Food World/Brunos Closing Stores

[BamaLady]

Closing under performing pharmacies, renovating stores, new marketing group to design new logos, new stores:

Bruno's - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno%27s)

Got to get over there and get the skinny from everyone! Gosh, I hope they stay competitive....and keep doubling coupons.

[mama22qts]

That info looks to be a couple of months old. I haven't seen any changes yet though.

[susysnshn]

I went to the Food World at Exit 1 (McCalla). I think they are about to close that store.

*They had most of their household items on sale for 50% off at somewhat inflated prices.
*They had their entire stock of batteries on sale for 25% off.
*They had all the household items like blenders, etc. on a table with a percent off sign.
*They had all their baby items like sippy cups with a percent off sign.

These aren't advertised specials. These are basically unique-to-this-store signs (unless you guys are seeing them elsewhere).

I saw all of this when they closed the store on Lorna Road in Hoover. I did ask, and the cashier said no. Then she asked why I asked that. A customer told me that she heard that Macy's was closing when I worked there years ago (yes, they reopened by renaming the Rich's store so don't let me confuse you). Employees are the last to know.

Anyway, just a possible head's up. They are still honoring sales prices and still doubling coupons. But their days are numbered, I predict.

[susysnshn]

I know I am resurrecting an old thread, but I have noticed changes lately. I don't shop at FW much. It's not as convenient as Publix, Bruno's, and Winn Dixie. Of course, we all know their pharmacies closed, but that's not why I posted.

I commented on the McCalla store in a different thread. I am predicting it will be closing. Read the thread and see if it looks like a storewide trend. I'm just curious.

[thickbluebug]

I went to mccalla tonight. Someone stole a buggy of groceries from a cashier. 2 different sets of people did it to him.
One of the other cashiers told me that this victim cashier sacks everything up and the customers just walk out. He doesn't realize they didn't pay until they are gone. I was told they got him twice tonight.
The cashiers were upset, the manager didn't seemed bothered.
I thought that was strange.

Anyway, back to the topic. I have seen these bin/boxes at 2 other stores..hueytown and dora.
Those stores also look like they are about to close.
I really hope all this clearance stuff is just the time of year. I see wags/cvs getting rid of lots of make up and hh stuff too.

[VJWilson27]

I was told today at my foodworld that they are doing a major overhaul to their stores. They are NOT closing, it's just they are getting rid of the old, to make room for the new.

I think this goes along with the newspaper article someone posted.

[Bethg68]

My store in Pelham, AL looks like a ghost town inside most of the time. It is kinda sad. When I moved here in 2002 I transferred all of our family prescriptions here. I was really sad when the pharmacy closed. Since they closed I haven't done a lot of shopping there. I noticed last week when I went in that they have those bins too. The store did some rearranged and cleaner. Maybe it's an overhaul..who knows. I grew up in Bessemer, AL and when that store did this they closed shortly after. I hate to see all these businesses closing down. The economy stinks these days!

Beth

[thickbluebug]

Hi Beth,
I would really hate to see my little store close too. I really hope they are just revamping the store.
I really wish someone around here would start triples. I think that would be the edge Food World needs to stay competitive with Publix and
Winn Dixie.

[Dengineer]

I woke up this morning to some bad but not totally unexpected news--Food World/Brunos is closing stores. These are the ones that are closing--


5 Bruno's 2747 Bell Road Montgomery, AL 36116
82 Bruno's 1675 Center Point Pkwy Birmingham, AL 35215
125 Bruno's 126 Wildwood Pkwy Homewood, AL 35209
255 Bruno's 1530 East Glenn Ave Auburn, AL 36832
2 FOOD WORLD 1001 Westlake Blvd Bessemer, AL 35020
28 FOOD WORLD 2020 East South Blvd Montgomery, AL 36116
36 FOOD WORLD 4896 US Hwy 231 Wetumpka, AL 36092
115 FOOD WORLD 1940 Forestdale Blvd Forestdale, AL 35214
144 FOOD WORLD 100 Ecor Rouge Place Fairhope, AL 36532
254 FOOD WORLD 3543 Alabama Highway 14 Millbrook, AL 36054

Bruno's Announces Restructuring Measures to Focus on Core Business (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=prnw.20090218.NY72379&show_article=1)

[BamaLady]

Food World in Pell City will be sold to Kroger, contingent upon the employees decertification of the Union (UFCW). Less than 50 percent are UFCW represented, so the vote should pass.

Kroger will be purchasing other FW stores also. The Sylacauga store will go to Piggly Wiggly, if I remember correctly.

Publix is also coming to St. Clair County in 2010. It will be located on Hwy. 34, so as to draw shoppers from the well to do that live on the River, as well as both Talladega and Pell City.

FW will close for several days to do the changeover which should happen in April. I hope they will retain the present employees.

Look for clearance specials on all Southern Home brand products. They are clearance-ing lots and lots of perishable items in the store now. It pays to go in every morning and cruise through. Yesterday I got Welch's juice for .19 cents a carton. Freeze it for later.

