When it opens this Saturday, Raley’s new O-N-E Market location in Truckee, California—its third to debut during the pandemic—will employ many of the same safeguards that helped the retailer manage crowds and product inventories during its two recent store openings.
In April, Raley’s flagship store in Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood began operating a block away from an existing Raley’s that remained open until its discounted inventory was sold through. In May, the retailer debuted the first full-service grocery store in the Rancho Murieta, California area, with its Bel Air location, to serve a community whose nearest full-service store is 10 miles away.
As part of its effort to minimize crowds on opening day, Raley’s has adopted a communications plan that involves reaching out to community leaders and using social media to inform shoppers that the new store debuts are not grand opening celebrations, but are intended to provide an essential service to the community. It hopes to keep the number of shoppers from individual households to a minimum.
“Even though communities were clamoring for new locations, we didn’t want to create an unnecessary influx that made it problematic for the community,” Chelsea Minor, corporate director of consumer and public affairs, told Specialty Food News.
While directing store traffic to help shoppers maintain social distance can be a challenge in an existing store, it can be even more difficult in a store where customers aren’t familiar with the layout, said Minor. The situation also presented a learning curve for Raley’s, which let 50 shoppers in at a time and then assessed the in-store situation to see if more could be let in.
“If you’ve never been in a store before, you don’t know where the line starts in departments like the deli or the pharmacy, so we added additional signage and put up rope barriers so that shoppers knew where to line up and that also helped with social distancing,” Minor said.
To help keep shoppers six feet apart, the retailer also organized a single line of shoppers who were ready to check out and had a store employee direct them to the next available checkstand.
In the Land Park store, Raley’s found it necessary to line up shoppers so they could safely shop the toilet paper aisle in an orderly fashion, according to Minor. It also implemented limits on the number of paper products, cleaning products, and chicken products that each shopper could purchase.
Despite the challenges, it was important to Raley’s to stick to its store opening schedule, which had been planned before the pandemic.
“A lot of the drive to get them open was to deliver what we promised the community,” Minor said.
Though the existing store in Land Park was shoppable, the store was older, ceilings were low, and space was tight, making social distancing more of a challenge for shoppers and store employees, such as butchers who had a small space to work in, according to Minor.
The older store, located just a block away from the new store, remained opened for about a week after the new store’s debut. Many shoppers visited both locations, purchasing discounted products at the older store as well as items from the new store. Curbside pickup and grocery delivery is also available at the new store.
“Many of the discounted items were shelf stable and people have been stocking boxed and canned goods,” said Minor. “Any remaining inventory was either donated to a food bank or shifted to other locations.”
Last week, Raley's reportedly began operating the old location as an e-commerce fulfillment center.
In Rancho Murieta, Raley’s had been operating a 10,000-square-foot Murieta Market on an interim basis, a block from the site of the new Bel Air store. The smaller store is now closed. The new 35,000-square-foot location provides more convenient access to fresh, high-quality foods, and other essentials, according to the retailer. Curbside pickup is also available.
The new O-N-E (Organic, Nutrition & Education) Market, will feature a highly curated assortment of wholesome products with clean ingredients, according to Minor. “It really takes that product mix to the next level of health and wellness,” she said.
Though the new stores’ grand openings have been put on hold for the time being, Raley’s will have a lot to celebrate at a later date.
“This pandemic has required so much agility and trust from team members and customers who are asked to abide by this new set of rules and I’m really impressed with all that they've been able to accomplish and deliver every day,” said Minor.
Related: Raley's Transforms Store into E-Commerce Fulfillment Center; Raley's Opens Flagship Location
Photo: Raley's
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