fuck 'em. if they don't want to compete for my dollar, then i'm going to be a good little capitalist and take my dollar elsewhere. harris teeter has impressed the shit out of me. they have my business unless one of you can forcibly convince me otherwise.

 

Not really an issue for me and the missus; I'm more perturbed that Peapod doesn't have quite the selection the stores do.

The most distressing is that of the two Giants near me, one is good to shop at for quality meat and fish, the other for baked goods. Why they have to be so different in cleanliness and taste I've no idea, but the disparity between the two is obvious.

I'd prefer shopping at HT or TJ, but neither is in a good, nearby spot for me to shop at. Usually ends up being a once-a-month excursion to get the few things we enjoy from those stores.

Hopefully, that'll change when we finish buying our house. Teeter's right up the block.

 

Does this mean Giant is headed for the same bankruptcy demise as Kmart? Yikes. Stock up now, kids, Giant is going under. Their fruit always looks like crap anyway.

 

If this is what Giant feels they need to do to compete in the area, then good for them. If they have miscalculated and it causes them to finally totally lose their stronghold on the area, then even better for us!

 

You should really consider taking the bus or the Metro to get to the other Giant, Sommer, instead of wasting money and adding one more car on the road.

 

the Giant in Old Town sucks (horrible, horrible staff, worse selection) so i started going to the Giant up on Duke Street. i think i'll start going to the new Harris Teeter on route 1. it'll take me just as long to get there...

 

I, too, have lived two blocks from the horrid O Street Giant since I moved to DC a year and a half ago. It's true that it's convenient to go to a store so nearby, but of the many gripes I have with the products, service, long lines, etc... my biggest problem is how NOBODY who works there ever has any idea where anything is, or whether they stock basic items. There was a period of time where I'd ask for something and on three separate occasions, different employees said "they rearranged the aisles, I don't know where that is." GOSH.

 

Funny how a little competition forces the stores that treated us like crap for decades to actually consider changing their ways.

A lot of it adds up to employee attitude. Most of the Safeways I've been in in DC have a few really great employees and a whole bunch of really pissy ones that obviously think getting you to leave and stop bothering them is Priority One.

 

I notice my local smaller Safeway has killed off quite a few underselling products as well. But I can't even remember the last time I set foot in a Giant. I think Hillary and that chubby-chasing husband of hers were in office. If I wanted to be abused and ignored, I can get that for free at home.

This whole mess is too freaking little, too late. You can slap pancake makeup on an old mattressback whore but that ain't gonna turn her into Keeley Hazell. Between Shoppers, Teeter, and the Asian markets, relics like Giant don't stand a chance. Safeway is clinging on for dear life, but I have the feeling that between the cost of refurbing their stores along with rising labor costs and inflation, they might not be around in a decade. Giant is going the way of A&P, Hot Shoppes, and modesty.

 

I think the Park Rd Giant is usually pretty well stocked (unless you go on Sunday evening or something). And it's definitely cheaper than area Safeway stores. I think they can probably afford to cut back on some items that don't sell well. Most of the other Giant stores I have been to were pretty pathetic, though. That one on Connecticut north of the Cathedral is pretty bad.

 

MSto - If you think the Old Town Giant sucks, try the one in Del Ray. Four checkout aisles and you gotta try really hard to find anyone to man ANY of them. Years ago, I got into a line 5-people-deep while some checkout ijjit got into a 10-minute argument over the price of something. Meanwhile, people are just standing there like this is the norm. I put my booze back and walked out, never to return.

 
This whole mess is too freaking little, too late. You can slap pancake makeup on an old mattressback whore but that ain't gonna turn her into Keeley Hazell.
Monkey, are you saying Giant needs a boob job?
 

Frankly, I think that Giant (and Royal Ahold, by association) is shooting itself in the foot by cutting back on selection. Given the moves by Harris Teeter to blanket the greater DC area (lots of new stores opened in the past year, and more to open in the next year), plus the continuing expansion of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, there's precious little room for becoming less useful as a supermarket. They're opening the doors for Safeway and Shopper's - more so the latter, to my view.

