Stop & Shop in Malden, MA is closing shop by February 8th.
What a week!
First we hear Shaw’s is closing their Medford and Webster stores now Stop & Shop announce they are closing their Malden store. I hate seeing big name grocery stores close. I wish they would just try and be more competitive. As a consumer I can see where they have made some mistakes. Let’s start with the big cash resister revamp at Stop & Shop. Was that necessary? I am sure it wasn’t cheap. They started the cash register revamp in their Exeter, NH. Exeter was their “training store”.
If you shopped in the Exeter store during this you know that it wasn’t a success. I shopped the Exeter store during this fiasco and it was a self-checkout nightmare to say the least. When coupons didn’t scan correctly or the registers froze up half way thru the transaction I personally witnessed store managers shake their heads and walk away when they couldn’t figure things out leaving the cashier and the customer standing their not knowing what to do next. It wasn’t exactly stellar customer service by upper management. Don’t get me wrong, I love Stop & Shop but I just see this as a costly mistake that was rushed. Soon after the new registers were installed the Exeter as well as all other NH Stop & Shop stores was closed. How much money was wasted their? I have to wonder why any retail business big or small that is on the brink of failure and searching for ways to survive decides to go out and spend money on new technology. Did they have a big round table meeting and say “We need a way to increase sales and get customers in the door what should we do?” Did one guy raise his hand and say” Buy shiny new computers! ” . How many times do you see a store do a big remodel and close shortly after? I see things like this happen all the time and don’t understand why it continues. If your store is clean, priced competitively and well-staffed with friendly employees you should have business. Changing out registers or redesigning won’t make the difference you need if you are already currently sinking. Customer service should be the main priority for every business. Once you establish that and start profiting then add the bells and whistles not vice versa.
I really wish Shaw’s and Stop & Shop would use Market Basket as their role model. Market Basket isn’t the fanciest store but they are and always have been the busiest grocery store on the North East. Why is it that the others can’t follow their lead? Market Basket has friendly staff. You see pride in management. You always know who is in charge their and they always greet you with a smile. I honestly can’t remember having a bad experience at Market Basket due to store personal. The only issue I have ever had in Market Basket was waiting in a very long line because all 18 lanes were open and full. That’s a regular issue at Market Basket and a great issue to have as a business. Too many customers, that should be every businesses dream. Dream big Stop & Shop and Shaw’s we don’t want to lose you! Listen to your customers. We want competitive pricing and customer service.
Kathy
HowtoShopforFree.Net
p.s.
Shaw’s if you’re listening stop looking at Hannaford as a competitor that’s just silly. Market Basket is the competitor we want to see you compete with. Play with big Demoulas boys and play to win! Things are getting boring around here. We couponers are dreaming of the days that all 3 major players are in a frenzy of not knowing what store to shop at first because you all are having such great deals. In case you haven’t noticed throwing us a deal on something that works out free with coupons will have us running to your store whether we want the product or not just because for us it’s all about the hunt!
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