The present and future of Randalls

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storewanderer
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by storewanderer »

This is the Genuardi's layout. I have seen this layout on a number of Safeway Stores though:

Castle Rock, CO
Stockton, CA (central)
Granite Bay, CA (Douglas at Auburn-Folsom Road)
Auburn, CA


Also on a number of CO Stores that went out of business...

I think the reason the store wasn't remodeled may have been that it just flat out did not need a remodel and may not have been generating the business to do one "because we are remodeling every store." It looks pretty good. The wall graphics are sharp and not faded or anything (as has been the case in some of the still standing versions of this interior). This was my favorite of the Safeway interiors. Colorful lifestyle scores a close second.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by architect »

klkla wrote:I wonder if this store was already in the design phase when Safeway bought Randalls. The layout of the deli and bakery seems more like some of the Randalls Flagship stores I've been in although produce would have been in the back corner where the wine is.

But it also slightly resembles the design of late 90's Pavilions.
storewanderer wrote:This is the Genuardi's layout. I have seen this layout on a number of Safeway Stores though:

Castle Rock, CO
Stockton, CA (central)
Granite Bay, CA (Douglas at Auburn-Folsom Road)
Auburn, CA


Also on a number of CO Stores that went out of business...

I think the reason the store wasn't remodeled may have been that it just flat out did not need a remodel and may not have been generating the business to do one "because we are remodeling every store." It looks pretty good. The wall graphics are sharp and not faded or anything (as has been the case in some of the still standing versions of this interior). This was my favorite of the Safeway interiors. Colorful lifestyle scores a close second.
Actually, variations of this layout were still being used up until the Safeway-Albertsons merger; it was definitely a fairly common Safeway format. In Texas, this design was instituted as a replacement for the "New Generation" store designs created by Randalls, a few of which were already through design but had not yet been constructed when Safeway purchased Randalls. Stores with this layout did not really hit momentum in Texas until around 2001-2002. Texas locations built under this layout include:

Tom Thumb
4301 Cross Timbers Rd, Flower Mound (opened in 2012)
612 Grapevine Hwy, Hurst
980 Hwy N. 287, Mansfield
5550 FM423, Frisco (opened in 2013)
8805 Lakeview Parkway,Rowlett

Randalls
9420 College Park Dr, The Woodlands (store pictured above)
12312 Barker Cypress Rd, Cypress
9660 Westheimer Rd, Houston
2051 Gattis School Rd, Round Rock
1400 Cypress Creek Road, Cedar Park
2301 Ranch Rd 620 S., Lakeway
9911 Brodie Ln, Austin

In addition, a couple of locations built in the early 2000's around the Houston area (in Cypress and Conroe) closed during the bloodbath of 2005 closings.

All of the aforementioned stores received some form of Lifestyle decor outside of the Woodlands store pictured previously. The older stores built under this format had warehouse ceilings, while recent stores (Flower Mound, Frisco and Houston Westheimer for sure) have drop ceilings per typical Safeway store design pre-Albertsons.

As far as the decor at this store goes, it did seem like it was still holding up pretty well and is still sharp, as storewanderer said. When Safeway was in their heavy Lifestyle remodel phase, the area immediately surrounding this store simply wasn't very populated compared to today, so the expense of remodeling a store which was at the time just a few years old likely didn't make sense. Then, in the late 2000's, investment in the Texas stores almost completely stopped due to attempts by Safeway to unload the struggling division. This likely explains the lack of investment in this particular store.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote:This is the Genuardi's layout. I have seen this layout on a number of Safeway Stores though:

Castle Rock, CO
Stockton, CA (central)
Granite Bay, CA (Douglas at Auburn-Folsom Road)
Auburn, CA


Also on a number of CO Stores that went out of business...

I think the reason the store wasn't remodeled may have been that it just flat out did not need a remodel and may not have been generating the business to do one "because we are remodeling every store." It looks pretty good. The wall graphics are sharp and not faded or anything (as has been the case in some of the still standing versions of this interior). This was my favorite of the Safeway interiors. Colorful lifestyle scores a close second.
If I didn't know better, I would think it was a pre-Safeway Dominick's Fresh Store that was remodeled post-Safeway.

Like @storewanderer, this is my favorite Safeway decor package. Several VONS stores had a red version of the package that was also very nice.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by storewanderer »

The key difference between this and the Dominicks layout was this layout has produce on the opposite side of the store from the bakery/deli.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by pseudo3d »

I think there was at least one more package that Safeway used after Randalls' packages but before this one (green and white tiles I think I heard?). This was the one that was the most-common before Lifestyle though. With the exception of one rebuilt store in 2011, they generally stopped building stores after 2002 in Houston. Still, this was the one that was used on that last batch of stores, as well as the package originally used in the Midtown store (which is small and somewhat non-conventional since it has three levels, a parking garage, the main store, and a mezzanine with Starbucks), as well as stores they picked up in 2002 from Albertsons when they pulled out (some of those stores have traces of this package on the exterior). 9660 Westheimer was the 2011 rebuild, and featured Lifestyle decor from Day One. The Midtown store got the same package as the Florida stores did.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote:The key difference between this and the Dominicks layout was this layout has produce on the opposite side of the store from the bakery/deli.
I didn't notice that when I looked at the pictures. What threw me was the pharmacy next to produce.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by architect »

Update on the Bellaire Randalls: Based on Google photos, it appears that this store has finally received its "remodel," which simply consists of Colorful Lifestyle decor along with the typical Albertsons perimeter lighting redo. If this is how they plan to compete with the forthcoming HEB across the street, they are in for a rude awakening.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by pseudo3d »

architect wrote:Update on the Bellaire Randalls: Based on Google photos, it appears that this store has finally received its "remodel," which simply consists of Colorful Lifestyle decor along with the typical Albertsons perimeter lighting redo. If this is how they plan to compete with the forthcoming HEB across the street, they are in for a rude awakening.
If they didn't fix the underlying problems, and I'm not strictly talking about the way the chain is run, they're done for. I don't want to speak about these "problems" in an open channel due to reasons, so please PM me for more information.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by architect »

So in the midst of great destruction across South Texas and resultant extreme flooding in the Houston area, there are numerous reports floating around that Randalls was price gouging on water and other supplies immediately prior to the storm (for example, bottled water priced at $1 a bottle). In addition, they have made no efforts to reach out to Houston residents through social media. Photos also show the stores being plagued with excessvely long lines due to minimal staffing. This sits in direct contrast to both HEB and Kroger, who are both actively sending relief crews and supplies into the affected areas as quickly as possible, and are also using their social media platforms as a place to find general emergency alerts far beyond just their operations. In addition, both HEB and Kroger have been recognized across social media for providing as much product and manpower as possible despite the emergency nature of the storm, often with every checkout open and product being brought directly from trucks out to the salesfloor. If Randalls cannot respond to this situation quickly, the resultant bad PR will likely kill their market share even more than it already has been. It will also be interesting to see if Randalls decides to reopen stores which have been heavily affected by flooding, as stores with borderline shopper traffic might not make economic sense to reopen.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by SoleOwnerOfMyName »

architect wrote:So in the midst of great destruction across South Texas and resultant extreme flooding in the Houston area, there are numerous reports floating around that Randalls was price gouging on water and other supplies immediately prior to the storm (for example, bottled water priced at $1 a bottle).
Here is possible alternative explanation: They weren't "price gouging" at all. Instead, all the stores that people are normally accustomed to shopping at were sold out so they decided to go to Randalls. And when they went in for the first time in years the prices were exactly what they usually are - and people were so shocked at how high they were that they just assumed it was "price gouging!"
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