Randy 805 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 So, I just heard, Vistar / Merchant Mart in Van Nuys is closing down, where is everybody close to the Valley going to get their product now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Are they closing the entire warehouse or just the Cash and Carry as they have in other places? After closing the Cash and Carrys they then require you to order by phone or online and then pick up your orders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy 805 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Well, I just called them and they said they're completely shutting down that specific location, lease was up. Ect..... Apparently they're still looking for a new spot within a 10 mile radius of where they currently are but no guarantee a on when or where that will be.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 They must not be trying too hard to find a place or they'd already have one lined up. It wouldn't be a surprise to them that the lease is up. If they don't find a new place before they have to close then they probably aren't even trying to find one. It would be way too expensive to move the warehouse twice so if they close with no new warehouse, it will probably be closed for good. Vistar is really struggling with the horrible state of the vending industry and how fractured it has become. After the depression, the industry is way too top-heavy with small operators who are willing to shop everywhere for their products. There aren't enough larger operators now (3+ routes) who recognize the cost savings of using one supplier for all their snacks and frozen products. We had three routes and bought from Coke, Pepsi and Vistar (was "Vendsource" here at the time prior to the buyout). It made no sense once I had a full route, then two, then three, to keep hitting up grocery stores for sales. The business has changed and not for the better, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy 805 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Ya, it stinks....places like Costco, Sam's Club, ect. only seem to have mixed packages of things now, not full boxes of one kind of item that we need...there is still the Vistar in Downey but its like an hour and a half away.... There is still a good place in the Valley called Soda Soda where I can get a pretty good selection of drinks, I'm just worried about chips and stuff..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 If you can put a large enough order together or combine your order with another friendly vendor's order you can get Vistar to deliver to a commercial location or a storage facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 It's a bad sign for your area if no one wants to carry any product. You may want to consider getting accounts around the area where the other vistar is as there may be way more vending opportunities there. The nearest merchant mart is over an hour away from me but I have some accounts nearby that location fortunately. I still buy the variety packs at Sam's Club on a pretty regular basis but I go through full boxes as well. I think you should take AZVendor's advice though and try to possibly have a delivery to a storage unit or team up with another vendor. It might possibly be cheaper to simply drive to the other location than to rent a storage unit though, but you would have to stock up very heavily each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Vistar is all gung-ho for Canteen. Whatever Canteen wants, they get. When I'm on the phone with Vistar, Canteen is mentioned at least once. The Sams Club in San Bernardino has a good selection of vending items with individual cases of candy. I know it's a long way from Van Nuys, but I drive there from Barstow once a week. It's a 150 mile round trip and worth the effort. I go on line and use the "click-n-pull" on Sunday night and its ready at 7am Monday morning. I still use Vistar but only for specific items to vend in the high schools and their Rye Street Jalapeno chips. Just a side bash, er, I mean note, Vistar will send out nearly outdated chips and lose the "credit" every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 My local merchant mart is also having problems with outdated product lately. I WAS told earlier this year that their sales actually pick up in the Winter. I can only assume that that is because a lot of vendors buy their beverages from other distributors or even directly from the bottler so Vistar/Merchant Mart's sales come from snacks more so than soda. In other words, they probably pick up in the Winter because people buy far more snacks from Vistar than anything else... and we all know that Winter means more snack sales. On a side note, my local Sam's Club has reduced one of the variety packs (I think it's called the Flavor pack with BBQ Lays, Cheetos, Chili Cheese Fritos, Cool Ranch Doritos, and Cheddar Sunchips) from 11.98 to 10.58 for a period of time. They did the same thing with the regular variety packs a while ago too. I have simply been buying my Lays, Nacho Doritos, and a few other selections in 50 ct. boxes and buying about 4 "Flavor packs" at a time. It's a pain to deal with variety packs at times... but at 21 cents per unit, I will gladly deal with it! Also, my local Sam's Club has the PMM/Snickers/Skittles/MM packs (52 ct) for around $33.50. I think it comes out to roughly 53 cents per unit. It's not as good as the prices used to be a few months ago... but it's better than paying 61 cents for everything else. I bought 3 packs today and that will probably last me through Tuesday. I'm on a price-raising spree. I know that these prices are going to go up again soon and I feel like I need to get ahead of the game. At my point in time, I feel like I can say this.... if you are grossing under 50k/year in vending sales (mixture of soda and snacks), you are probably better off going to places like Sam's and buying variety packs if you can. If you are between 50k and 100k/year, you need to seriously consider things such as travel expenses to pick up items, storage costs if you need a storage facility to have deliveries, and things of that nature. It's a rough place to be. If you are 100k-200k/year, you have flexibility to do whatever saves time and money. If you are over 200k, you are probably better off ordering from Vistar and having deliveries. One last side note... I have no "warehouse" as someone would call it. I do have some machines in my garage but all of my product is stored in my vehicle. The only exception is when the whether is too hot, I store the chocolate in my house until I am ready to roll out. I don't plan on even THINKING about a warehouse until I am over 150k. Even then, I will only consider a warehouse. I probably won't get one until I am at 200k+ It's cheaper for me to hit Sam's Club every day on the way to my accounts than to pay for a warehouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacapa Vending Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Vistar Closing in Van Nuys is brutal... We are also in the 805 and not looking forward to driving to Downey... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 They must not be trying too hard to find a place or they'd already have one lined up. It wouldn't be a surprise to them that the lease is up. If they don't find a new place before they have to close then they probably aren't even trying to find one. It would be way too expensive to move the warehouse twice so if they close with no new warehouse, it will probably be closed for good. Vistar is really struggling with the horrible state of the vending industry and how fractured it has become. After the depression, the industry is way too top-heavy with small operators who are willing to shop everywhere for their products. There aren't enough larger operators now (3+ routes) who recognize the cost savings of using one supplier for all their snacks and frozen products. We had three routes and bought from Coke, Pepsi and Vistar (was "Vendsource" here at the time prior to the buyout). It made no sense once I had a full route, then two, then three, to keep hitting up grocery stores for sales. The business has changed and not for the better, unfortunately. You got that right Randy - warehouse space is readily available around here, you can't drive three blocks without seeing something for lease. There's always the Candyman in Ontario and Anaheim, but that's a hell of a drive from Ventura. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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