Economy

They are inept at reducing the amount of labor in their merchandising, which is one reason they can't reduce costs. They pride themselves on being full service and I get it they're the only game around, but still reducing costs is the name of the game. Hot bar, deli. They're like a convenience store inside a grocery store, and their distributors and wholesalers have no pricing alternatives. It's a rigid system. You can't stock a store with food and slow moving merchandise and food and make it profitable and cheap for consumers. So the system continues until it collapses. Locally the retailer shuts down during some recessions. Then tries again when the economy turns up.