You may recall from entry 968, that I mentioned how it seemed likely tops would leave the area.

Aparently, I call them well, though really, it wasn't like I either had inside information, or this was a close call, because. If you read that article, it pretty clearly shows how this area was Tops' worst area, and the reason they had performance issues. Anyway, so they're selling. (That was the 2 second summary of that really short article anyway).

I think its funny how they blame it on 'discount' groceries. As far as I know, the only new discount grocery stores are Walmart, which still only has a very few superstores around here, (vs the 46 or so tops') and trader joes, which sells way different stuff then Tops. (And there's only 2 Trader Joe's here anyway). The other discounters, Marc's, Aldi and Dave's all have been here for a really long time.

Nothing like marketing spin, of course I'm sure it has nothing to do with Giant Eagle's fuelperks program, which gives you $.10 off each gallon of gas you buy at their stations for every $50 you spend (i.e. if you spend $400 a month, you can 'cash in' at the end of the month and get $.80 off up to 30 gallons at one fillup). Really, no reason at all people would pick the store where you can save money on the thing people like to complain about the price of the most.

Anyway, onto the speculating of who will buy the stores. I think its likely one of the closer regional chains will buy some of them, maybe Kroger, or Acme. I might think Meijers would buy some, but doesn't Meijers always only have the superstore thing with clothing and groceries? So they'd have to expand the stores, or change their schtick, neither of which would make tons of sense. I also expect some of them to close, which is kinda sad, since competition is a good thing, and it seems like there are plenty of locations where there are 3 stores across from each other, but others with only 1 tops, and you know it will be the 1 single store that closes, because it doesn't attract enough business to be profitable, and no other company would buy it.

Anyway, this is really long, to not say much about anything, but you know, you need to keep up with the grocery store gossip. I'll have to see how my predictions go I think.