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

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote:How did perimeters and service levels look in these stores?
Both stores were well staffed and perimeters fully stocked. Meat presentation was weak in Santa Monica by Gelson's standards with a lot of very thin cut steaks and chops in the case. But other than that the stores looked pristine.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by storewanderer »

I keep feeling like they are trying to do the same thing Haggen said they were going to do... but they are actually doing it.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla wrote:I've noticed Gelson's is starting to become much more aggressive with promotions lately. I had posted about them running bigger ads a couple weeks ago but they're also doing more targeted marketing. For instance yesterday I spent $91.82 on groceries and my receipt had a coupon for $16 off my next purchase of $90 or more. This is the third time this has happened to me in the last couple of months. It doesn't happen all the time or to every customer. I'm not sure what the criteria is for this offer which amounts to a 17% discount on my next order but I like it :)
They have expanded this concept recently and advertised in on their website, social media and EMail blasts.

This is the current offer:

LIMITED TIME ONLY!

The more you spend, the more you get back in savings vouchers to be used on your next visit.*
Between Monday, March 27 and Sunday, April 2:

•$40-$74.99: $10 off your next purchase of $50 or more
•$75-$124.99: $20 off your next purchase of $100 or more
•$125+: $30 off your next purchase of $150 or more

Vouchers will be valid April 3 - April 16, 2017 only.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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klkla wrote:I had to go to the San Fernando Valley yesterday so I decided to drive by the Thousand Oaks location and see how progress was going and was surprised to see they haven't done anything to the store. It still has the Haggen signage outside with no attempt to even cover it up. They haven't made any attempt to cover the windows, either. The inside of the store is exactly as Haggen left it six months ago including their pallet-style produce bins, cash registers, signage, e.t.c... The pharmacy was open and there was a small banner indicating that it is the Gelson's Pharmacy and there were two liquor license applications on the window.
I made the quoted post almost a year ago and last week was driving on the 101 through Thousand Oaks so I decided to take a detour and see what was going on. The entire shopping center is now in the process of being remodeled. It looks like Gelson's is only keeping part of the original Albertson's/Haggen. From the architect's drawing it looks like they are keeping about 2/3 of the store which would make it about 30,000 sq. ft. That's probably a good move on their part. The left side of the stores is being taken over by Pet Paws.
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Re: 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

Post by klkla »

A few updates.

Thousand Oaks which has been sitting empty since October 2015 when Haggen closed, has finally scheduled a Job Fair for Saturday July 29th. Typically the stores open about a month after the job fair. As I mentioned in an earlier post they are downsizing the store.

Carlsbad may be downsizing, as well, something storewanderer predicted in a different post IIRC. I stumbled on a building permit that had some details:
CBC2017-0180 GELSONS: SPLIT TENANT SPACE INTO 2 SUITES (39,174 SF STE #100; 10,692 SF STE #110) RETAIL TO RETAIL TI
7660 EL CAMINO REAL
GELSONS MARKETS
2020 CENTRAL AVE COMPTON, CA 90220
$2,391,777
BLDG-Commercial / Tenant Improvement

So basically the are going to sublease 10,692 sq. ft. of the store to another retailer (or have renegotiated the lease).

Del MarRemodeling has finally started. They have built the new cheese section and started construction on the wine/beer/tapas section but it's not immediately clear if they are going to downsize this store, too.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by storewanderer »

Del Mar is probably the right size for them. I think downsizing it would be a mistake.

I will be curious to see what comes of the cut off space in Carlsbad. Will they sublease to a drugstore? That could be a win-win. It would draw more people into the parking lot, and also provide an alternate source for the beer and oreos that Gelson's is too expensive on for many customers.

I wonder how Gelson's is doing with pharmacy...
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

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storewanderer wrote:I will be curious to see what comes of the cut off space in Carlsbad. Will they sublease to a drugstore? That could be a win-win. It would draw more people into the parking lot, and also provide an alternate source for the beer and oreos that Gelson's is too expensive on for many customers.
I'm not sure what will open in the cut off space or whether the pharmacy will remain open but in Thousand Oaks they are keeping the pharmacy and the cut-off space is going to Pet Paws.

The pharmacy is still open in Carlsbad and one poster on Yelp says the remodel has started so my guess is they will keep it.

FWIW it looks the property itself is listed as being for sale:
http://www.nnnpro.com/properties/gelsons-market/
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote:Gelson's has an Albertsons in Santa Barbara that they inherited in the 1999 ASC transaction and when you go in there, it has no trace left of Albertsons. You simply cannot even tell it was ever Albertsons. At least, I can't. The layout, floor, nothing is left.
This page shows what it looked like immediately after they bought it from Albertson's:
http://www.vmsd.com/content/gelsons-17

It appears that Albertson's didn't spend much money on it. There's a photo here of the store in 1960:
http://www.groceteria.com/oldgalleries/ ... age59.html
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by storewanderer »

It looks like they have the right approach. They operated these former Haggen Stores (probably at a loss) for the past year, and likely studied the areas fairly in depth and will now spend the money on improvements, downsize the stores to a size that better fits their premium concept, and hopefully be successful with the stores.

Sounds like they are keeping the pharmacies. Can they add pharmacy to any of their other locations? I seem to recall some are not sharing a lot with an existing drugstore...
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