Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by pseudo3d »

veteran+ wrote:
klkla wrote:
veteran+ wrote:

Yes, the Panda Express is still there :-)
I was just reading the first Yelp review for Rancho Mirage and the guy says "Well, first impression: It seems a lot more "open" than before. Maybe it's the fresh coat of paint, I don't know. There's no more Panda Express. No more Starbucks. Peet's Coffie will be filling that slot in the future. A few other things are in the works. The deli section is much larger now."

I wonder why the booted out Panda and Starbucks.

Oh wow! Just a couple of weeks ago before opening, it was still there.

Perhaps there was a negotiating issue with Panda (BTW, they did a pretty good business there but not high volume like some of their better located Pandas).

Side note: When I was there, Safeway was negotiating with Jamba Juice before the last remodel but negotiations fell apart.
Safeway tried Jamba Juice locations in a number of Lifestyle locations, and eventually stopped, as they were never able to achieve the volumes they needed to make it worthwhile (like Starbucks) and the equipment was difficult to clean.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

Gelson's announced they would build their second store in Hollywood at the corner of Sunset & Gardner, three blocks west of the high-volume but sketchy 'Rock & Roll' Ralphs.
How times have changed. That neighborhood could never have supported a Gelson's five years ago.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 12679.html

Since being acquired by a private equity firm a couple years ago Gelson's is really expanding after being dormant for so many years when it was a public company. At the time of the acquisition they had 16 stores and quickly opened two more in Long Beach and La Canada-Flintridge (former Albertson's and Vons, respectively). They are currently in the process of opening eight former Haggen stores. And now they have three new stores in development in Rancho Mission Viejo, Manhattan Beach (although there is some neighborhood opposition to this project), and now Hollywood. The new owners have committed to expanding the chain from the initial 16 stores to 29 by 2018.

They also just opened a brand new distribution center that is about two and a half times the size of their old warehouse (the former Mayfair Markets DC built in the late 1970's).
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by storewanderer »

I was in a Smiths in Henderson, NV recently and it had some kind of juice bar operation. The name was not recognizable, and it had a Kroger cash register. Maybe it is an in-house juice program.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

My neighborhood Whole Foods has a great Juice Bar that they run in-house. I've seen them in local Bristol Farms, as well. There seems to be a demand for the product. The problem is that the big chains are not good at running food-service programs that require well-trained employees. They're also not willing to spend the money on labor that is required to operate these departments properly.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

klkla wrote:Gelson's announced they would build their second store in Hollywood at the corner of Sunset & Gardner, three blocks west of the high-volume but sketchy 'Rock & Roll' Ralphs.
How times have changed. That neighborhood could never have supported a Gelson's five years ago.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 12679.html

Since being acquired by a private equity firm a couple years ago Gelson's is really expanding after being dormant for so many years when it was a public company. At the time of the acquisition they had 16 stores and quickly opened two more in Long Beach and La Canada-Flintridge (former Albertson's and Vons, respectively). They are currently in the process of opening eight former Haggen stores. And now they have three new stores in development in Rancho Mission Viejo, Manhattan Beach (although there is some neighborhood opposition to this project), and now Hollywood. The new owners have committed to expanding the chain from the initial 16 stores to 29 by 2018.

They also just opened a brand new distribution center that is about two and a half times the size of their old warehouse (the former Mayfair Markets DC built in the late 1970's).
This is not the first time they have been in that neighborhood. Mayfair, which later became a Jons, was on the corner of Fountain and La Brea forever before being torn down for another Hollywood mega development a couple of years ago. Do also remember that Bristol Farms is down the street at Sunset and Fairfax. Ralphs has two stores, both busy beyond belief, with the other on Fountain and La Brea.

