Breaking: HEB buys 6 Minyard Sun Fresh stores in DFW

[storewanderer]

These two Sun Fresh stores look a lot better than I was expecting...

[architect]

These two Sun Fresh stores look a lot better than I was expecting...

The Uptown store actually looks a lot worse in person; the center-store aisles in particular are extremely cramped and also somewhat unclean. The Forest Lane store is actually quite nice on the inside, it just has an awkard location. To the east are high-end neighborhoods which largely shop in Preston Hollow, especially around Preston/Forest and Preston/Royal. To the west are Hispanic-dominated area which for the mostly can't afford pretty much anything Minyard Sun Fresh was selling, simply due to their ridiculous prices. The fact that there is also a Tom Thumb and a Sprouts at the same intersection didn't help matters. This should be a great location for Fiesta though.

[storewanderer]

Sun Fresh actually looks better than a Homeland looks (previous AWG corporate banner). I was expecting it to be quite on par with Homeland. Even in Kansas City where the AWG supplied stores are pretty nice, their prices still seem on the high side. In that case, so do Hy Vee's prices. So I suppose it works out there.

I am not surprised Sun Fresh failed. So now looking at the divesting we have Haggen that failed, Sun Fresh failed. All of the stores sold to Associated-Utah are still operating... kind of wonder if that was the only one who bought stores with the intention of actually operating the stores long-term...

[pseudo3d]

Sun Fresh actually looks better than a Homeland looks (previous AWG corporate banner). I was expecting it to be quite on par with Homeland. Even in Kansas City where the AWG supplied stores are pretty nice, their prices still seem on the high side. In that case, so do Hy Vee's prices. So I suppose it works out there.

I am not surprised Sun Fresh failed. So now looking at the divesting we have Haggen that failed, Sun Fresh failed. All of the stores sold to Associated-Utah are still operating... kind of wonder if that was the only one who bought stores with the intention of actually operating the stores long-term...

Homeland was originally the Oklahoma City division of Safeway spun off in the late 1980s, so I imagine they had some pretty dreadful stores for most of its life, as the Safeway spin-offs tended to include some pretty out of date stores with not much capex to revive them.

[architect]

Now I bring you today's store of choice. For your viewing pleasure, the Sun Fresh at Mockingbird and Abrams:

This store was originally built as a Skaggs (I believe), and was later converted to an Albertsons through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Since this store was first built, intense competition built up around the around, including a Tom Thumb located at the same intersection and a Kroger Signature further down Mockingbird near Greenville. There is also a former Safeway Marina store in the area too, so grocers have clearly come and gone.

Today, this store is clearly in a sad state. Ever before it was divested to Minyard, this store was noted for its low traffic and run-down appearance, despite being in a wealthy and established area of Dallas. This store is also noticeably undersized, and was actually downsized even further under Minyard. In the photos below, there is a walled off area next to the pharmacy, which had a dropped ceiling and was home to a substantial health and beauty department (a couple of aisles worth of product) as recently as this spring. Apparently since my last visit, this space was closed off and covered up, which is a tell tell indicator of how the store was doing as a whole.

Do note that this location was another one of three stores to receive new decor under the Sun Fresh banner.

Since this store was sold to HEB, it will be interesting to see what they decide to do with this property. In it's current condition, the store is clearly too small to accommodate any modern grocer, especially a chain which is entering the market and needs to make a strong impression. However, there is also no room to expand or replace this store without a larger area of land. As a possibility, the shopping center adjacent to this store (pictured below) could possibly be acquired, with the land being used for a larger store.













I know that I originally promised four stores, but be looking for a bonus in the next few days!

[pseudo3d]

Yeah, this looks to be a Skaggs model, likely the original Skaggs Albertsons partnership or maybe an early Skaggs Alpha Beta. They were quite large for their time, but that time is gone. It became an Albertsons in 1992 when ASC exited the market after briefly rebranding them as Jewel-Osco (yes, this store did fly under the Jewel-Osco banner).

[architect]

Finally, I bring your the "bonus" store that I promised, the (now former) Minyard Sun Fresh in McKinney. This store was a typical late 90's-early 2000's Tom Thumb, built on the Randalls "New Generation" format which immediately preceded the purchase by Safeway. Both this location and the Grapevine store were built during this time period, the other two former Tom Thumbs purchased by Minyard were older formats. This store is quite large (not quite as large as the Northwest Highway/Ferndale Minyard Sun Fresh, but still substantial) and largely retained all traces of it's Lifestyle decor under the Sun Fresh banner. Unfortunately even upscale decor couldn't safe this store. It is located in an area with heavy competition (a Kroger and Market Street are located to the west on Eldorado, while a large Albertsons is located to the east), and despite the store's size, it was clearly the smallest out of the competition and also the most overpriced. A few interesting tidbits to note:

1. At this store (and all of the former Tom Thumbs purchased by Minyard," the "serving ____ since _____" signage was retained at the front end,with just the year replaced with 1932, but in a completely different font and color from the standard Lifestyle decor, which looked horribly tacky as a result.
2. Despite Minyard switching to a new computer system, many lingering Safeway price tags were to be found at this location, even including Safeway's colorful "NEW" tags.
3. Handbaskets at the front of the store were a mix of Minyard-branded and Tom Thumb-branded baskets, with many of the Tom Thumb ones having their brand still clearly visible (an attempt had been made to conceal this with a sharpie, but quite a few had been missed). These baskets were not the same size or type, so two separate stacks were provided.
4. When I visited a couple of weeks ago, the store was largely well-stocked, but certain vendor items had largely been removed (chips and soda seemed to be the prime candidates). Pricing was insanely high even with the store being 30% off, and traffic was minimal.

Photos:

[pseudo3d]

Wow, while the converted Albertsons stores did have somewhat of an attempt to build a new brand, this MSFM looks like a Tom Thumb with the name filed off, and even that seems barely done (not even all of the hanging signs or price tags!)

Some of the price tag displays seem to have been taken from Albertsons as well.

[architect]

Put a fork in em', they are done.

Note: This is the Northwest Highway/Ferndale store. If only Albertsons still had this store, it would make for a great Tom Thumb.

[rwsandiego]

Yeah, this looks to be a Skaggs model, likely the original Skaggs Albertsons partnership or maybe an early Skaggs Alpha Beta. They were quite large for their time, but that time is gone. It became an Albertsons in 1992 when ASC exited the market after briefly rebranding them as Jewel-Osco (yes, this store did fly under the Jewel-Osco banner).

Funny, but when I saw the exterior shot I thought "hmm...looks like a 1980's Jewel-Osco."

And this one looks like a pre-Safeway Dominick's Fresh Store.