Retail Watchers

The common denominator in all of these ethnic operators is they have... LABOR. Their stores (especially the hispanic ones) are VERY well staffed. The big chains have been figuring out how to cut labor and fresh offers for years (well except Stater) and look at where it has gotten them. Hundreds of ...

I disagree that Safeway (Albertsons) has any inherent expertise in California with mixed use developments over Kroger. Other areas like D.C. are different and are for a different board. The only "secret sauce" they had is they owned the property that they redeveloped, and they added additi...

Just an observation, I'm sure it's just subjective...but when people talk about Southern Cal it really isn't one region....there are many regions in southern California. Unlike northern California where Safeway has had dominance, and put most of their money into over the decades at the deficit to o...

I have read in entirety the release containing the details of stores, warehouses, useless banners, and useless private labels being supposedly sold to C&S. Although I have many comments I will just say an image of a full toilet is most appropriate to demonstrate my reaction. I completely agree....

Again maybe it's just the picture but it really reminds me of a classic 70s build Ralphs. Size also seems larger than a Vons of that era... and it doesn't look like it was expanded. I wonder if it was built for Ralphs or briefly operated as Ralphs then somehow ended up with Vons. I thought this sto...

You may be right. I've never been there.....but I suspect they want to focus on larger population centers like Los Angeles

I visited the remodeled Safeway on Bancroft in Walnut Creek, California. This store looked very nice, but it was mostly selling the same stuff as a regular Safeway. The liquor section was slightly larger. There were some fancy shelves with displays of gourmet food. Perhaps a little more gourmet foo...

I think the only one's that maybe considered in that group are UTC, Valley Fair, Century City, & Topanga. World Trade Center is just a management agreement with the Port Authority. Even Garden State Plaza and Culver City are questionable as they aren't as upscale.

I doubt if Caruso would sell Americana on Brand., unless he sold his entire portfolio

The article said they lost their lease, but in reality it probably had more to due with the major remodel they did of the Pavilions across the street. Originally they wanted to rebuild the Pavilions entirely and then shut the Vons down. I don't know if they couldn't get approvals, but the pictures o...