I was in that area today at 11 a.m. and decided to stop by and do a little shopping. The remodel is progressing nicely and is going to be more involved than what I originally thought. I spoke with the store manager and he told about some of the new features.CalItalian wrote: ↑November 2nd, 2017, 7:06 pm I've been by the Santa Monica Gelsons almost daily for the last few weeks. The parking lot is very empty compared to when it was an Albertsons. I've noticed over the last few weeks, since September, in some local free Santa Monica and Marina del Rey newspapers (such as the weekly Argonaut) they've had $10 off $50 coupons for the Santa Monica & Marina del Rey locations in each of the papers every week.
Since last time I was there they condensed the center store aisles and are in the process of making them split aisles throughout the store. They are building a new bakery in the area where liquor/beer/wine used to be. A Wolfgang Puck Express Pizza & Pasta station will go into the space where the bakery currently is.
There is a large four sided department being built in front of where the new bakery & Wolfgang Puck department will be. This will be home the Wine and Craft Beer bar as well as a meat & seafood cooking station (Something I have never seen in a Gelson's before) . You can have them cook your meat or seafood and then dine on it in the bar with a glass of wine or a beer or you can just take it home. I think this section will be a big hit with people in Santa Monica.
A couple months ago they built a self service cut fruit & juice bar on the right as you enter the store (from the right entrance). They are building a full service juice & smoothie bar which will be on the other side of the right entrance in front of the checkstands).
All of the old Albertson's floor tiles have been removed and the store has mostly bare cement floors. But the old Albertson's and Haggen faux wood floors are still in place for now in a few spots. The store had about twenty customers inside shopping and three registers open with short lines FWIW. I don't think the store will see a major uptick in business until the remodel is finished but clearly they are committed to the location.