[imroot]

I've always said that in the back of my mind, the most successful grocery store would be the 'walls' of the store -- bakery, deli, produce, meats, floral, cheeses, dairy and having a little selection of store brands in the middle where consumers can pick up (and vendors can pay a premium for endcap space, because they're the only non-branded products out there), with the rest of the SKU's behind the walls of the grocery store in a fulfillment only model.

Kroger should have pulled a Wal-Mart and turned to their shrink-heavy stores in urban centers to online fulfillment only -- basically only their delivery drivers can retrieve items for an order, and everything's shopped by an associate (Look south of the MicroCenter in Dallas if you want to see what one looks like: it still has the Murphy USA in the parking lot and is basically an unbranded walmart building with 'driver' and 'associate' entrances -- and then deployed the robotics there: less retail space, more online/fulfillment capacity (have humans grab produce and custom sliced/packed items, robots pick the dry goods), and while you lose some cashier jobs, you'll probably have net improvement in terms of time waiting to be picked.

[zrobotics]

So what grocery stores used to be ~90 years ago, when the norm was you would give the clerk a list and they would grab your items from the back? The only stores I'm still aware of that are setup like this are auto parts stores, where 90% of the inventory is in the back.

[Doxin]

Toolstation still has a model like that, and I gotta say I love it. They also seem to hire people who actually know something about the products they sell which is an unfortunate rarity these days.

[ZeWaka]

Only other places I can think of is weed dispensaries and pharmacies.

You could also count shoe stores and high-end jewelry and watch stores in that the clerk has to go in the back to fetch the non-display model.

[ssl-3]

Professional supply houses are usually that way, too.

Graybar[1], for instance: There's a counter with bar stools, and behind that counter are people who know their inventory very well.

I just walk in and tell them what I want. They write it all down on paper faster than I can say the words and then disappear into the back to fetch it while I help myself to a free ice cream sandwich from the freezer over on the right that one of the local trade unions provides.

[1]: Graybar is a US-based electrical supply place. The companies I work for have accounts there, but as far as I know anyone can walk in and buy stuff. They also have some datacom stuff. If I'm in the middle of Nowhere, Ohio and need, say, a single-mode patch cord today, then there's probably a Graybar less than an hour away that has one in stock. Otherwise, they'll have one for me tomorrow before 7:00AM.

[ryukoposting]

The instant I read the first sentence of your comment, I thought "McMaster-Carr but for food" might be the most appealing pitch for online grocery delivery I've ever heard.

...with the caveat that McMaster's facilities are staffed by people, not robots.

[ssl-3]

Amusingly, the Kroger near me is almost that way already.

Log into website, fill the cart, pick a time window, and push the button to order it. Someone starts working on it nearly instantly. The order is picked and waiting in a few minutes.

It's fast as fuck. Except...

---

If someone at Kroger ever reads this, then:

That time window aspect is the part of the system falls down hard for me.

Before I order, I have to pick a window in the future when I want to pick it up/get it delivered.

"I'm ready when you are; ASAP" isn't an option. Nor is "I'm already in the parking lot, you bunch of dweebs -- just bring my stuff out. Please?"

So if it's 6:05 when I order and the next window starts at 8:00, and they're fast as fuck (as they are) and have it done in less than 15 minutes, then: I'm waiting around for more than an hour and a half for nothing.

Because until the apparently-completely-arbitrary window is reached: It won't let me check in to pick up. It won't schedule a driver. My groceries are just sitting there (ideally stored at the right temperature but I can't know this) at the store while some wallclock mechanism that was designed by an asshole runs out.

This makes the whole thing feel clunky, stupid, and insulting.

It results a system that I use only when I absolutely do not want to be inside of a grocery store, like when I'm sick as hell in January and every body part hurts. Any other time, it's way faster for me to go in the store and shop it myself.

It should be convenient. It is instead almost always a burden instead of a benefit.

If picking up a pizza from Domino's worked like this, then they'd have gone completely out of business decades ago.

[ryukoposting]

Our Kroger has the same service, we use it a lot. Grocery stores are annoying to me, and Kroger feels almost intentionally designed to piss me off, so that's why we use the pickup order thing. Beware:

1. Prices on the app are frequently higher than prices in the store. 2. Not all options available in the store are available in the app. 3. Don't assume they'll always have it ready on time. Or, at least, don't plan your day around it.

They force you to pick a window because stores have limited staffing, and only so many orders can be fulfilled at once. "Hire more people," you say? Hah!

We don't do delivery, so I can't comment on that aspect of the service.

[gambiting]

In the UK you have a whole chain of stores called Argos where you have a catalogue of items, you pick the items you want and the clerk brings them to you. Also Screwfix and Toolstation are both hardware stores that operate the same way.

[NegativeLatency]

A store with a good deli/butcher is still like this to some degree

[tdeck]

This reminds me of the retail chain Service Merchandise which apparently used to operate this way. You'd walk around the store looking at display products, pick things out on a sheet, and then they'd appear on a conveyor belt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise

I have never been to one because they went out of business decades ago.

[zuppy]

that is a guarantee for less sales, not sure it makes business sense. for example, i don't buy generic products, i want specific properties from them. and sometimes i don't know what i want, i look at the isle and only then decide. and let's not forget about impulse shopping.

honestly, i wouldn't shop at this store, i want to get the items myself, without any interaction. interactions add delays.

[jcims]

This gave me a flashback to Service Merchandise. No idea how widespread they were, but that's how it operated. You'd collect tags for the things you want, take them to the counter, wait a bit and your order would roll out on a belt. Pull your car up, load it and leave.