The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Let me preface this by saying I like Reasor's as a brand. I think their new stores in Jenks and Bixby are amazing. I also believe that their 71st and Sheridan location is the opposite of amazing, which is why I started this thread.

Others on here have mentioned complaints with this store, so I thought I'd see if we could compile them and maybe, just maybe, figure out what would fix it.

Issues I have had are:
- This location was not built as a Reasor's, it was bought and relabeled. The traffic flow and layout is basically the same as "Price Mart" was and you don't here anyone saying "dang, I miss Price Mart"
- The majority of traffic enters/exit at Sheridan which comes up a ramp to a blind corner where traffic entering and exiting narrowly passes each other in ways that would make stock car drivers flinch. This area is further narrowed by the food pickup area and pharmacy lane which are also at the top of the hill.
- Most Reasor's locations separate the entrance and checkouts on opposite sides of the store. This store has both in the same place which makes traffic flow difficult.
- There is a chuck of the store that used to be a video store, they walled it off and seem to have no interest in using that area to improve the store.
- Because of the layout, you basically have to shimmy through a maze of narrow aisles all the way to the back of the store before you can actually start navigating.
- Speaking of aisles, the majority of the areas that you go through to get to the back of the store, like produce and the meat counter, are only one cart wide. If someone is getting hoagie rolls and another person is some filets, then I hope you brought a lawn chair because you aren't going anywhere for awhile.
- Speaking of meat, the meats I have bought here have very short shelf life. Ground beef and cube steak will last 2-3 days, roast will get you maybe 3 or 4. The idea of buying groceries for a week is out. My neighbor has also complained to me about this. I expect meat to be good for several days past the "sell before" date, not expire on that date. I have switched to target because I get a more reliable lifespan of out their factory-made robot meat.
- I. Can't. Find. Anything. Tortillas from one brand are here, the others are on the other side of the store. Snack cakes? 4 different areas of the store. Jalapeños? Well, some are with salad and some are with mexican food, depending on brand not type. Kleenex? Took me 15 minutes to find it not in paper goods, or household, but in the pharmacy next to cold medicine.
- Staff seems to be the people who couldn't cut it at the other stores. I was 7th in line for the express lane yesterday (other lines were just as bad) with a cashier who must love checking people out, because he was taking his time with it. He called a manager over who helped him with a price, the manager looked at our line and then left to go chat with 3 other cashiers instead of opening more lanes. Another 10 minutes later, someone who I believe was also management finally walked over to a lane, gave the universal "I don't want to be here" body language, then mumbled "nxt un ligh"

So, here are some ideas I've had:
- Rework the entrance/exit. The bank and deli counters can be adjusted to allow ingress/egress to be separated.
- Realign the produce or floral section so people coming in can access the main E-W aisle, or a N-S aisle, without going to the back or squeaking by the coke aisle.
- Relocate the drive through to the old video area. Create a median and traffic flow so people coming up and down the ramp don't end up head-on.
- Move express check out to other end of registers by the main E-W aisle, in front of customer service. Express backs up before other lanes and management needs a clear view of when they are getting busy.

Try the one at 101st and Elm in B.A. same thing, Just without the traffic issues. It's horrible.

Two purpose-built Reasor’s I know of have a single entrance and exit: 18th & Yale and 41st & Yale.  I believe Jenks also has a single entrance, looks like Sand Springs does as well.  Swake?

Any which have separate entrance and exits I’m aware of were re-purposed Albertson’s.

(http://ktul.images.worldnow.com/images/18899684_BG1.JPG)

The traffic splits once you go in the front door left or right, often separate doors once you pass the front doors.

The new stores have single entrance and exits, but they are split right and left and are not an issue. The aisles are wide and the layout seems fine. The Jenks and Bixby locations are almost identical. Sapulpa and Sand Springs are similar but a little smaller. I am not as familiar with the Sheridan store because it’s always been a mess to me much like Grizzle says and I never go there. I also dislike the one at 41st and Yale.

We used to shop at the Super Targets a lot, but we do so less and less, they really seem to have gone downhill over the last couple of years. Now I just go to the little Target at Tulsa Hills for non food items and do about all the grocery shopping at Reasors.

It also just sounds like there are management issues with that location. The staff in Jenks is always very nice, sometimes that baggers seem to be kids working a bit harder on dates than bagging, but overall they are better and faster than Target and worlds better than Wal-Mart employees. I would contact the corporate offices.

