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Thread: WinCo

  1. #51

    Default Re: WinCo

    I may check it out when it arrives however, I will remain loyal to Crest and Buy For Less/Uptown Grocery because they are locally owned and operated.

  2. #52

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
    I now understand there will be a 4th WinCo location in the Metro, somewhere in the South/Moore area.

    Any ideas where they may be going?
    I'd bet that it's going to end up in Moore, which is a bummer. Hoping it would be closer to WRWA.

  3. #53

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by Zuplar View Post
    I'd bet that it's going to end up in Moore, which is a bummer. Hoping it would be closer to WRWA.
    Perhaps, but two of their locations (West OKC and MWC) are in denser areas.

    On the other hand, they seem to like being close to Walmart / Sam's.

  4. #54

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
    Perhaps, but two of their locations (West OKC and MWC) are in denser areas.

    On the other hand, they seem to like being close to Walmart / Sam's.
    If they wanted a 5th store I think maybe they could do the West side of OKC off of 40 between Rockwell and MacArthur. Plus there is a Walmart over there. That's also a pretty dense area.

  5. #55

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by bchris02 View Post
    Southwest OKC has the best Crest in the metro, one of the better Homelands, and will also be getting a Sprouts and a Natural Grocers. You also have that Chef Store if it counts. SW OKC doesn't always get ignored, at least as far as grocers.
    Where are the Sprouts and Natural Grocer going in?

  6. #56

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
    Perhaps, but two of their locations (West OKC and MWC) are in denser areas.

    On the other hand, they seem to like being close to Walmart / Sam's.
    What is there traditional method of operation. Do they take over existing spaces or do they build their own stores?

    If they build their own stores, I would think 134th between I-44 and I35. That would put them smack dab in between three Walmarts. If existing space is there method of operation, I would think the old Pratts at 12th and Eastern would be a good spot or somewhere in the New City Center/ City of Moore Shopping Center.

  7. #57

    Default Re: WinCo

    This is bold of WinCo to open MULTIPLE stores in the OKC area. Usually stores test an area with one or two stores.

    I can't wait for the one on Penn to open.

  8. #58

    Default Re: WinCo

    Sprouts is proposed for SW 104th and S. Pennsylvania and the Natural Grocers is at SW 89th and S. Pennsylvania

  9. Default Re: WinCo

    Well one idea behind having multiple stores is that your shipping costs to a metro have a better cost-per-product. If you only have 1 store, you can't leverage the same truck to deliver to three stores in town when it's coming all the way from (just throwing a city out there) say Sacramento. Just makes it easier to spread the shipping costs around that way. If your a discount retailer, it's more important...and even more so in the narrow margins of grocery. You can be whole foods and already charge a premium and you don't care because you just push the cost to the consumer. Discounters don't always get that luxury. If the new discounter in town is higher than the discounter next door (aldi/walmart/crest/whatever that isn't homeland LOL), then you aren't really offering anything different than another recipe for the same flavor of vanilla.

  10. #60

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by diggyba View Post
    This is bold of WinCo to open MULTIPLE stores in the OKC area. Usually stores test an area with one or two stores.

    I can't wait for the one on Penn to open.
    I agree. OKC has long been very underserved in terms of good grocery options. Anything that enters the market that gives OKCitians an alternative to the Wal-Mart or Homeland dichotomy should do very well.

  11. #61

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by bchris02 View Post
    I agree. OKC has long been very underserved in terms of good grocery options. Anything that enters the market that gives OKCitians an alternative to the Wal-Mart or Homeland dichotomy should do very well.
    Agreed. Although WinCo is no Costco or a name that people melt over, I'm quite excited for them to enter the market and I plan on shopping there more than occasionally.

  12. #62

    Default Re: WinCo

    Costco is great -- I was just there yesterday and am a big fan -- but you can't use it as your primary grocery store.

    I buy meat (chicken breasts and ground turkey) and freeze it, bulk salad, bread and sometimes rice and pasta. Beyond that, the items are packaged in such great quantity they just don't make sense for most people. Or more specifically, it encourages people to buy in unhealthy amounts.

    Costco also only carries a limited amount of items, so, trips to the regular grocery store are still needed.

    With WinCo, you can do it all in one place and still get great prices and service -- and completely avoid Walmart / Sam's.

    They have a rabid and loyal following and I expect them to do banner business in OKC.

  13. #63

    Default Re: WinCo

    I was just using Costco as a name, not necessarily a primary grocery store option / comparison to WinCo. But, I'm glad to hear that WinCo can be used as a primary store.

    Everyone in my family that I've told about this are pretty excited for it as well. I expect them to do really, really well here.

  14. #64

    Default Re: WinCo

    I just came back from a big WinCo shopping trip and I took a bunch of photos -- I'll do a detailed write-up soon.

    I was very impressed. Very wide aisles (makes a huge difference), bright, clean and great service. Prices were very good.


    More later.

  15. #65

    Thunder Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by Tavia View Post
    Sprouts is proposed for SW 104th and S. Pennsylvania and the Natural Grocers is at SW 89th and S. Pennsylvania
    Will the Sprouts go in where the old mansion is now? When are they supposed to start construction?

  16. #66

    Default Re: WinCo

    Yes, that is the proposed site.

  17. #67

    Default Re: WinCo

    (See article at top of page for a full description of OKC's WinCo locations.)


