MARCH 18, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A13
GROCERY,
continued from Page A1
put the margins at about 1.5
percent after expenses and taxes.
Gilliam said there’s a reason
for only one grocery store in
Keizer currently.
“I want to be frank without
being negative about the
situation in Keizer,” he said. “I
have heard about the concern
that Keizer only has one
grocery store within the city
limits and the idea of how to
attract other stores. In this case,
the consumers have shaped the
market.”
Gilliam expanded on that.
“Keizer
citizens
have
decided how many grocery
stores will be close through
their own shopping routines,”
he said. “That is, they don’t shop
in Keizer. It was less than (four)
years ago Keizer had three
grocery stores; two chains and
one independent. Two of these
stores found that there wasn’t
enough volume from Keizer
citizens to justify the cost of
operation, and at 1.5 percent
margin, you can’t stay very long
when you’re losing money.
“It may be hard to accept,
but Keizer residents’ shopping
habits only justify essentially
two local stores: the Safeway in
the center of town, and the Fred
Meyer at your southern border
that has a normal service area for
a retail store that encompasses
Keizer, essentially making it a
local store,” Gilliam added.
At January’s town hall
meeting,
several
people
mentioned driving around
the area to either chase sales
or lower prices. Andy Orcutt,
whose father Sam Orcutt
operated a small grocery store
for years in the building now
housing J.C.’s Pizzeria, noted
those habits only hurt stores.
“The grocery business is
tough and margins are very
low,” the former Keizer mayor
said at the meeting. “Stores do
loss leaders to bring people in.
When everyone is driving down
the street for the loss leader, no
one is making money.”
Gilliam said that only spreads
the money out further instead
of keeping it in Keizer.
“Part of this acceptance is
to understand that convenience
does not equal volume,”
Gilliam said. “If customers drive
across Salem to chase price or
selection, but only shop in town
when it meets their need for
convenience, then the available
local volume is distributed away
from Keizer and over the entire
greater Salem area.”
In an economic analysis done
on Keizer a few years ago, it was
found six out of seven working
Keizerites work outside the city.
Gilliam said that also works
against Keizer stores.
ARREST,
continued from Page A12
of him. When the suspect ma-
neuvered to try to get around
the first vehicle that attempt to
impede him from traveling any
further, the stolen vehicle and
Keizer Police vehicle collided.
When the collision occurred
both the stolen vehicle and
Keizer Police vehicle crashed
into the other pursuing police
vehicle and all of the vehicles
came to an abrupt stop. The
suspect was climbing out of the
“If most Keizer residents
work outside of the city and
commute back and forth
between Salem or other cities,
residents are stopping to shop
in other areas before returning
to their own town,” he said.
“This isn't a criticism, it’s just an
observation of how consumers
shop. For example, if I am
returning home from work,
what is the easiest access (in and
out) on my way home?
“City boundaries between
Keizer and Salem don't matter
much when you're trying to
shop, pick up the kids, prepare a
meal, do homework and get to
soccer practice,” Gilliam added.
“Convenience is not defined
by where you reside, but where
you are at the moment you
need to get your shopping done.
If you leave Keizer on a regular
basis, then you are likely to shop
outside of Keizer as well.”
Grabenhorst pointed out the
Haggen debacle wasn’t about
economics in terms of shoppers
but of the chain itself.
“They bit off more than
they were ready to take care
of,” he said of the chain that
went from 18 stores to 164
thanks to regulations in place
due to an Albertsons/Safeway.
merger “Whenever someone
takes a bite like that, you have
to wonder where they are
financially. They didn’t have the
backing to bite off the chunk.”
In
November, WinCo
spokesperson Michael Read told
the Keizertimes there isn’t one
particular thing the company
looks at when deciding where
to open a new store.
“There are a variety of
economic and demographic
things,” Read said at the time.
“The big thing is how close
our nearest location is. We also
look at the demographics of
a community, traffic patterns,
visibility, just dozens and dozens
of factors. We continue to
look at locations in states we
currently do business in.”
