New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

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storewanderer
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New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

Post by storewanderer »

In a former Albertsons, Fresh & Easy, old Alpha Beta if you want to go way back...

And it has the lifestyle interior. Wow. Actually the store looks pretty good, but seriously. Safeway NorCal still opening with lifestyle interior (a cheap version at that) in mid 2017. You just can't teach an OLD dog new tricks. Safeway NorCal really needs to get some "new ideas at work."

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... ClCJ87cQRg

Also a little strange to see service deli and service seafood/meat sharing the same counter. Reminds me of WinCo, or very old Stater Bros. Stores. That set up makes me worried about contamination.
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Re: New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:In a former Albertsons, Fresh & Easy, old Alpha Beta if you want to go way back...

And it has the lifestyle interior. Wow. Actually the store looks pretty good, but seriously. Safeway NorCal still opening with lifestyle interior (a cheap version at that) in mid 2017. You just can't teach an OLD dog new tricks. Safeway NorCal really needs to get some "new ideas at work."
Well, at least they have Boar's Head, something the South division has yet to re-learn. :roll:
Also a little strange to see service deli and service seafood/meat sharing the same counter. Reminds me of WinCo, or very old Stater Bros. Stores.
Right, but it's an old building going back to the Alpha Beta days. If it was new-built that'd be raising some eyebrows, but it isn't. Was this the format during the Albertsons/Lucky/Alpha Beta days?
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Re: New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

Post by storewanderer »

Absolutely was not the format during Albertsons/Alpha Beta before. I am actually not sure if this store even had a bakery or deli before. The location is kind of interesting, in the 90's, it was not the best area; not dangerous, just a bit old/unkempt looking. As time went on it got better, and better, as values increased. The neighborhood was in transition when Albertsons closed this store. It was probably a decent Fresh & Easy (as decent as they can do), too. I think this was actually a really wise reopening.

Fresh & Easy completely gutted these stores, leaving no preparation equipment or service departments in place when they opened up.
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Re: New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

Post by Alpha8472 »

The combination of deli and meat counter is to save labor. One person can handle meat and deli instead of 2.

The wall decor is cheap in case they decide to either close down the store or invest in a proper total remodel to a new decor. This store is an example of Albertsons testing out a location and being prepared to close or stay longer. The previous stores did not last, so who knows if it will work this time.
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Re: New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote:I am actually not sure if this store even had a bakery or deli before.
According to this post it at least had a bakery in it's Lucky days:
http://flickriver.com/photos/romleys/3339050160/
Alpha8472 wrote:The combination of deli and meat counter is to save labor. One person can handle meat and deli instead of 2.
That would make sense. The only problem is they would have different union contracts and I'm not sure that would be allowed. At least I've never seen that in SoCal but maybe NorCal has different work rules.
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Re: New Safeway opens Mountain View, CA

Post by pseudo3d »

Alpha8472 wrote:The previous stores did not last, so who knows if it will work this time.
Well, Fresh & Easy was short-lived as a whole as a chain, and Albertsons closed this store presumably as part of the market pull-out. That store, the store that closed in 2006, was quite successful (well, at least until fall 1999 anyway) despite being rebranded twice.
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