Goodbye Food World...Its been great...Thanks for the memories.

[mama22qts]

Ok so my store is the Fairhope one -- what's the story there? I wonder if it's going to someone else or closing altogether.

[thickbluebug]

I can't believe forestdale is closing. It's usually busy and fairly steady.
The Dora store, I can't believe isn't closing.

Wahoo for Kroger's! Love Love krogers

[mammato4]

Does anyone know about the McCalla store. It looks like it will remain open, but will it be a Kroger or are they buying the Food World stores and continuing to operate them as Food World? Thanks!

[sarahwoellert]

Food World in Pell City will be sold to Kroger, contingent upon the employees decertification of the Union (UFCW). Less than 50 percent are UFCW represented, so the vote should pass.

Kroger will be purchasing other FW stores also. The Sylacauga store will go to Piggly Wiggly, if I remember correctly.

Publix is also coming to St. Clair County in 2010. It will be located on Hwy. 34, so as to draw shoppers from the well to do that live on the River, as well as both Talladega and Pell City.

FW will close for several days to do the changeover which should happen in April. I hope they will retain the present employees.

Look for clearance specials on all Southern Home brand products. They are clearance-ing lots and lots of perishable items in the store now. It pays to go in every morning and cruise through. Yesterday I got Welch's juice for .19 cents a carton. Freeze it for later.

Goodbye Food World...Its been great...Thanks for the memories.


Oh man! that is my store! and i live about 3 miles off of hwy 34 right smack between talladega and pell city too! I am a little sad about the food world change over as i really do like the employees there! i hope they keep them all on. I have alway's liked kroger when i lived in areas that had them though, so maybe it will still be good. kroger has a lot of better coupon perks too, like being able to load e-coupons directly to your store card. save me time and ink there.

I loved publix too when i was living in FL. they usually weren't as good on marking down stuff to get it off the shelf though at the ones i went to. Lots more organic stuff though, that is nice. Their deli rocks too. My husband used to go there for lunch a lot.

[BamaLady]

Well, it looks as though someone told me a whopper.

I will apologize and take it all back. No one in the store knows what is going to happen.

Or, if they know, they will not confirm it. So, we are back to square one. I guess its wait and see, after all. Inventories are getting a bit thin, perishables are being clearanced well before the expiration dates.

I'm late getting back with the info, as I am not at home but for a few hours at night, due to my Mom's condition. She only has a few weeks left, and I am there nearly all the time.

If anyone can ask at their FW stores about what is going to happen, and not be told wild tales of supposition and make-believe, please us know. Food World has a lot of fans here, and we do not want to lose "our store".

[Dengineer]

Does anyone know anything new about what is going on? There was a story on the news the other night that said ALL the Food Worlds in Florida had given lay-off notices to their combined 342 employees. They said not to worry, the stores weren't closing but that it had to do with their reorganization and was something they were doing while they were trying to find buyers for those stores. So what, the stores are going to stay open with no employees??

Anyone know ANYTHING at all about this? I am going to ask on Wednesday when I do my shopping but I don't expect a lot of answers.

[thickbluebug]

no, I haven't heard anything.

[Dengineer]

Well, the nice cashier at my Food World (Pine Forest Pensacola) said that they were closing at the end of May if someone doesn't buy the store (and I don't think there are going to be any buyers jumping forward.) I really hate it--when the manager came over to yell at me about my coupons I only felt sorry for her. :sad:

[robyn812]

All the staff at my Alabama store seemed so sad. I am hoping that the triples will entice someone to purchase the remaining stores.

I bet the Bruno brothers are rolling over in their graves at the status of all their hard work so many years ago.

[frugalfreak]

Well, I know for sure that the Food World in Bessemer (Westlake) has closed and my cashier at McCalla today said she came from Forestdale which has apparently also closed. McCalla employees have said repeatedly that they are not closing. I did my part today-spent $40 on $140 worth of groceries:BigHand:

[thickbluebug]

I know it's sad. Good that the other employees are getting to move stores.

[rdot]

If it is Ok to link the story here, I will do it.


The story has the list of stores that should remain open and the ones to close.

It is somewhat different than what has been previously mentioned on the news. I know the Bruno's in Alabaster and Food World in Pelham had been mentioned as closing. They have those on the to stay open list.

This is all pending a judges ruling on Monday, so I guess things could change.

[BamaLady]

Read it and weep:

Most Bruno's stores in Mobile area would stay open under Southern Family Markets bid; Birmingham and Montgomery hard-hit - Business News from the Press-Register - al.com (http://blog.al.com/press-register-business/2009/04/most_brunos_stores_in_mobile_a.html)

Pell City store will close.

The list is up with the stores to remain open, and the ones to close.

[rdot]

Will the stores left open still be considered Food World or does everything change and it become a new store?

[frugalfreak]

This means my McCalla store will be closing and Hueytown will stay open-at least it's not too far away:sad:

[thomascaldwell1]

Hi! Never gone through one of these situations before... If the McCalla store is going out of business, while sad, does this mean that they will likely clearance out much of their stock or is it more likely to remain at regular prices until closing day, and then the stock would be transferred? Just curious... Thank You!