Ahhh, I see.  41st & Yale has this split on the inner lobby.  18th and Yale does not.  You can veer off into produce, but there’s still registers pretty much right in front of you.

The old Albertsons locations at 15th & Lewis and 51st & Harvard had split entrance/exit as well.

I like the 51st and Harvard store. Separate entrance and exit, wide aisles, and the manager lets me take college classes and citizen groups on environmental shopping tours through the store.

They are spending a bunch to remodel the one at 71st and Lynn Lane in Broken Arrow.   (Not sure how much of that is attributable to the Sprouts opening next door.)

Maybe yours is next?

They did a bunch of construction a year or two ago but that just added a bank and a pharmacy.

The 71st & Sheridan store was just bought & re-labeled with little remodeling done as was mentioned most likely to cut corners and save money, so how it was before is what you get today, just like Harps & now the new Save On store... I'm not fan of any Tulsa area supermarket I shop the Wal-Mart Supercenters they are the best in prices and fresh food   since Wal-Mart  sells so much food it has no time to get old on the shelf. Tulsa area  supermarket's  are nothing like the supermarkets of other cities/states.. I dunno why Tulsa never got in any Kroger stores, or HyVee stores. I lived in 4 states and one of big drawbacks of Tulsa is poor supermarkets, Tulsa even has no "Food 4 Less" stores or "No Frills" food which are common in Omaha, Nebraska. The Midwestern states (like Indiana, Ohio & Michigan) have Meijer stores they are like a food supercenter store open 24/7 closed only on Christmas. The HyVee Supermarkets common in the upper Midwest along with Kroger stores have outstanding in-store bakeries. While on the subject of stores Tulsa also has no Mennards Lumberyard store all we have in Tulsa is Home Depot & Lowes.  Mennards is like a lumberyard supercenter store they market in the mid-west & upper Midwest. The Tulsa market lacks many good or popular retailors that other states have.

"Food Pyramid" was actually a Kroger brand.

Aldi is a "no frills" chain which has several Tulsa locations.

Personally I want Publix, or Kroger, or both.

ALDI can't be a No Frills Supermarket market because in Omaha, Nebraska they have both, ALDI stores and large  No Frills supermarkets. In fact on one corner in Omaha (132nd street & Center street) there is a No Frills market on the SW corner and a ALDI store on the north east corner next to a Big Lots. Omaha also has a "Bag & Save" market that used to be Albertsons Foods before they closed up in Omaha. The supermarket selection here in Tulsa is poor. I never knew Food Pyramid was a Kroger brand they sure did not seem like it, anything but if ya ask me.

TIL "No Frills" is the actual name of a supermarket...

nofrillssupermarkets.com

He’s making the point that Aldi is the same concept as "No Frills”.  So is Save-A-Lot same business model.  You bag your own stuff, meat is pre-packaged or frozen crap.

I really don’t have a problem with most Tulsa grocery stores.  I simply wish I could pick up a nice bottle of wine or six pack of good beer there instead of needing to make another stop at the liquor store.

Grizzle- As far as the 71st & Sheridan store, send the comments to Reasor’s HQ.  When they announced the closing of the 71st & Garnett store, they were anticipating the savings by closing that loser of a store could be used to improve other existing units.  Wasn’t the store they are closing another Albertson’s/smile Pyramid?

It was, but I'm wondering if they are closing it to improve cash flow to pay for the brookside remodel that isn't done yet.

That is my Reasor's and yes they are freaking out about the Sprouts across the street. The produce section is being widened and maybe they will get back to having specialty produce you can't find anywhere else like they did when they first opened.

I went to the new Sprouts last night. And you Health food guys can have it. Way overpriced as far as I'm concerned. I'll never be in you're tax bracket so enjoy spending that hefty salary.(and yes i'm jealous)
I will say this. The bag of pre mixed salad that I purchased tastes way better than the Dole salad that I get at Reasor's and Wally World. So they will get my bag salad business.(silver lining) Short of that I don't get the big whoopty doo.
And I think they have at least one person per isle working to help you. My son said they have 130 people that were hired for that store. Overkill much?
And those nice little eco friendly green bags for you to bring back can't cost to much for them to provide can they?

Sprouts is no whole foods as far as price. Looking at the ad, they are cheaper than my reasor's on must things. They are doing $2.99 for organic, farm-raised hippy pork loin and I pay some times 7.99/lb for the regular abused stuff at Reasors. I've also gotten happy eggs for $1.99 there and boneless chicken breasts for like $2.99 a pound. I think that is an "every tuesday" deal or something.