There use to be a Westward Ho on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset. Was a very nice supermarket but with difficult underground parking in a shopping/movie complex. Store never had any real business.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote:I was in a Smiths in Henderson, NV recently and it had some kind of juice bar operation. The name was not recognizable, and it had a Kroger cash register. Maybe it is an in-house juice program.
Ralphs Fresh Fare in Westwood Village also has an in-house juice bar. It's located between the produce department and the liquor bar. I never see anyone buying from it unlike the liquor bar.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

CalItalian wrote:This is not the first time they have been in that neighborhood. Mayfair, which later became a Jons, was on the corner of Fountain and La Brea forever before being torn down for another Hollywood mega development a couple of years ago.
I remember that Mayfair really well. It was in very bad shape. It was built in the early 1960's and never received a remodel on the outside except for a small change to the awning in the late 70's. The inside was remodeled in the late 70's and that consisted of repainting the walls, new flooring and putting vinyl wallpaper over the existing refrigeration. In the late 80's it received another interior repaint. The prices were ridiculously high and the only reason it survived was because there was no direct competition in that immediate area that would be walking distance to the store. I don't remember if it closed after the Ralphs opened across the street or after the announcement that it would be built. But the writing was on the wall. Jons did pretty well in that location for quite a while catering to the large Armenian and Russian Jewish population in the area.

Keep in mind that Gelson's and Mayfair were both owned by Arden Group, Inc. at the time but had completely separate management so Gelson's has not operated in this area previously. This store was already closed by the time Gelson's management took over operation of the last few Mayfair Markets and began the process of converting the last three (West Hollywood, Silverlake, and Hollywood-Franklin) to the Gelson's format.

There's an image of it as a Mayfair and as Jons here:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xnURx8I7X_Q/U ... /ZZZ-4.jpg

In the late 80's it received another interior repaint which can be seen in this image:
http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m95x4 ... o1_500.jpg

All remaining Mayfair Markets received that paint job in the late 80's as did most Super A stores. I never understood the connection but was told that Super A subleased some of their stores from Mayfair so it probably had something to do with that.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by veteran+ »

klkla wrote:
CalItalian wrote:This is not the first time they have been in that neighborhood. Mayfair, which later became a Jons, was on the corner of Fountain and La Brea forever before being torn down for another Hollywood mega development a couple of years ago.
I remember that Mayfair really well. It was in very bad shape. It was built in the early 1960's and never received a remodel on the outside except for a small change to the awning in the late 70's. The inside was remodeled in the late 70's and that consisted of repainting the walls, new flooring and putting vinyl wallpaper over the existing refrigeration. In the late 80's it received another interior repaint. The prices were ridiculously high and the only reason it survived was because there was no direct competition in that immediate area that would be walking distance to the store. I don't remember if it closed after the Ralphs opened across the street or after the announcement that it would be built. But the writing was on the wall. Jons did pretty well in that location for quite a while catering to the large Armenian and Russian Jewish population in the area.

Keep in mind that Gelson's and Mayfair were both owned by Arden Group, Inc. at the time but had completely separate management so Gelson's has not operated in this area previously. This store was already closed by the time Gelson's management took over operation of the last few Mayfair Markets and began the process of converting the last three (West Hollywood, Silverlake, and Hollywood-Franklin) to the Gelson's format.

There's an image of it as a Mayfair and as Jons here:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xnURx8I7X_Q/U ... /ZZZ-4.jpg

In the late 80's it received another interior repaint which can be seen in this image:
http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m95x4 ... o1_500.jpg

All remaining Mayfair Markets received that paint job in the late 80's as did most Super A stores. I never understood the connection but was told that Super A subleased some of their stores from Mayfair so it probably had something to do with that.

Yeah, Jons did stay open for quite a while after that new Ralphs was opened.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

The third former-Haggen store converting to Gelson's opened this morning in Carlsbad.
https://twitter.com/gelsonsmarkets

This store was the very first store opened in Southern California by Haggen less than a year ago.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by pseudo3d »

7660 El Camino Real? Thought Smart & Final bid on it. Guess Gelson's won.
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