Retail Watchers

Just got my weekly grocery ads and discovered that the Monrovia Pavilions has been "Vonsed" as well. This comes a few years after the nearby Arcadia Pavilions got the same treatment. I think Monrovia was one of the earliest Pavilions (built from the ground up.) Not sure when it came about, but it was here when I moved to the area in 1987.

Sad to see these stores, which in the case of Arcadia and Monrovia were high volume and profitable when they were built, being downgraded to Vons. But demographics change and that's how it goes.

Speaking of old Pavilions. The original Pavilions in Garden Grove, which has been sitting vacant for over ten years, was sold to a new developer about six months ago. They are planning to divide the 76,000 square foot store into seven smaller stores and build a couple pads in the lot on the Chapman Blvd. side.

The listing is here:
http://www.cityfeet.com/cont/listing/re ... /cs7597337

Images 1 and 8 show what would have been the entrance to the Pavilions store. A faint partial label scar is visible on image 8.

Images 2, 3 and 9 show an aerial view of the property. I don't remember there being an entrance on Chapman Blvd. but could be wrong. Someone else might have a better recollection. The two times I went to the store I entered from the back side. These images also seem to show remnants of the old Pacific Electric Railways route FWIW (A cool but sad part of SoCals history because it was wall destroyed because mass transit was losing it's popularity in the 1960's and now we are spending $$ billions trying to reestablish more light rail and subways).

Images 4, 5 and 7 are artist renditions of how the property will look after being renovated.

Image 6 shows the current view from Chapman Blvd.

It's sad to see the Pavilions name disappearing from once profitable locations. There is room to expand but Albertsons/Safeway has to stop marketing Vons as "upscale". The Vons I've been to may seems "upscale", but customer service is severely lacking. They need to put Vons back to ware it was, a traditional grocer and market Pavilions as upscale, like the original concept.

There is no reason whatsoever a banner change is needed for Pavilions, adapt to the market! Wasn't Pavilions the one who catered to the area they were built in? Albertsons needs to take a step back, look at their banners, and market them correctly.

steps wrote: ↑February 9th, 2018, 8:32 pm It's sad to see the Pavilions name disappearing from once profitable locations. There is room to expand but Albertsons/Safeway has to stop marketing Vons as "upscale". The Vons I've been to may seems "upscale", but customer service is severely lacking. They need to put Vons back to ware it was, a traditional grocer and market Pavilions as upscale, like the original concept.

There is no reason whatsoever a banner change is needed for Pavilions, adapt to the market! Wasn't Pavilions the one who catered to the area they were built in? Albertsons needs to take a step back, look at their banners, and market them correctly.

San Pedro (Rolling Hills adjacent) also went from Pavilions to Vons a couple of years ago. So that's at least 4 in recent years now while Ralphs keeps expanding Ralphs Fresh Fare locations. Recently upgrading El Segundo, Culver City (Jefferson) and soon West Los Angeles (National). The only Ralphs Fresh Fare location that I can think of that has ever closed was in Long Beach.

steps wrote: ↑February 9th, 2018, 8:32 pm They need to put Vons back to ware it was, a traditional grocer and market Pavilions as upscale, like the original concept.

...that's what they seem to be doing?

pseudo3d wrote: ↑February 10th, 2018, 9:54 am

steps wrote: ↑February 9th, 2018, 8:32 pm They need to put Vons back to ware it was, a traditional grocer and market Pavilions as upscale, like the original concept.

...that's what they seem to be doing?

They're trying but not really.

They downgraded 4 locations to Vons in pretty high income areas which should not have been happened. They haven't built or converted a Vons to Pavilions in years. The demographics may have changed but they didn't even try to adapt to the area. Give it a few years and those Vons will close too. They didn't change anything but the name outside.

pseudo3d wrote: ↑February 10th, 2018, 9:54 am

steps wrote: ↑February 9th, 2018, 8:32 pm They need to put Vons back to ware it was, a traditional grocer and market Pavilions as upscale, like the original concept.

...that's what they seem to be doing?

They are doing that as far as closing stores that are in neighborhoods that no longer make sense for the format. But, there are Vons in a lot of neighborhoods that would be better served by a well run Pavilions. For example, there are no Pavilions in San Diego County. The stores in La Jolla and Solana Beach would be amazing Pavilions. There are no stores in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs/Palm Desert/Rancho Mirage) either. There used to be a Pavilions in Rancho Mirage that was divested to Haggen and is now a Gelson's.

Seems like same old, same old to me. Safeway had slowly been closing or coverting Pavilions Stores back to Vons too.

At least Albertsons seems to be trying to position them a little differently with different ads, a different store interior, etc. I don't really understand some of these conversions back to Vons (I'd think an upscale Pavilions with more Asian offerings would have gone great in Arcadia or Monrovia) that have been done by Albertsons. Most of the ones that Safeway did, it was very obvious why the conversion was done (areas with changes in demographics).

I never understood why Pavilions was kept out of San Diego and Albertsons is continuing that mystery too.

Vons, in general, seems to be pretty poorly run.

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 11th, 2018, 12:20 am...I never understood why Pavilions was kept out of San Diego and Albertsons is continuing that mystery too....

You and me both - and I lived there for sixteen years. My guess is VONS is the #1 grocer in San Diego County and they didn't feel the need to open Pavilions stores.

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 11th, 2018, 12:20 am...Vons, in general, seems to be pretty poorly run.

I think they are better-run in San Diego than in LA and Orange County.