New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

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arizonaguy
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New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by arizonaguy »

I had a chance to get some photos of Albertson's "flagship" store in Arizona (Desert Ridge) as well as recently opened Safeway (in a former closed Albertsons at Tatum and Greenway in Phoenix).

There's a rumor that the Desert Ridge Albertsons store will become a Safeway. The store recently got new (laminate & tile) flooring installed (as well as a check stand setup) that are both identical to the Tatum / Greenway Safeway. In this setup, the customer service desk is located adjacent to the express check stands and there is a "snake" line to get to the express check stands.

Based upon how similar the two stores are set up (at present), it would simply involve switching out the signage and doing a minor repaint to change the Albertsons into a Safeway. Especially with the "Colorful Lifetyle" implementation at Tatum / Greenway containing so many elements of the LLC decor.

A side note, the BBVA Compass branch at the Albertsons recently closed.

Desert Ridge Albertsons:

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I apologize for the quality of this shot:

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Tatum / Greenway Safeway:

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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by architect »

arizonaguy wrote:I had a chance to get some photos of Albertson's "flagship" store in Arizona (Desert Ridge) as well as recently opened Safeway (in a former closed Albertsons at Tatum and Greenway in Phoenix).

There's a rumor that the Desert Ridge Albertsons store will become a Safeway. The store recently got new (laminate & tile) flooring installed (as well as a check stand setup) that are both identical to the Tatum / Greenway Safeway. In this setup, the customer service desk is located adjacent to the express check stands and there is a "snake" line to get to the express check stands.

Based upon how similar the two stores are set up (at present), it would simply involve switching out the signage and doing a minor repaint to change the Albertsons into a Safeway. Especially with the "Colorful Lifetyle" implementation at Tatum / Greenway containing so many elements of the LLC decor.
This is an interesting development, for sure! In Dallas, the Albertsons at Casa Linda plaza also has a similar "snake line" for the express lanes which has been installed in the last year or two (it is a Superstore model plan, similar to the Taum/Greenway store). Overall, it seems to work very well, especially during the after-work hours when many shoppers are just stopping in for one or two items on the way home. Interestingly, this particular store has been speculated to be a potential future Tom Thumb conversion. Although Albertsons has denied all rumors of this potentially happening, the demographics in the area would warrant it and are trending more upscale every day.

How are the demographics at the Desert Ridge store? It definitely seems like this store could convert over the Colorful Lifestyle (and the Safeway banner respectively) very easily, considering that the changeover would essentially just involve a fresh coat of paint and new signage.

Also, the interior of the Tatum/Greenway store works quite well with the Colorful Lifestyle decor. Despite the dark flooring, the colorful walls and bright light help to give the store a warm, inviting feel. My only complaint would be the fact that Albertsons left the old strip light fixtures in place. However, at least these look consistant and cohesive, unlike the hack lighting jobs which we have seen recently in many of the former Safeway-owned stores.
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by storewanderer »

The dark floor idea is like Haggen, but I like it. It does not look good next to the lifestyle colored tan flooring at all, though. Still, all of this looks far better and more inspired than anything happening with their interiors in NorCal division.
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by arizonaguy »

storewanderer wrote:The dark floor idea is like Haggen, but I like it. It does not look good next to the lifestyle colored tan flooring at all, though. Still, all of this looks far better and more inspired than anything happening with their interiors in NorCal division.
It actually looks much nicer in person. The colorful lifestyle with that flooring decor set really seems to work well in the 1990 Albertsons superstore. I hope that it eventually makes its way to some of the other 1990 superstore locations in the Phoenix area.

Both the Albertsons and Safeway were doing brisk business (around noon today). The merger has been good for Safeway in Arizona (pricing seems more in check and the stores seem to be staffed better and are doing increased volume). The Albertsons banner seems stagnant as it seems that they're waiting for leases to expire to eventually phase out the Albertsons banner (I'd imagine that 1/3 of the remaining stores will close (or their nearby Safeway store will close) and the remaining 2/3 of Albertsons stores in the state will eventually become Safeway).
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by mbz321 »

I see Albertsons/Safeway is still hellbent on not having self checkouts....it's hurting Acme quite a bit in the Northeast when they replaced them in most of their locations with this express checkout setup.
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by storewanderer »

The self checkouts have also been proposed by some of the people in NorCal as a way to reduce lines. Of course, the management over the division won't ask Boise to do that based on what Boise thinks of self checkout... so yet another reason why the long lines and slow moving front ends continue in more stores than necessary. As it is, Boise made an exception for NorCal Stores that had self checkout before, to keep self checkouts in the future and even got them a new software provider for the self checkouts and new hardware in the past few months so now the self checkouts are actually faster and easier to use. They need about 12 self checkouts in every large store, in addition to the 2-3 human registers they feel like staffing; there would be no more lines. I am sure the oversized displays of beer, soda, and water could go elsewhere.
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by pseudo3d »

arizonaguy wrote:I had a chance to get some photos of Albertson's "flagship" store in Arizona (Desert Ridge) as well as recently opened Safeway (in a former closed Albertsons at Tatum and Greenway in Phoenix).

There's a rumor that the Desert Ridge Albertsons store will become a Safeway. The store recently got new (laminate & tile) flooring installed (as well as a check stand setup) that are both identical to the Tatum / Greenway Safeway. In this setup, the customer service desk is located adjacent to the express check stands and there is a "snake" line to get to the express check stands.