Grabenhorst said bigger
chains
crunch
numbers
internally,
while
smaller
companies rely on local people
to sift through information.
Gilliam said the idea of
attracting a new grocery store
to Keizer is tricky, based on
history.
“By their own shopping
habits, Keizer shoppers didn't
offer enough volume to keep
two out of three stores,” he said.
“To provide an incentive for
a new store to come to town,
the city would have to offer
a substantial artificial subsidy
(e.g. property tax breaks) to
make a store viable. But then
what about the one store that is
currently servicing the limited
volume? Now they are at a
competitive disadvantage to
the new store, and with limited
volume, they too may exit the
market as the others did in the
past. Now Keizer is back to
one store and losing money on
the subsidy. You may be able to
offer the subsidy to both stores
to level their market, but this
gets expensive pretty quick and
other non-grocery retailers will
want the same subsidy to level
the overall playing field.”
Christine Dieker, executive
director of the Keizer Chamber
of Commerce, also referenced
the history.
“Grocery stores have to look
at what Keizer will support,”
Dieker said. “We can all say
we want this or that, but will
Keizer pocketbooks support a
place like that? When we had
the three grocery stores here, it
was a struggle.”
Gilliam said shopping local
would need to be a priority in
order to attract a new store.
“If Keizer citizens want to
have more grocery retailers, then
the city and/or the chamber
need to begin an education
process of the value of shopping
local and keeping their dollars
at home,” Gilliam said. “If this
message doesn't resonate with
Keizer citizens, then there is no
harm in letting Keizer residents
shop outside the city and accept
the shopping choices that
support the volume of business
citizens are willing to distribute
in the city.”
Mayor Cathy Clark points to
another way citizens can help.
“When a business considers
coming, they are looking for a
number of things,” Clark said.
“The more positive we can be,
to be the kind of community
they would come to, the more
receptive they will be to come
here. If there are fights, there
is a negative light. We want to
portray we are a welcoming,
warm community, that we are a
place they want to do business.
That is part of messaging
everyone in our community
can help with.
“I am convinced the answer
is going to be yes for a company
or companies,” the mayor
added. “They have to do their
diligence. Clearly we have the
population base. Clearly we
need another grocery store. The
one full service store within city
boundaries is extremely busy.”
driver’s side window when of-
ficers who were on foot quickly
approached him and took him
to the ground and into custody.”
Otero was taken to the Mar-
ion County Correctional Facil-
ity and charged with one count
each of first degree robbery, un-
authorized use of a motor vehi-
cle, attempting to elude a police
officer, third degree escape and
first degree criminal mischief.
Anyone with additional in-
formation can contact Officer
Jeremie Fletcher at 503-390-
3713 ext. 3467.
Kuhns is glad nothing esca-
lated with last week’s incident.
“We have a couple of patrol
vehicles that sustained moder-
ate damage, but our priority is
to protect the public from dan-
gerous individuals such as this
who pose an immediate danger
to them,” he said. “Thankfully
the fleeing suspect didn’t make
it to the busy intersection at the
Salem Parkway because I fear
that would not have ended well.
The suspect forced our officers
to make several split second de-
cisions. The officers performed
exceptionally well and quickly
took the suspect into custody,
thereby eliminating the risk he
was to the public.”
“By their own
shopping
habits, Keizer
shoppers didn’t
offer enough
volume to keep
two out of
three stores.”
— Joe Gilliam
Brought to you by:
Sponsored by:
Friday, March 18 th
11 am - 6 pm
Saturday, March 19
9 am - 6 pm
Sunday, March 20
10 am - 5 pm
th
th
• Get ideas for
Your Yard & Garden
• Meet the Experts
• Your Best One-Stop
Shop for Home
Improvement Ideas,
Products & Services
• Take Advantage of
Home Show Discounts
& Special Pricing
• One entire building
filled with landscape
display gardens
FREE
ADMISSION & PARKING
Oregon State Fairgrounds
Sponsored by:
www.HomeBuildersAssociation.org
OR-0000360246