I guess this is what it is coming to...


 

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I go to Lowe's frequently to get stuff for the organization I work for. A week ago I took this picture outside:

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What a bleak sight! Acres of imported junk grills ready to rust out. But obviously, Lowe's expects to sell them. When I went inside there were a handful of Weber grills (still no signs of SmokeFire or pellets). I was pretty sad.

Today, I went back to Lowe's and they have filled the floor with:

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SPIRITS!!! Spirit IIs and old Spirits with higher prices than the Spirit IIs! Still only a small selection of Genesis and Weber kettle grills. A couple Qs.

Finally, I also went today to the best Ace Hardware in my area that carries a large selection of 316 marine grade stainless steel hardware plus a GREAT selection of Weber grills, along with Big Green Eggs and

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TRAEGERS...Traegers by the barrels full:

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That's TWO WHOLE ROWS OF TRAEGER PELLET GRILLS! Still no sign of the SmokeFire or Weber pellets - they sure had a ton of Traeger pellets (along with the best selection of charcoal anywhere around me).

So, I think these recent pictures capture a lot of what is going on these days in the BBQ grill world. Cheap, disposable, fake stainless, throwaway gas grills...Cheap, dumbed down Weber gas grills, and PELLET GRILLS. Lots of pellet grills...

I will post more later about the revived first edition Spirit they had at Lowe's. While it is pricey and has deficiencies, it also has some positive points that show that Weber is still making improvements.

Also, I took a few pictures of the Traeger pellet grills that Weber is directly competing with. I came away convinced the Weber SmokeFire looks to be a way better deal than any Traeger, plus offering features that Traegers do not.
 
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Not sure what weber is doing by bringing back the old spirit. They could have changed the hood and still kept the closed cabinet and made it another version of the Spirit II. Are they simply trying to use up some old stock materials and parts from the old Spirit?

But, hey, they know to keep the good stuff inside the store.
 
Same in my area. Some Genesis and BGE and pellet grills. There is an Ace in Johns Creek i really like but is far.....they have the Thermapen in stock, first time I've seen it at Ace.
For 316 SS Ace is the place besides Lowes.
The right side leg on the Spirit looks weird what you guys think ?
 
Great post Jon. Same experience for me. Worried that Weber is being squeezed. It can be a slow-seller, especially to the non-enthusiasts. End of season sales probably took their toll. Was hoping for more selection or at least to get another Weber on sale. Nothing this year. Seems the big box stores remember. Hoping Weber can really set the bar and thus have a very successful run.
 
Same in my area. Some Genesis and BGE and pellet grills. There is an Ace in Johns Creek i really like but is far.....they have the Thermapen in stock, first time I've seen it at Ace.
For 316 SS Ace is the place besides Lowes.
The right side leg on the Spirit looks weird what you guys think ?

I worked at the John's Creek Ace for 10 years! Back when I worked there it was Alpharetta Ace and the store was across the street, where Aldi is now. I still remember emptying out the old store and moving into the new one.
I'm still good friends with the owner Ralph and his two sons Richard and Evan.

They sell tons of grills. Great store, they really go above and beyond for the customers.
 
Same situation here at Home Depot a gazillion cheapo tin grills out front and a bunch of Traeger's inside and a few Spirits. Looks like Traeger is giving some incentives to get a load of floor space before Weber gets the SmokeFire out. Weber sure gave a lot of advance notice to Traeger and the other pellet sellers and it looks like they took advantage of it.
 
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Lots of Traegers at Costco on my last trip. There were sales reps there but they apparently had taken a break so the one guy put a placard on a grill and said "having a break here is my cell phone number"
Honestly I am getting so sick of the "hawkers" in the club stores. I hate the free samples (never try them and despise the traffic jam they make as absent minded people just leave their carts all over), the smell of what they have is sometimes AWFUL as well, then you have the sales reps from mobile phone companies, TV satellite crap, home improvement hawkers, etc. I just want to buy my stuff and get outta there ASAP and leave me alone. Yeah I know I am a crotchety old fart :D
 
Larry, I am not a big fan of those sample kiosks either. Mostly for the unintended effects they have as you stated. Walmart sometimes has one, but it a prescribed spot that usually doesn't cause traffic jams. I don't ever "partake" either.
 
Same in my area. Some Genesis and BGE and pellet grills. There is an Ace in Johns Creek i really like but is far.....they have the Thermapen in stock, first time I've seen it at Ace.
For 316 SS Ace is the place besides Lowes.
The right side leg on the Spirit looks weird what you guys think ?

Chris,

I think they had to do that since it doesn't have casters on the other side. You have to lift it up to move it. With the wheels further out that would be easier. I actually think it makes it look a little more rugged.
 