    Since OKC is about to get four WinCo's, I went and spent a fair amount of time at the location closest to me here in Southern California, which is about 25 miles away from my home.

    WinCo stores average 90,000 square feet which is more than double the size of a large store like the newer Crests but not as big as a Costco or Sam's Club which are typically close to 140,000 SF. The big difference is that WinCo is a pure grocery store – they don't even have a pharmacy.


    There are no membership fees but they only take cash, checks or debit cards – absolutely no credit cards. They are open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

    I had been expecting something similar to the old Buy 4 Less concept, with industrial shelves and most items stacked in their shipping cartons. But WinCo is infinitely more pleasant in every way.

    When you enter, you see “Employee Owned” signs everywhere, which is an obvious point of differentiation from Walmart. (BTW, WinCo loves to put their stores very close to Walmart as they believe their prices and customer service are superior).

    Similar to Buy 4 Less, you must enter down a gauntlet of specially priced items, but right away you notice the store is very bright and clean and with almost ridiculously wide aisles.


    Next department is produce and it all looked very fresh and the prices were excellent. You also notice that there is very little sold in bundled bulk packaging. You can buy just like a regular grocery store, from one tomato to a small spice container. They also have tons of big bulk bins for nuts, candy, cereal, coffee and other staples.


    This place is HUGE and it was a bit overwhelming at first. However, I had a list of about 20 items and had no more trouble finding them than I would in regular grocer and it was far easier than Costco. It didn't feel like a warehouse store in terms of difficulty in navigating.

    The aisles are crazy wide AND they don't stack things in them! I can't tell you how much difference that makes, as even with their over-sized carts I didn't once get blocked by the usual park-my-cart-and-just-stand-there crowd. This is a big deal to me because I'm a ninja shopper, where I usually want to get in, get the items on my list and get out of there. It also makes the store look extremely neat and organized.


    And it is VERY clean and organized. Another thing I noticed immediately: The employees working the floor (stocking and the like) actually paid attention to the customers and voluntarily asked if help was needed. You can see that customer service is a priority and this is another pet peeve of mine in grocery stores... The check out lady asking you glibly “Did you find everything okay?” Where were you or anyone else half an hour ago when I was aimlessly searching for that stupid corn syrup?? All the people working the floor at a regular grocer and even Costco have their heads down with full “don't talk to me, I'm stocking” body language. If you can find them at all.

    Also, this is almost purely a food store; I only saw one aisle of liquor / wine (which will deleted for the Oklahoma locations), a couple of aisles for household items and as mentioned, there isn't even a pharmacy. They do have some over-the-counter items but again, it's small compared to the overall size of the store. Or I should say, they are about the size you would expect in a traditional grocery store.

    In addition to vastly scaled-up meat, deli and bakery areas, they also had a lot of prepared foods in their deli area. Again, most were not monster-sized and I had to use my will to resist quite a few items that looked pretty darn tasty.


    Although the whole store is massive and a bit intimidating, I came away thinking I could break it down pretty easily in future visits.

    When it comes time to checkout, they have a big self-check area. I elected to go through the standard line and encountered something that always bugs me: You can't swipe your debit card until they have completely finished scanning every item. It's a time waster, especially on busy days.


    You do have to bag your own groceries but that doesn't bother me in the least. They have this two-chute system where they alternate back and forth so two people can be bagging on the same lane at the same time. Still, on busy days this could be a bottleneck as people tend to buy lots of items at a place like this.


    Overall, I was very impressed. The store just felt pleasant, nicer and brighter than a Costco (which I happen to love). It's hard to compare prices but I shop enough to have some perspective and they were definitely low. I noticed very few items “on sale”; rather everything was just marked at everyday low prices. They do have some privately branded items but not as many as Costco and I noticed that they weren't significantly lower than mainstream brands.

    I know WinCo runs specials and coupons but that seems to be a relatively small part of their low-price strategy.


    Prediction: WinCo will absolutely kill it in Oklahoma City. They are more pleasant than everything but the most upscale markets in town, prices are equal to or better than Walmart or Sam's, customer service is vastly superior and they don't stack tons of junky crap in every single aisle.

    If one was closer to me, I'd do every bit of my shopping there and I'm pretty picky about my grocery stores.

  18. #68

    Default Re: WinCo

    Open 24 hours will be huge! Where will store number 4 be? Are they going to start construction on all four at the same time or are they waiting for the first 3 to decide on #4?

  19. #69

    Default Re: WinCo

    Thank you for the review, Pete!

  20. #70

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by lasomeday View Post
    Open 24 hours will be huge! Where will store number 4 be? Are they going to start construction on all four at the same time or are they waiting for the first 3 to decide on #4?
    #4 will be on the southside or in Moore.

    Should open all four about the same time.

  21. #71

    Default Re: WinCo

    Pete, Thanks for taking your time to go get the pictures and your thoughts. Looks nice.

  22. #72

    Default Re: WinCo

    Pete. do they have a staffed full service meat department that can do specialty things for you or is it just all prepackaged?

  23. #73

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by ljbab728 View Post
    Pete. do they have a staffed full service meat department that can do specialty things for you or is it just all prepackaged?
    Fully staffed.

  24. #74

    Default Re: WinCo

    We have pinned down the fourth WinCo and as expected, it's in Moore:


  25. #75

    Default Re: WinCo

    Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
    We have pinned down the fourth WinCo and as expected, it's in Moore:
    Glad I never have to use that intersection, I think it might implode after this goes in.

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