Frankly, I'd love to see Wegman's open a store within the District - that'd have Giant and Safeway truly shaking in their boots.

 

to ICDC

I'm not happy about that either, but tomorrow is free cone day & wednesday is 31 cent cone day.... so be happy for that.

 

voteprime - I think we can all agree that Giant's "racks" have seen better days.

That said, four-out-of-five shoppers agree: ginormous chesticles enhance any grocery shopping experience, (that fifth shopper of course being gay). Although, I'm sure even he would appreciate a topless male cashier with ripped abs and muscular mantitties.

 

I went to the Giant on Lee HWY yesterday, the produce was horrible, even worse than the Rosslyn or Watergate Safeways.....TRADER JOE'S FTW!!!!

 

It really depends on where you go versus what your shopping experience is going to be like.

Working in Friendship Heights, I'm spoiled with Giant because they built the new on in Chevy Chase Center. And obviously, the one in Columbia Heights is great, both because of its size and how new it is.

Obviously the one on Wisconsin near the Cathedral is really ghetto, but it is smaller and hasn't been updated.

I'd advocate for Stop & Shop, but they are also a Royal Ahold company.

 

@eteeling -- you *are* aware that Giant and Stop and Shop are owned by the same parent company (Royal Ahold), no?

 

Wegman's is opening a store in Landover. Should be Metro accessible, if you're into long honking Metro rides.

Their store footprint prohibits an urban location, but if they really want to kick the other grocery chains asses, they'd start building smaller, scaled down "Wegmans On the Run" stores for urban markets.

 

Are you more interested in making sure their prices stay low rather than having a lot of specialty food items available?

Me? No. I want the fancy stuff. But then, I'm a yuppie with disposable income. I suspect the DCist demographic makes up only a sliver of Giant's target market, and this may be them saying "eh, forget them, let's focus on the rest of the city."

 

@monkeyrotica:

i was waiting for someone to mention the "little Giant" in DelRay. i lived within walking distance from there, and would go often for the basics. i thought it was 'novel' that there were five different types of items in each aisle . . . everything from diapers to diced yams. but for someone who was making a good deal less than the average DCer, it was perfect.

by comparison, the giant on Washington Blvd near Ballston/VA Square isn't too shabby. big, clean, and less than HT or WholeFoods. we'll see how long i stay shopping there if they are cutting back on funky stuff.

 

@ MSto and Monkeyrotica

Totally agree about both the Old Town and Delray Giants. I think each actually takes cashiers off duty at peak post-work shopping times. Plus, the lack of selection (particulary in the "deli" section) has turned me off. The Rt. 1 overpass construction keeps me from going to the Delray Giant, and I only go to the Old Town one for the occasional beer run. All other shopping is at the new-ish Potomac Yards HT, now that I don't have to drive down to the Duke Street HT.

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Harris Teeter. It has clearly been touched by his noodly appendage!

 

To say Stop and Shop owns Giant, as a Masshole born and bred, Stop and Shop runs laps around Giant, it is kind of depressing they don't do a better job. Stop and Shops in MA are much more like Harris Teeter and even trying to cut into the Whole Foods scene, but this is not good news for Giant.

 

Anyone been to Bloom? I think they're way out in Fairfax or something

 
Working in Friendship Heights, I'm spoiled with Giant because they built the new on in Chevy Chase Center. And obviously, the one in Columbia Heights is great, both because of its size and how new it is.
But all the shoppers told me size didn't matter and it was more how you use the space. Drew, are you telling the neighborhood is lying to me?! ::cries::
 

As long as the O Street Giant still lets scary people loiter outside and sell bootlegged DVD's from the entrance way while the rent-a-cop and real MPD officers stand idly by, I am happy.

For many non-produce/non-meat items, I have been going to the new Target. It's selection is not that of Giant, but it is decent for a target and it is considerablly cheaper than Giant.