The new store at Northpoint Centre on Bay street in San Francisco was announced this past January 2025.
Signage finally up a couple of months ago, but still no info when the store will actually open. It’s kitty corner from TJ’s.
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Oakland GO a few days ago.
I didn’t find anything interesting and left empty-handed. I never did find the Rogue Brutal Blue at a store near me even after contacting corporate, calling and visiting the nearest store and checking the app for nearby inventory.
The aisles were full of boxes of wine for the March 4-10 Spring 20% off sale but it had not started yet
Maybe this is why I didn’t find anything interesting:
“Shoppers came in looking for the value and the treasure hunt experience they expect from Grocery Outlet, but left with fewer items per trip because we didn’t deliver the weight of WOW [deals] and the breadth of assortment that drives basket size and value,” Potter said.
GO has fallen off a cliff.
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Can’t say that I am surprised. As someone who was a huge GO fan for years, I am now mostly getting groceries at Costco and TJs and hardly shop there anymore. I used to see like 6 different mustard brands at GO, all cheap, and now I just see GO brand. I’m also perturbed at the increase of GO products in every category - all of which are mediocre. Last time I was in they had GO pickles for $3.99 and a sign that said “Elsewhere $6.99”. Huh? Who else is selling GO brand pickles!?
BTW if you have the app the wine sale is 25% off today.
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I don’t get why there’s a house brand in the first place. I thought GO was supposed to be “off lots”.
I think I mentioned this before. I think it 2017 and I was at GO in Oakland. Parking lot was mostly empty summer afternoon and one of those black executive buses pulls up and like 10-12 guys in biz attire (slacks, dress shirts) and notepads. Inside I notice them walking around looking and I’m wondering why. Then I realized they were venture capital guys. Okay, I looked…it was 2014 and they were VC (ETA: private equity). In any case, if they pumped $$$ in, they likely decided to brand some stuff as GO….and slowly get rid of the weird, cool, odd, good stuff that would randomly show up. That seems to be the case.
From wikipedia;
In 2009, Berkshire Partners became an investor in Grocery Outlet.[22] In 2014, private equity fund Hellman & Friedman LLC agreed to partner with senior management and acquire Grocery Outlet from principal owner Berkshire Partners LLC.
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I think they wanted to copy Trader Joe’s playbook.
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The East Hayward GO had this new-to-me cultured butter: Frentel. It’s Normandy-style but made in California–they had the unsalted variety at the store. At $4.99 for 8 oz., it’s a little cheaper than what Kerrygold is going for these days so I’m giving it a try.
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Miyoko plant milk mozzarella, giant tub for $1.99, expires March 16, quite possibly the last ones on the planet since the company got purchased last year. These must’ve been sold to restaurants – – the 8 ounce containers used to cost close to $10.
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A ridiculous bargain seen at the East Hayward GO: a 2-pack of 16-oz. jars of Grey Poupon for $5.99.
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Grocery Outlet signs lease for new store at 301 East 18th St near 3rd Ave in East Oakland near Lake Merritt in a former Walgreen’s.
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Santa Cruz
picked up cases of the Thesis Chardonnay (2024, WE90) and Pinot Noir (2024), Russian River Valley for $8 during the wine sale.
would purchase again at non-sale price. worth a taste if you spot it.
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Remind me, when does the sale end?
Jessica in SF Gate
New GO near Lake Merritt Oakland to open later this year and other changes.
https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/grocery-outlet-oakland-22084287.php
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In more ways than one: this is a well-worn playbook for how grocery stores’ executives inevitably enshittify them.
15 or so years ago, TJ’s management ended most “hustle buys” - cheap odd-lot one-time-only products that were usually fantastic bargains. A TJ’s employee around that time told me that some customers had actually whined about missing out on the deals, and management decided that the stores should focus on selling the same products, in every location, all the time, rather than having limited runs.
It’s got to be the same kind of thing with GO. The suits look at a store and think “well this is a stupid way to run a grocery store, sometimes we’ll have 10 different gourmet hot sauces but no canned green beans. Our loudest dumbest customers have told us they want consistency - they don’t like not being able to check off everything on their shopping list every time they shop here.” So they developed a bunch of junky overpriced GO-branded items for staples that you wouldn’t always encounter there in the past, had them eat up a bunch of valuable shelf space, and scaled back everything that was once core to GO’s value proposition.
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Rogue River Brutal is back at the East Hayward GO!
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Grocery Outlet is a public company so they have to maintain shareholder value or the execs lose their jobs. Consistent profit margins are key to that. My guess is that, as they grow, it’s harder to be sure they can find enough ‘deals’ to achieve that. Private label seems to work for Trader Joe’s so we’ll see I guess.
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