Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

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rwsandiego
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Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by rwsandiego »

The remodel of the 7th Street and McDowell Safeway in Phoenix has begun. My guess is Colorful Lifestyle, as that's what 7th Street and Glendale received. I'm looking forward to shopping at the refreshed store. It was looking rather tired and beaten up.

Here are some pics I took the other day:
IMG_4230.JPG
IMG_4229.JPG
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by architect »

rwsandiego wrote: August 13th, 2018, 9:55 pm The remodel of the 7th Street and McDowell Safeway in Phoenix has begun. My guess is Colorful Lifestyle, as that's what 7th Street and Glendale received. I'm looking forward to shopping at the refreshed store. It was looking rather tired and beaten up.

Here are some pics I took the other day:
IMG_4230.JPGIMG_4229.JPG
This actually very similar to the Lovers/Greenville Tom Thumb remodel in Dallas, which was converted from Lifestyle 2.0 (with lighted signage) to Florida decor. If the electrical wiring has been removed at the signage locations, that is likely a dead giveaway that it is not Colorful Lifestyle. With Albertsons, who knows though?
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by rwsandiego »

Turns out I was wrong. The store is getting the Florida decor as part of a $3 million remodel (per an employee) that will last until end of December/beginning of January. So far, the Produce, Meat, Wine, and Deli floors have been ripped out, new produce and meat cases have been installed, and the new wine and spirits shelving and cases are in. Yet to come is the salad bar, new Starbucks, and seating areas. Here are a few pics from a couple of weeks ago. I'll snap some more when I stop in on Tuesday when I return home from San Francisco.

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Produce/Deli/Bakery department with old flooring and cases. The flooring has since been ripped up and new cases installed.

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Shot of prepackaged lunchmeats taken from the back of the produce department.

Since these pics were taken the moulding at the bottom of the overhang above the meat and dairy cases has been installed.
rwsandiego
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by rwsandiego »

Was in the store on 10/8 and noticed some of the department signs were up and the new produce flooring has been installed:

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Close-up of produce flooring

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Aisle markers taken from the dairy case at the far corner of the store

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Close-up of produce cases and pre-packaged premium deli

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Bakery and pre-packaged bread and rolls (What a novel idea - putting ALL of the bread together!)

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Deli department

I found it interesting that they had fresh chickens, turkey breast, and ribs out on display at 8:00 PM. Customers were gobbling them up. Before, they only had a handful of dreadful-looking chickens at that hour. The new Sprouts (about 2 miles away at 7th Ave and Osborne) usually has chickens until 8:00 or 9:00. I asked the deli guy what was up and he said they were told to make fresh chickens later to keep up with Sprouts.

According to the checker, the store was last completely renovated in 2004, so the Lifestyle 2.0 was simply a decor swap. This time, the store is receiving all-new meat, produce, and dairy cases, and flooring. She was not sure about shelving.

As a side note, every time I am in the store there is at least one Alberstons corporate person in the store. Last week, the guy marching around had an oval badge that had the Alberstons, ACME, and Jewel-Osco logos on it.

PS: Apologies for the bad photos. I just flew in from San Francisco and was tired and hungry.
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by BillyGr »

One of our chains here (Hannaford) did that with the bread items in a set up quite a few years ago - they had the packaged breads on a short "mini aisle" as you went from the produce (which the bakery and deli also faced) towards the meat and seafood counters.
Made perfect sense (not only near the fresh bakery, but also close to the deli counter for those buying cold cuts and needing the bread items to go with them), but being a store I didn't go to frequently, I would always forget it was there if I happened to stop at that particular store location.
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by Super S »

They really need to do something about that lighting disaster upgrade as part of the remodel. Particularly where the strip lights are right next to what appears to be still-working can lights. The strip lights really cheapen the overall appearance.
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by rwsandiego »

BillyGr wrote: October 9th, 2018, 8:02 am One of our chains here (Hannaford) did that with the bread items in a set up quite a few years ago - they had the packaged breads on a short "mini aisle" as you went from the produce (which the bakery and deli also faced) towards the meat and seafood counters.
Made perfect sense (not only near the fresh bakery, but also close to the deli counter for those buying cold cuts and needing the bread items to go with them), but being a store I didn't go to frequently, I would always forget it was there if I happened to stop at that particular store location.
In this store's case it is out of necessity - the store is pretty small. Most Safeway and Fry's stores don't have the bread in this location.
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by klkla »

Most of the larger Vons stores here in L.A. are set up with packaged bread near the bakery. I assumed that was common in a lot of legacy Safeway stores..

3rd & Vermont:
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... CnoECAoQCQ

Sunset & Virgil:
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... CnoECAkQCQ
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by arizonaguy »

klkla wrote: October 9th, 2018, 6:53 pm Most of the larger Vons stores here in L.A. are set up with packaged bread near the bakery. I assumed that was common in a lot of legacy Safeway stores..

3rd & Vermont:
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... CnoECAoQCQ

Sunset & Virgil:
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... CnoECAkQCQ
The Safeway near my house (7th St. and Bell Rd. in Phoenix) has prepackaged bread near the bakery as well. I think most legacy Safeway stores here have this setup. Unlike Fry's where the prepackaged bread is several aisles away (even Costco now has prepackaged bread fairly far from its bakery).
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Re: Safeway 7th Street and McDowell Road Remodel

Post by rwsandiego »

I don't think Osborne and Seventh Avenue or Camelback and 32nd Street (the other Safeways I shop at regularly) have the packaged bread near the bakery. Broadway and Rural in Tempe does, however. Now I will pay attention the next time I shop at one of those two stores. Of course, with a sparkly new Safeway within walking distance, not to mention cooler weather, I'll be more apt to shop at the McDowell and Seventh Street store.
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