[thickbluebug]

It's new to us all. Not sure what will happen.

[auntsashie]

I was told they are closing McCalla and keeping Hueytown bc the rent/lease the McCalla store and own the land Hueytown is on. The rent keeps going up and they want out of there.


When they closed Bessemer, they did a sale (qs still taken) and then right before they closed they did a clearance (pennies on the dollar from what my friend that went said).

[Lilysmom0220]

Aww, I am sad about the McCalla store. The people in there are super nice.

I didn't realize there were so many of us that went to that store.

[BamaLady]

Keep your fingers crossed. Its not over until 5 PM Monday. Somebody, somewhere might buy the rest of the stores. If the following can be overcome:

What I was told this morning: The rent is too high on some of the locations, and no buyer wants to pay an enormous amount of rent to take over the store. Pell City's FW's rent was increased and is waaaay over a reasonable amount. No buyer is going to pay the amount I was told that it has increased to.

Same with buying the store. The price for the store is high, and then the new purchaser would have to remodel it. This stands in the way of say Publix buying it. They do not want to recondition an existing store, they want all new from the ground up. That would add to the initial outlay of money, and in the current economic slow down, no company is going to spend money like that.

After the judges decision Monday, if no buyer comes forward, the remaining stores will be turned over to a liquidator. They will be the ones to decide what to do with the remaining inventory, whether to discount it, and how. The registers will have to be reset to the discount prices, or something. It is possible that the stores could be closed Wednesday, or they could remain open to clear the inventory. It will be the liquidators inventory, not Brunos/Food World.

The shelves at Pell City are thinly stocked on lots and lots of items. Everyone has used the triples this weekend to buy up everything. They don't even know whether they should order more product, as no one knows what will happen next week.

I'm going to drop by there tomorrow afternoon, and I guess we'll all have a "Goodbye Food World" cry.

If anyone finds out any news, please post it as soon as possible.

[susysnshn]

Beware of liquidation sales. I was at Macy's in our area when they closed the store and turned it over to liquidators. Prices go to the highest sell price and then get "discounted." Other stores' merchandise is brought in.

The best day to go to a liquidation sale is the last day. Then they are giving away the merchandise so as to not have to pack it up.

They closed the Lorna Road store in Hoover, and I saw the same thing. They accepted coupons, but no doubling. They did an increasing percentage each week but that depended on the merchandise. Junky stuff like some of the cheap housewares had a higher percentage off, but an extremely high starting point. I will say they seem to have frozen the prices at the day they closed the store (or forgot to remove the signs that tell you how much this is "off" the regular price).

I bought a couple of greeting cards at the Lorna Road store closing if that illustrates anything.

[BamaLady]

That's kind of what I expect to happen.

I'm gearing up to start going to Publix, as the WD in this town is not that great. Some things I can get a WM, but they don't have sales and B1G1 specials. They are good to take coupons, but won't double them, of course.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

[auntsashie]

My sm told me that someone new bought the shopping center at McCalla and the rent went up too high. He said they are closing the stores with 400,000+ (wowsers) rent a year. He also told me that he was hopefully going to get more stock in soon...lol. And the ad for this week was printed, a three day sale was fri, sat, Sun and triples those days as well. He also told me he worked for C&S before and was hopeful they could turn it around. I told he that I would continue to shop there and try to help support them. He is hoping they will come in, remodel, and rename it to give the stores a "fresh start."

[BamaLady]

Auntsashie, Bingo! To that figure you wrote, add another $200,000 and you'll be close to our FW's annual rent. Craaaaazzzy. They are asking $2.5 million for the store. Renovation and redecorating would probably be another mil.

Nobody has that kind of $$ right now. I hope I am wrong, and that some buyer does and wants to own a food store.

Whoever owns the land/lot is not going to get anything if the store is empty and no one is using it. I can't figure out why people are so greedy.

[BamaLady]

Does anyone know anything further?

This must have been the meeting of the possible buyers and the bankruptcy judge/officers?

It sounds like we're in a holding pattern.....

....Joking at the store this morning, the Floral Dept. lady said she didn't know whether to inflate the Mother's Day balloons or not.

[VJWilson27]

Wooohooo!!! My FW is still going to be open. I kinda thought that because they are almost always somewhat busy. There's constantly at least 20-30 cars (non employee) in the parking lot.

[thickbluebug]

I am seeing signs at the registers stating no gift cards after 6/1

[Dengineer]

More bad news for Food World shoppers and employees--

Birmingham's Southern Family Markets plans to close two Food World stores it bought out of bankruptcy last year.

The stores, located at 518 Pelham Parkway in Pelham and 309 Main Street in Trussville, will close on or before Nov. 6, a company spokeswoman said. The stores have a combined 87 employees.Southern Family to close Pelham, Trussville Food World stores | al.com (http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2010/10/southern_family_to_close_pelha.html)