Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. No non-grocery posts.
Post Reply
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

A new development with the Safeway in Sparks: all of the lifestyle wall letters are off the walls. There are 4 storage crates behind the store evidently for this remodel or whatever it is they are doing.

This poorly run store with sloppy and poorly executed fresh departments needs a remodel of the attitude of its employees and a better management presence in the store; the decor and appearance of this store was not the problem. Pricing is a problem they have alleviated somewhat (but more price cuts are getting reversed every week- some do seem to come back again the next week). Well, I have good luck with this place sometimes and they have certainly been doing better with product freshness in recent months (due to the increase in traffic). So an update to the interior should be a positive. I shop at this store more than I shop at Smiths over the past year thanks to Smiths doing one thing after another to chase customers away (no Visa, forced self checkout, the 8 PM closure) and even though Smiths has fixed all those problems I still have kept doing a lot of shopping at Safeway for some reason. This Safeway store has lost a lot of business in recent years (probably picked it all back up the past few months though) to Smiths, Grocery Outlet, Sprouts and Raleys. Whatever they gained from Scolaris closure 5 years ago (space since filled by an exceptionally run Grocery Outlet) did not last long.

What is interesting is this store to this point had no lighting upgrade. They did remove some fixtures from deli a few months ago and replaced a few bakery fixtures recently.
User avatar
retailfanmitchell019
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 891
Joined: November 10th, 2019, 11:17 am
Location: 760 area code
Has thanked: 39 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

If I were Albertsons Companies, I'd rebrand this store to Albertsons...
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

I can't find a building permit for whatever they are doing in Sparks. Maybe I didn't search the database correctly (but I found a permit from a few years ago where they applied for a permit to install a fresh cut fruit prep and also another permit from a couple years ago for a Starbucks expansion/remodel).

They should probably use the Albertsons brand in Nevada on all locations and just like they moved Las Vegas to AZ Division should move Reno back to Idaho division (they can keep Tahoe under NorCal Safeway- since it is CA and those are all Union Stores consistent with the CA labor model). But they still have those few Vons left in Las Vegas too and no sign of any rebranding there.

Theoretically they could rebrand the NV Safeways into Albertsons with minimal effort beyond signage changes. They already print 2-3 separate NV only ads every week for the 6 NV Safeway Stores from the rest of NorCal (due to the price cut program, and also due to different liquor prices) - would not be difficult to put a different logo onto the ad. They'd have to get some different supplies (bags, uniforms, etc.) but I don't think that would be terribly difficult.
jamcool
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1019
Joined: March 5th, 2009, 10:27 pm
Been thanked: 50 times
Status: Offline

Re: Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by jamcool »

Albertsons left Northern Nevada several years ago, why would they rebrand with a defunct name?
User avatar
retailfanmitchell019
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 891
Joined: November 10th, 2019, 11:17 am
Location: 760 area code
Has thanked: 39 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

jamcool wrote: August 6th, 2020, 12:20 am Albertsons left Northern Nevada several years ago, why would they rebrand with a defunct name?
One word: nostalgia
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

jamcool wrote: August 6th, 2020, 12:20 am Albertsons left Northern Nevada several years ago, why would they rebrand with a defunct name?
Albertsons had a successful 35+ year run in Reno never closing a store and the locations were very profitable. Safeway has been floundering in Reno since about the 70's and hasn't been able to maintain more than a couple stores in the Reno market for any amount of time since the 80's. Only Scolari's has closed more stores in the market than Safeway has.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Safeway remodel: Sparks, NV

Post by storewanderer »

This "remodel" appears to be just about done. I'm not sure I even call it a remodel. Maybe more is to come but very little work was happening this week and most construction equipment is gone. They applied modern decor to the walls, put in bright lights around the perimeter which helps take away the dark lifestyle look, brightened all the lights in center store to the maximum possible brightness, (my eyes hurt now when I walk down the aisles in here, I have no clue what they did to the lights in center store but they are absolutely horrible- the South Tahoe and Truckee remodeled Safeways do not hurt my eyes when I walk down center store), and took all the old tan tiles down from the prep area walls in seafood, bakery, and deli and installed cheap and hard to keep clean looking hospital white tiles in place of the old tan tiles. The old lifestyle floor is still there, so, tan floor around the perimeter and white floor in center store. The checkstands are also still the old lifestyle colors but have "modern" lights. Zero change to store layout, refrigeration (store was built around 2003), merchandising (terrible), etc. Smiths down the street, Grocery Outlet, Sprouts, and Raleys will continue to eat this store's lunch.
Post Reply