Watch Sprouts' specials.  Better yet, sign up for their weekly ad in your email.  Mrs. C says we save quite a bit on produce and meat there.  Our houseguest from Colorado Springs echoes the sentiment over local grocers up there as well.  All we buy is from the produce counter and meat counter.  We pretty well shop the specials.  Even their regular prices are comparable to the meat counter at Reasor’s.  Mahi Mahi for $4.99/pound?  That’s stupid cheap.  Wild caught sockeye salmon $9.99/lb? Same deal.  I love their sausage from the meat counter, especially the chicken sausage.  Their weekly special is  cheaper than Johnsonville without the preservative crap and I can’t tell the difference between it and pork sausage. 

Not sure how they do it, but they do.

101st & Memorial Sprouts:
The produce is reasonably priced and often beats the WalMart at 111th & Memorial in both price and quality. I get the regular stuff rather than the organic.  (Before anyone pukes about WalMart produce, the produce at 111th & Memorial is usually pretty decent.)
The Mahi-mahi normal price is $7.99/lb but is frequently on sale for $4.99/lb as Conan mentioned.  Watch the sales.  Wednesday is week before and week to follow on the specials.

I find it extremely hard to get any service at 41st & Peoria.


[/jokes]

Has anyone heard anything about this store?  They said it would take a while, due to this store being a "new concept" for Reasors, and something about ordering shelves.  I haven't heard any news of any massive shelf shortages, or shelving unions on strike for better working conditions, so I wonder what other factors are at play.   There seems to be a grocery store overload happening in this part of town, between their own stores, Sprouts, Natural Grocers (which seems to sit there without customers), the new Wal-mart, and Whole Foods.  It seems a little weird seeing that parking lot sit empty for over a year now.

One more funny fact about the 41st & Peoria store:  They immediately removed all of the signage from the Food Pyramid.   Every last detail, all removed.   Except for one thing at the top of the entrance, which says "OPEN".

Read the ads before you go into Sprouts.  They run specials every week that they are practically giving certain meats and produce away.  If you stick to those, you're good, and their produce in general is way cheaper and of better quality than Reasors or Wallyworld.  


Hmm, I guess I'm the 4th person to say the same thing.

Or thereabout,

I guess I’m lost.  Did they close the 41st/Peoria one for major reno?

Yes, it was one of the three Food Pyramids Reasors purchased a year ago, but it was closed and never re-opened as opposed to the quick switchover at 51st & Harvard, reason given that they had bigger plans for the location.

I have noticed that when Reasors takes over a new building they do very little if any changing or re-modeling, the Pyramid store building  on 71st & Garnette has not changed a bit since Pyramid left it. I won't be surprised if Reasors used the same store racks & shelves that Pyramid had. All Reasons did was take down the old name and put up their name.

Mahi Mahi = Pollock

Wild caught sockeye = farm raised Coho.

Legally you cannot claim it is something which it is not.  You do and there are major fines and sanctions. 

Got proof or are you just being a jackass?

Just messing with you a little bit.  Relax!

All the mahi mahi I have ever eaten was a very different texture from cod or pollock.  Salmon - tougher to tell....



One thing that I do see at some places is the claim that they are serving cod.  Sometimes heard it referred to as "pacific cod".  It's pollock.  I have a cousin who has been fishing in Alaska since about 1968 and he gets a laugh out of it - pacific cod is number 2 to pollock, but not used in the "cheaper" fish venues.  (He was on one of the Deadliest Catch crab boats - Seabrook - for a few episodes about 2 years ago during the fish 'off season', then retired when Scott Sr retired....)

If you’ve had “real” Mahi cooked properly, there’s no similarity in texture to cod.  I’m not really sure how anyone would confuse salmon with anything other than salmon. It has a taste and texture which is very unique.

Real Mahi (called Dolphin in the 60s in the Florida Keys) caught fresh in the Gulf Stream off Islamorada only hours before is reallllly good.  We would come across a school of them, usually about 12" to 18" long.  Dip the hook with some ballyhoo on it in the clear water and pull the line out of the water if the fish near your hook was too small.  We did catch a few that were over 36".  My sister caught one just short of 4' (about 3' 11" as I remember).

That's exactly what I said....restated.  (about the cod).  Very easy to tell the difference between the two - or should be.

Salmon, too.... very hard to tell the difference between wild and farmed.  Tastes nothing like chicken....  (new species introduction to topic - since the urban myth is "everything tastes like chicken"....)