Great post Jon. Same experience for me. Worried that Weber is being squeezed. It can be a slow-seller, especially to the non-enthusiasts. End of season sales probably took their toll. Was hoping for more selection or at least to get another Weber on sale. Nothing this year. Seems the big box stores remember. Hoping Weber can really set the bar and thus have a very successful run.

I don't think Weber is getting squeezed out these chains all have analytics that they use. They have a pretty good grasp of what to stock and what sells based on the previous year its not a perfect system but your comment about the big box stores remember, that certainly is true and they aren't going to get caught with a bunch of high priced inventory that they have to drop their pants on end of the season if they can help it. They also use analytics to follow trends obviously so this year they may be stocking a lot more pellet grills because they are trying to forecast the market based on what they sold last year and bumping it up if the data shows their will be more demand this year.

To Rich's comment "Looks like Traeger is giving some incentives to get a load of floor space before Weber gets the SmokeFire out." That could be true but generally a lot of times you are paying for the floor space so you need to get a certain amount of volume to cover that cost.

In the supermarket business as many years ago I worked for the largest soft drink company in the world we had and just about any vendor has to pay for shelf space to move their products. It does squeeze out some of the smaller vendors who may have limited funds but even if you pay and the product does not turn fast enough your gonna get cut back. Grills are a much larger investment inventory wise so you need to move that stuff during the season as its costly to get rid of it in September.
 
To Rich's comment "Looks like Traeger is giving some incentives to get a load of floor space before Weber gets the SmokeFire out." That could be true but generally a lot of times you are paying for the floor space so you need to get a certain amount of volume to cover that cost.

In the supermarket business as many years ago I worked for the largest soft drink company in the world we had and just about any vendor has to pay for shelf space to move their products. It does squeeze out some of the smaller vendors who may have limited funds but even if you pay and the product does not turn fast enough your gonna get cut back. Grills are a much larger investment inventory wise so you need to move that stuff during the season as its costly to get rid of it in September.

I was surprised when I learned this years ago. It always struck me as the retail version of payola radio scandal.
 
Just got back from Lowe's and Home Depot a little early for the barrage of grills to come in probably end of February.

Lowes had 14 Weber Gassers various models only one 2 burner, one WSM 18.5 inch which I wonder if it was marked wrong or they aren't going to carry them in the store anymore as the tag said $299 but the web site is higher by about $30 bucks and they did not list any in stock for my store. They had one Pit Boss pellet grill asked the guy there if they sold Traegers and he said they did not. I noticed on Lowes site they don't list them either. You could buy Louisiana and Camp chef. The Webers are listed as pre-order, maybe since they are carrying them they decided not to carry Traeger or maybe they never did not something I would have paid attention to.

HD had 6 Weber gassers, one display model Traeger, one WSM and a few Kettles.

J, I have not been in that business for over 20 years and they were doing it then so it is nothing new paying to play. You paid for end caps also by the way not just shelf space in the aisle.
 
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Same situation here at Home Depot a gazillion cheapo tin grills out front and a bunch of Traeger's inside and a few Spirits. Looks like Traeger is giving some incentives to get a load of floor space before Weber gets the SmokeFire out. Weber sure gave a lot of advance notice to Traeger and the other pellet sellers and it looks like they took advantage of it.

I just looked at the Weber Website on the retailer list for the Weber SmokeFire.
- ABT
- Lowes
- Amazon
- BBQGuys
- Truevalue

Homedepot is not on that list. That might explain why they focus on Traeger.
 
New Spirit start at $600 and new Genesis starts at $850

Well, not off topic but at least one reason Weber are getting more expensive, I paid $12,000 in health insurance last year 2019 and paying $13,000 in health insurance in 2020. That is 3 zero after the 13 is not a mistake, 5 digit number. Most companies are affected by this so prices will go up.
 
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I just looked at the Weber Website on the retailer list for the Weber SmokeFire.
- ABT
- Lowes
- Amazon
- BBQGuys
- Truevalue

Homedepot is not on that list. That might explain why they focus on Traeger.

You may be right about that. Awhile ago I posted a conversation I had with the guy who runs the grill section at HD. Asked him about the SmokeFire and he said they probably wouldn't carry it and he was unaware of its's existence. His comment was he had quite a few Weber gassers that didn't sell last year and they will cut back on the amount they get this year.
That makes me wonder though if Weber is having production problems and can't supply enough to stock all their retailers.
 
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I just looked at the Weber Website on the retailer list for the Weber SmokeFire.
- ABT
- Lowes
- Amazon
- BBQGuys
- Truevalue

Homedepot is not on that list. That might explain why they focus on Traeger.

One more reason for me to not bother with the big orange!
 
In my area, at least, if you want to see and buy Weber stuff the largest of our Ace Hardware stores is "the place."
 

 

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