Welcome Starblader! I'm in the Salem area!
FYI -fellow Oregonians: Lobo's Low Carb store in Salem is closing
(I can't say I'm surprised. LC products are in all the markets now, I have shoped this store but why make an extra stop and pay high prices?)
The owners of LoBo’s say they couldn’t compete with chains.
MICHAEL ROSE
Statesman Journal
May 13, 2004
LoBo’s Low Carb World has been shoved out of its niche by supermarket chains, its owners said.
The Salem specialty store will close in June, said Lois Kaplan, who co-owns LoBo’s with her husband, Bo Bodenschatz. Their store at 1030 Broadway NE opened last year and sells about 1,500 products for consumers on low-carb diets. The store rang up strong sales until November, when the business suffered a sudden decline.
LoBo’s customer service, selection of products and spacious, 2,600-square-foot store weren’t enough to compete with supermarket chains that have added sections featuring low-carb food, its owners said.
“We didn’t expect so much of it to move into the big stores so rapidly,” Kaplan said.
Chain stores such as Fred Meyer Inc. and Wal-Mart Supercenters sometimes have sold low-carb products cheaper than LoBo’s can buy them wholesale, she said. Kaplan occasionally purchased low-carb products from the shelves of supermarket competitors in an attempt to offer her customers a similar deal.
But LoBo’s co-owner Bodenschatz said it was convenience offered by supermarkets, not their prices, that doomed the start-up business. Shoppers want to buy low-carb products and regular groceries in one stop, he said.
“There’s a book out there, ‘Who Moved My Cheese,’” he said. “Well, somebody moved our cheese.”
LoBo’s store is about twice as large as the typical low-carb store. Low-carb diets, such as the Atkins program, prompted many entrepreneurs to open small speciality stores selling items such as sugar-free cookies, low-carb bread and pasta.
LoBo’s went a step further and opened an in-store cafe. At its peak, LoBo’s retail operation had eight employees. It is down to three employees, including the owners.
Kaplan said that the future doesn’t look good for small low-carb stores or the small distributors supplying them with products. Many will have a difficult time surviving in a market that is shifting to large grocery stores, she said.
Faye Trupka, a regular customer at LoBo’s, said she was “very sad” to learn of the store’s imminent closing. Although Trupka occasionally shopped at supermarkets, she spent a large share of her grocery money at LoBo’s, she said.
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New to forum
. Just in case anybody is reading this, here is a post for Milwaukie, Oregon. I live near a track that would be great for a walking partner 
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