Type Grocer Website pinkdot.com Founded 1987 | Industry Retail Headquarters Los Angeles Parent organization WhyRunOut.com | |
Products Deli, frozen foods, general grocery, snacks, liquor | ||
Pink Dot is a Los Angeles–based chain of grocery stores that is known for delivering items such as groceries, deli food, cigarettes, and alcohol. The store is open 365 days a year. Pink Dot is best known in Los Angeles and has appeared in several movies and television shows, including HBO's Entourage.
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History
Entrepreneur Bill Toro founded the chain in 1987 with the purchase of a single liquor store. His idea to create a delivery-based operation arose from numerous complaints he observed about the traffic in Los Angeles. Pink Dot is a privately owned corporation with 70% ownership stake belonging to investors and Toro retaining the remaining 30% control.
In 1996, Pink Dot was referred to as a rapidly expanding grocery delivery company in a Los Angeles Times story that noted the store guaranteed delivery in 30–45 minutes or less for a service charge of $3.50. Orders were filled from five warehouses, "three of which opened in the last two months," with plans to open six more distribution centers by March including one in Orange County. Company executives predicted home delivery would be a "big part of the changing face of retail".
As Pink Dot prepared to expand into Orange County, it phased out its signature polka-dotted, propeller-topped Volkswagen Beetle delivery cars after market tests showed that Orange County residents wanted their purchases delivered in more low-profile vehicles.
Pink Dot has partnered with order takers, such as the now-defunct Kozmo.com, as a way to expand the product line into items such as Compact Discs and pharmaceuticals. Kozmo.com was popular with party-goers and young families, but was unable to survive the bursting of the dot-com bubble. The brick and mortar business continued to flourish. Many of the home delivery service companies flamed out after venture capital ran out in 2001.
Late 2000s
In 2008, Pink Dot announced a partnership with Ford Motor Company and began using the Ford Transit Connect, a delivery system that Pink Dot president Sol Yamini said was "room service for your home". Pink Dot's success has been credited to its niche business plan. As one restaurant analyst noted, "They don't have a whole lot of competition. Let's face it, 7-Eleven doesn't deliver."