Based upon how similar the two stores are set up (at present), it would simply involve switching out the signage and doing a minor repaint to change the Albertsons into a Safeway. Especially with the "Colorful Lifetyle" implementation at Tatum / Greenway containing so many elements of the LLC decor.
They're probably similarly set up because the Safeway store was built as an Albertsons store, probably around the same time as Desert Ridge (despite having a fairly diverse group of exteriors, some of the layouts were exactly the same). I wonder why for supposedly being the "flagship" they have that weird liquor sign in red. The Albertsons in Louisiana have the "Liquor" sign in the Albertsons font near their former garden centers. As for the future of Albertsons in Arizona, I'm not so sure how they'll do union (SWY) and non-union (ABS) stores. Have any stores actually been converted? Even the Haggen stores were converted back to their original banners as far as I know.
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by arizonaguy »

pseudo3d wrote:
arizonaguy wrote:I had a chance to get some photos of Albertson's "flagship" store in Arizona (Desert Ridge) as well as recently opened Safeway (in a former closed Albertsons at Tatum and Greenway in Phoenix).

There's a rumor that the Desert Ridge Albertsons store will become a Safeway. The store recently got new (laminate & tile) flooring installed (as well as a check stand setup) that are both identical to the Tatum / Greenway Safeway. In this setup, the customer service desk is located adjacent to the express check stands and there is a "snake" line to get to the express check stands.

Based upon how similar the two stores are set up (at present), it would simply involve switching out the signage and doing a minor repaint to change the Albertsons into a Safeway. Especially with the "Colorful Lifetyle" implementation at Tatum / Greenway containing so many elements of the LLC decor.
They're probably similarly set up because the Safeway store was built as an Albertsons store, probably around the same time as Desert Ridge (despite having a fairly diverse group of exteriors, some of the layouts were exactly the same). I wonder why for supposedly being the "flagship" they have that weird liquor sign in red. The Albertsons in Louisiana have the "Liquor" sign in the Albertsons font near their former garden centers. As for the future of Albertsons in Arizona, I'm not so sure how they'll do union (SWY) and non-union (ABS) stores. Have any stores actually been converted? Even the Haggen stores were converted back to their original banners as far as I know.
The Greenway / Tatum store opened in 1990 and was an Albertsons "superstore" design. The Desert Ridge store opened in 2001 and originally had a garden center where the liquor department is. In fact, most of the outdoor portion of the garden center is now a "beer garden".

The Greenway / Tatum Albertsons closed in 2014 prior to the Albertsons / Safeway merger. I believe that all of the fixtures were removed from the store as I was in it in the fall of 2015 when a "pop up" Halloween store opened in the site and while the LLC decor remained on the walls, there weren't any fixtures in the building.

The Greenway / Tatum store reopened as a Safeway in February and the Desert Ridge store received new flooring rather recently (and substantial changes were made to the front end, some older photos I took with my prior smartphone (not the best quality) are here: http://www.retailwatchers.com/viewtopic.php?t=603

While there haven't been any conversions to Safeway of existing stores, 3 Albertsons stores have quietly closed over the past year (59th Ave / Loop 101 in Glendale, Bell Rd / Loop 303 in Surprise, and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd / Loop 101 in Scottsdale). These stores were all within 1 mile of an existing Safeway store.

Desert Ridge is not within 1 mile of a Safeway store. It is the "flagship" Albertsons store as it's the one that they seem to have invested the most money in (multiple renovations within the last 5 years or so). The only Albertsons store which may be in a better neighborhood demographically is Frank Lloyd Wright / Via Linda which is across the street from a Safeway and both stores do enough business to remain open. That Safeway was a crowded mess before the Albertsons re-opened.
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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by rwsandiego »

The Safeway at Glendale and 7th Street is getting the Colorful Lifestyle package. It had Lifestyle 1.0. The checker told me that they started on January 2. I don't shop here very often, so I had no idea they were re-decorating. Produce, Meat, and Pharmacy had been painted and signs were up, but the graphics and molding weren't up yet. The angled portion of Floral was taken down to the studs, as you can see below. My other photos did not turn out very well, but I'll go back on Monday and take some more. Not sure what they are doing with the floor. They were lifting tile when I was there and some of the aisles looked to have a polished terrazzo-looking floor. I'll be sure to snap some photos of the floor when I go there next time.

I am hoping Osborn and 7th Avenue is next. It is one of the stores I shop frequently and still has Lifestyle 1.0.

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Re: New Albertsons and Safeway Arizona interior decor

Post by Super S »

rwsandiego wrote: January 12th, 2018, 9:25 pm The Safeway at Glendale and 7th Street is getting the Colorful Lifestyle package. It had Lifestyle 1.0. The checker told me that they started on January 2. I don't shop here very often, so I had no idea they were re-decorating. Produce, Meat, and Pharmacy had been painted and signs were up, but the graphics and molding weren't up yet. The angled portion of Floral was taken down to the studs, as you can see below. My other photos did not turn out very well, but I'll go back on Monday and take some more. Not sure what they are doing with the floor. They were lifting tile when I was there and some of the aisles looked to have a polished terrazzo-looking floor. I'll be sure to snap some photos of the floor when I go there next time.

I am hoping Osborn and 7th Avenue is next. It is one of the stores I shop frequently and still has Lifestyle 1.0.

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Hopefully they do something about that lighting, especially above the registers. That looks really bad with the fluorescent strip running right in between the recessed fixtures, not to mention the rows in the distance with no reflectors/covers.
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