It’s official – Jewel-Osco’s new owner, Cerberus Capital Management, took the reins yesterday. Sunday’s Chicago Tribune has an interview with the chain’s president, William Emmons. (You can read the interview online if you have a print subscription.)
Some highlights:
We took over the business on Friday and immediately made a decision to adjust prices across all Jewel-Osco stores on many regularly purchased items, like milk and bread. We want to show customers, from day one, that Jewel-Osco is serious about winning their business — and that begins with offering fair and competitive prices. Because our company has a decentralized operating structure, each market is enabled to make its own decisions in the best interests of operating great stores.
Getting our pricing right is part of the equation for success. Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin implementing changes that we hope our customers will enjoy. And, yes, many competitors have entered this market. But we’re focused on being the very best at what we do — creating a competitive advantage based on having friendly, knowledgeable associates who provide the best service and offer quality products at competitive prices.
I’m curious to see if the prices on bread and milk have dropped since Friday… we’ll see once I get out to the store this week, right?
Then, another article about the future of things at Jewel-Osco contained an interesting tidbit. Back in January, I had shared an article from Coupons In The News, which warned that when Cerberus has taken over other chains in the past, one of the first things to go has been the store’s coupon policy.
As in – no more policy. As in – each store decides what kinds of coupons they will and will not take.
Can you say “chaos?” It’s difficult enough to have the same experience, store to store, with an official policy firmly in place as it is. And again, Coupons In The News has an update on what we might expect soon at Jewel:
“We don’t think that one coupon policy is something that we could arrive at,” spokesperson Christine Wilcox told Coupons in the News today. She dismissed a corporate coupon policy as being a “cookie cutter” approach that does not fit in with Albertsons LLC’s philosophy, of letting local stores decide how best to serve their own communities. She did not indicate exactly when such a change would take place at the newly-acquired chains, saying it was too soon to talk specifics. But she did offer that “we hope our customers will be delighted with any changes they may see.”
With the specter of possible store closings and employee layoffs hanging in the air, a coupon policy change might seem relatively minor. But once the dust settles, a change from one consistent coupon policy, to a free-for-all of different policies at different stores, could have a big impact on coupon users who shop at Albertsons, Acme, Jewel, Shaw’s and Star Market.
Just ask others who have been through it already. “If there’s one store that’s frustrating to shop at, it’s Albertsons!” writes Carrie Isaac, on her Colorado-based site Springs Bargains. “Their coupon policy varies widely by store, manager or cashier.” The Colorado stores operate under the Albertsons LLC system, which it describes on its website: “Your local Albertsons is the best, most accurate source of information for using coupons… We don’t have a blanket policy that fits every store and every market area, because your store, just like your community, is unique.”
Unfortunately, “no one knows what to expect when they shop there,” Isaac tells Coupons in the News. “It has prevented me from shopping there personally, and I know many of my readers as well.”
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens next.
NFriday says
Hi- Somebody that works for Osco just posted on MUM today that they are getting rid of the gas rewards program at Jewel.