More proof businesses are gouging Ashburn

Or Food Lion/Bloom

 

Flynnibus,
I need to ask a personal question...what do you do for a living? I am going to assume that you provide some service or good, or that you are in a step of providing a service or good?

Does your firm charge more in Greater DC than it does (or would) in Mount Airy, NC?

Then you are participating in gouging.

Another note: These stores are NOT OVERCHARGING. If they were they would go out of business because no one would pay it. Honestly, according to your definition of gouging, you are probably gouging your boss, because I am going to assume that you make more than someone in a similar position in Wichita, Kansas.

Airlines UNDERCHARGED and need Federal relief, bankruptcy protection, or have gone out of business.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by chefario
Sorry,
I cannot hold my tounge anymore. Price gouging?

Do you realize that over the last 2 years there have been 75 new places to eat and 6 new grocery stores that have opened here in Ashburn. With not much additional housing or occupied office space. Competition is ..., there is no word for it.

Not much additional space? You mean besides the 6 shopping centers that accompanied each of those grocery store openings? Or the other shopping centers that have opened without grocery anchors (such as the very one in broadlands itself at turio parish??

And since when does more competition justify raising prices? All this 'free market' idealism everyone is throwing around should infer higher supply should drive prices down and competition should drive prices down as each store's pickup area is encroached upon by new stores.. driving competition to retain customers.

Yet.. what do we have? Price inflation in the area that far outweighs the national averages.

Quote:
It is not enough to have good products to sell anymore, everything we sell in Ashburn needs to be at a discount.
If I were shopping for a preimum service, I'd agree. But I'm not shopping for premium service when I buy dry groceries. I'm also not shopping for 'premium' by shopping in Ashburn vs another local suburb.

Quote:
Perhaps I am speaking out of turn by saying that I would wager all business owners are using basic business math formulas to determine the "Original" price of the items they sell only to have their bottom line affected by the harsh reality that the realistic price is too high for our consumers in the current market. Which means we are forced to cut that price just to make a sale. No business can survive under this scenario.

When the national average for profitability in my industry is 5% of sales but our environment dictates we give 10 - 15 % off. Ouch!
Nice.. but irrelevant to the examples given. Both stores are supplied through the same buyers and same distribution center. Both stores are paying the same for the product.. and I've yet to see anyone try to claim that operating in Loudon with the flood of new properties here is more expensive then operating in a fixed retail space like Reston. Are business taxes significantly more expensive in Loudon then Fairfax?

The grocery business is a very competitive space - operating on what I think normally is 3% margins.

The basic premise is still the same. What justifications exist to charge more for the same product, from the same store, in two different local towns?

Besides 'because I can'. And based on what? That Ashburn is a more affluent area?

How many of you would like to walk into a mechanics shop.. have him look at your registration, and then modify his prices based on where you live? That's effectivly what Safeway is doing...

Honestly, the weakness of your response and total lack of consideration for chefario's points makes me want to put you on the iggy. You either didn't read or understand his comments.

Grocery stores aren't selling to your home value; They are selling to your household income, in which Ashburn kicks Reston's but all week long and twice on Tuesday.

The comparison with other parts of the country is a 100% VALID analogy! The only difference is in the scale of the price differences and incomes.

And when you walk into a mechanics shop, he is going to vary his price, but not based on your address, but on the type of car that you drive. Do you really think that a halogen bulb for a Jaguar costs 6 times as much as one on a Hyundai (sp?)? But do they get the extra money??? Ummmmm..... yeah!

Steve,
Take a step back. You need to look at this issue in a bigger way than your two subs for $6.99. You got gouged on your car (zone priced), your gas (definitely zone priced), your tennis court rental, your Karate lessons, your health club membership, your taco at Taco Bell, your burger and Wendy's, your round of golf, and most noticibly, your house, . Do you get it?

THAT IS THE PRICE THAT YOU PAY FOR AFFLUENCE,AND LIVING IN AN AFFLUENT AREA! If'n you don't like it, there is a coal mining town in West Virginia that is selling loaves of bread for $.79 at the IGA!

Side bar: you need to listen to Chris Rock's rant about the two grocery stores, and the two malls

 

Ew. IGA. Do NOT make me shop at an IGA.





:sorry:

 

1. Average house prices are similar, but they pay the same for a smaller house. $529K Reston vs. $599K Ashburn (+13.2%)
2. The average household income in Ashburn is higher than Reston by almost 20%. $93K Reston vs $103K Ashburn (+10.7%)
3. I could not find average information on Commercial Real Estate, but one would think that it would follow in kind.

 

Air carriers needed federal bailout money because nobody wanted to fly after 9/11 and business suffered.

 

Not off topic at all! Rather, you have hit the NAIL ON THE HEAD!!!

 

Not so!!! Look throught the history of carriers, and see how many discount airlines have gone out of business over the last 30 years. Southwest is the anomaly, but then again, they have the oldest jets in the business. I fly them all the time, but I say a little prayer at take off and landing. I am a cheap b*st*rd, but man, I'm not going to cry about my Mocha costing 50 cents more at the corner Starbucks than the one near my work!

 

If this data is accurate, then it would seem to justify higher prices in Ashburn than Reston. Much ado about nothing to me.

 

Airline carriers have traditionally been greatly mismanaged. Some of the problem has been their cost structure. Because of poorly negotiated union contracts, many have found themselves in the same situation as American automakers.

Southwest is the exception and should be used as a good example.

 

So true. The last time I flew Southwest the aircraft was so old there were ash trays in the armrest and the flight attendant call button was denoted by the female stewardess symbol. (stick figure in a skirt)

 

Why, yes. I was saying just that as I was sipping my $5 venti, with-whip, half caff, mocha latte this morning during my chaffeured commute to work.

Sarcasm off. Honestly, if you move to a nice area, you should expect that prices are going to be higher for the stuff you need. If someone does not like it, the choices are:

1. MOVE!
2. Stay where you are but shop in a slum.
3. Don't consume. Maybe grow your our food in your back yard?

Problem (if it ever could have been called that) solved. Now, I need anything $5 latte, and where the heck did my chaffeur go?

 

Loudoun Cty. wasn't considered an affluant area when we first moved here in 1988 from Reston.......

 

But now it is, so your house is worth??? About 10 times what you purchased it for?

I'll pay another 30 cents for my loaf of bread and have my home value double in four years any day. And Steve Flynnbus, since you lack the basic ability to defend any of your positions with any degree of logic, I will no longer be viewing any of your posts. Good luck with your closed mind. Enjoy your frustration over paying 25 extra cents on your two litre bottle of Coke.

Meanwhile, I will spend my energy toward my children, and my job. Best of luck!

 

Great, I cannot put Flynnibus on iggy, because he is a moderator!

 

It wasn't in 1997 either, when I moved here. Ashburn was the only area I could afford!

 

And dropping every day........