Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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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.
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.

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.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla wrote: October 13th, 2017, 9:17 pm Looks like Rancho Mirage is getting downsized similar to Carlsbad. They are advertising a sublease for 6,127 sq. ft.

They basically cut off the left side of the store where floral, frozen foods and the first couple aisles of grocery were.

The listing is here:
http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/Looplink/tm ... 03&LL=true
I was in this store on Friday. I have to say it looks really good. The remodel is about 95% finished with the last remaining major item being the bar that is being built in the space that formerly housed Panda Express and gourmet cheese when the store was built as a Pavilions.

What was most interesting is how they reconfigured the 'pavilion' part of the store. The 'pavilion' was the center island in the store that had a bakery facing the back and part of the right side, cheese on the right side, service deli on the left and part of the front area and Panda Express also facing the front. Bakery has been reduced to a small 16 foot service counter with the rest of the back side consisting of refrigerated beverages in a five deck cooler.

The entire left side, front side and right side are all now part of the Service Deli (Gelson's Kitchen).
So walking from the left to right the arrangement is Charcuterie station (sliced to order imported meats and cheese), sandwich station (Pavilions hold over), Service Deli service case which wraps around to the front (also a Pavilions hold over) and then the new hot foods section which is huge and has the grill to order section and the carving station, followed by sushi bar, and then the wine and craft beer bar which wraps around to the other side followed by a custom Pizza and Gourmet Salad area (utilizing the brick oven that was installed as part of the bakery when the store received it's Safeway Lifetsyle remodel years ago).

The graphic package is the same as the new Thousand Oaks store except a lot more wood and accent lighting is used throughout the store.

They also added a Self Service Breakfast Bakery display to the Peet's Coffee area that has donuts, bagels e.t.c....

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The grand opening of the new Rancho Mission Viejo store has been pushed back to November 30th because of an issue with a utility permit.

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The Laguna Beach store, which was the last of the Haggen stores that had not been remodeled or was not in the process of being remodeled, quietly received the new décor package on the walls but is otherwise exactly the same as it was from the last Albertson's remodel. Like the Ladera Ranch store it does not appear this store will be remodeled soon (if ever).

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... IQoioIeDAK
klkla
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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I haven't updated this thread in a while.

Three of the four remaining un-remodeled former Haggen stores will celebrate their grand openings next week now that they have been fully remodeled in Del Mar, Carlsbad and Rancho Mirage:

https://gelsons.com/Blog/Join-Gelson's- ... lebrations
https://gelsons.com/Blog/Join-Gelson's- ... lebrations
https://gelsons.com/Blog/Join-Gelson's- ... lebrations

Santa Monica shouldn't be too far behind. That will be the last of the ex-Haggen stores to be remodeled. I was in there last week and it appears to be almost finished. It looks really good except they appear to be keeping the KMart/Albertson's-type open fluorescent lighting (as are Del Mar & Carlsbad). They used high end finishes throughout the store so not sure why they were so cheap with the lighting.

In December they opened the first new Gelson's built from the ground up since the store in Pasadena that opened on September 12th, 2001 and was closed in 2012. The new store is in the new master planned community called Rancho Mission Viejo:

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb ... QpcE-kb7XP

Also in December they broke ground on the controversial new Manhattan Beach store:
http://tbrnews.com/news/manhattan_beach ... 14f27.html
klkla
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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Gelson's is now CLOSING the first of the former Haggen locations at the end of this month. The Ladera Ranch location is the store closing.

I am not surprised because this is one of two that didn't receive a full remodel. Gelson's opened a new store a couple miles down the road in Rancho Mission Viejo last November, which will remain open.

It makes me wonder what the fate is for the Laguna Beach store. It did not get remodeled, either. There is an existing Gelson's a mile or two away in Dana Point.

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/04/16/g ... solidates/

Santa Monica will have it's re-grand opening next week now that it's remodel is complete.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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I was in the Santa Monica Gelson's today (Sunday) about 3 pm. This location has very little business. The service meat, seafood area and the sushi bar had no customers at all. Bakery 2 customers. There were 4 checkstands open and only two customers total. I saw more employees in the store than customers. I really hate the large barren area just behind the checkstands. With the concrete floors, at first look, it makes it look like the store is still under construction. So strange to still see that faux wood Haggen put in at their checkstands. I don't see how this location is going to survive in the long run but they sure invested a lot in the remodel.

Down the road about a mile or so, I also went to Ralphs in Venice after Gelsons. Busy, crowded store. And it's not even a Fresh Fare location. But maybe that's what is wrong with Gelson's. It may be in Santa Monica but that part of Santa Monica isn't as upscale as north of Montana where the Gelson's would likely do much better.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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The long awaited controversial Gelson's in Manhattan Beach finally opens this Wednesday.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla wrote: November 12th, 2018, 10:10 am The long awaited controversial Gelson's in Manhattan Beach finally opens this Wednesday.
It's already open. The soft opening was on Sunday.
https://easyreadernews.com/gelsons-mark ... neighbors/
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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CalItalian wrote: November 12th, 2018, 4:21 pmIt's already open. The soft opening was on Sunday.
https://easyreadernews.com/gelsons-mark ... neighbors/
That you article you quoted says "will hold its grand opening Wednesday morning. Sunday’s sneak preview was for neighbors within half a mile of the store who received personal invitations."
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla wrote: November 12th, 2018, 4:45 pm
CalItalian wrote: November 12th, 2018, 4:21 pmIt's already open. The soft opening was on Sunday.
https://easyreadernews.com/gelsons-mark ... neighbors/
That you article you quoted says "will hold its grand opening Wednesday morning. Sunday’s sneak preview was for neighbors within half a mile of the store who received personal invitations."
It was open to anyone. The invitations were just ads which you can see if you click onto the poster under the article. My partner works for Gelson's so I know.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

Gelson's posted a 5 1/2 minute video of their Manhattan Beach Grand Opening on Facebook from last month yesterday. Shows the entire store inside and out.
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