Super Saver Utah Photos

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flyinpenguin
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Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by flyinpenguin »

I took some photos of the Super Saver, I will try to document as it progresses towards it's Lucky changeover. (heard this will be new name from an employee today) Hopeful the remodel will be finished October, possibly November. Full service.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/154215572@N02/7L85Ck

There is about 2 aisles with nothing but clearance. The coffee is a steal. Lot's of freezer space devoted to store brand pizza. Clearancing the O organic chips.
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by storewanderer »

They are going to re-banner to Lucky? In Utah??? A market where Lucky never even operated?

What the...

And why is Lucky being relegated to a discount format by this ownership too? It was a strong mid-scale conventional or combo food/drug in the 90's. Not a low end discount format where you bag it yourself. Oh well.
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:They are going to re-banner to Lucky? In Utah??? A market where Lucky never even operated?

What the...

And why is Lucky being relegated to a discount format by this ownership too? It was a strong mid-scale conventional or combo food/drug in the 90's. Not a low end discount format where you bag it yourself. Oh well.
I guess it's good that they only have one brand for this sort of thing instead of two but Save Mart still exists, and SuperValu's attempt at it never got off the ground.

Why not just rebrand the existing Lucky stores in SoCal back to Albertsons and use Lucky as a brand name?

EDIT: On that note, why not revert back to Max Foods? What was really wrong that brand?
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by flyinpenguin »

Does Albertsons own the Maxx Foods name? I thought that was a Supervalu name. My guess is they are going almost full service except for the bag your own. In the mean time they are running some good ads. I thought the Snack Artist chips last week at .95 were a good deal. And 24 pack water 3 for $5.

http://albertsons.mywebgrocer.com/Circu ... Weekly/2/3
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by storewanderer »

Maxx Foods is an Albertsons name. Albertsons, up through the early 00's, ran price impact stores of its own under the names Grocery Warehouse, Monte Mart, and Maxx Grocery Warehouse.

Then when they bought ASC that is when Super Saver got added to the mix. Super Saver is a pretty old name used by Acme in the 70's and then it was re-introduced in CA in the 90's by ASC. Super Saver, when introduced by ASC, was called Price Advantage and was to be separate from Lucky Division. Stores in NorCal were converted Luckys and stores in SoCal were new builds. Price Advantage was involved in some kind of lawsuit for its name, briefly changed to Food Price Advantage, then changed to Super Saver. It didn't take long for ASC to give up on these stores and just give them back to Lucky to run, and they never did well.

Still, Albertsons ran Super Savers in NorCal after the merger and the last one was finally closed by LLC right before the sale of NorCal to Save Mart. I believe the SoCal Super Savers were closed by the time Supervalu got SoCal, but SoCal was running price impact stores under Monte Mart, Grocery Warehouse, and Max Foods still.

So they have a host of names they can use for price impact stores. However, history shows a questionable commitment to price impact formats by the previous companies.

Then there is Safeway's discount format, Pak N Save, in NorCal. A Safeway in all but name and layout/atmosphere (same prices as a Safeway with less perishables), and has been for 20+ years. They did try to open one Pak N Save in SoCal (some store in Moreno Valley that started as a Pavilions, then downgraded to Vons, then downgraded again to Pak N Save, yikes) and it was run as a price impact price store (lower prices than Vons) but it was only open a few years.
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:Maxx Foods is an Albertsons name. Albertsons, up through the early 00's, ran price impact stores of its own under the names Grocery Warehouse, Monte Mart, and Maxx Grocery Warehouse.

Then when they bought ASC that is when Super Saver got added to the mix. Super Saver is a pretty old name used by Acme in the 70's and then it was re-introduced in CA in the 90's by ASC. Super Saver, when introduced by ASC, was called Price Advantage and was to be separate from Lucky Division. Stores in NorCal were converted Luckys and stores in SoCal were new builds. Price Advantage was involved in some kind of lawsuit for its name, briefly changed to Food Price Advantage, then changed to Super Saver. It didn't take long for ASC to give up on these stores and just give them back to Lucky to run, and they never did well.

Still, Albertsons ran Super Savers in NorCal after the merger and the last one was finally closed by LLC right before the sale of NorCal to Save Mart. I believe the SoCal Super Savers were closed by the time Supervalu got SoCal, but SoCal was running price impact stores under Monte Mart, Grocery Warehouse, and Max Foods still.

So they have a host of names they can use for price impact stores. However, history shows a questionable commitment to price impact formats by the previous companies.

Then there is Safeway's discount format, Pak N Save, in NorCal. A Safeway in all but name and layout/atmosphere (same prices as a Safeway with less perishables), and has been for 20+ years. They did try to open one Pak N Save in SoCal (some store in Moreno Valley that started as a Pavilions, then downgraded to Vons, then downgraded again to Pak N Save, yikes) and it was run as a price impact price store (lower prices than Vons) but it was only open a few years.
SoCal's situation regarding Super Saver, seems the original Albertsons version was designed for Hispanic consumers (there used to be an article on the launch, but here is at least one article I found on it and its use on SoCal.
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by storewanderer »

That article was inaccurate. Albertsons never opened any Super Savers in SoCal. The three Super Savers operating in SoCal at the time that article was published were built by ASC and closed not too long after.

Albertsons was, however, at that time, in SoCal, operating about 8 or 9 Grocery Warehouse, Monte Mart, or Max Foods Stores which were catering to hispanic customers. There was also a string of about 8 similar stores in Colorado operating as either Grocery Warehouse or Max Grocery Warehouse. I think there were some in Texas too. These were weird stores, mostly converted conventionals, some still looked like a conventional, some didn't, and a few of them were actually opened as warehouse format stores with cement floors and very limited service departments. None of those were ever converted to Super Saver. These stores had a smaller mix of items than a typical Albertsons, ran a small ad with pretty hot specials (basically like the current Utah Super Saver ad), but were typically low volume/low staffed operations. That is why at this point only two stores from the group are left: that Albertsons in Pueblo, CO, and the Lucky in El Centro, CA.

Super Saver as developed by Albertsons was a hard discount format, it was to be like WinCo. Bag it yourself, no credit cards accepted, limited service departments, lowest possible pricing. It was not catering to any specific demographic group.

The only Super Savers opened by Albertsons were in Texas and Florida. Those two in Utah were former Food 4 Less Stores which Albertsons bought from Fleming when Fleming closed its warehouse in Salt Lake City, and for a while operated as "Food For Less" before being rebranded to Super Saver.
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:That article was inaccurate. Albertsons never opened any Super Savers in SoCal. The three Super Savers operating in SoCal at the time that article was published were built by ASC and closed not too long after.

Albertsons was, however, at that time, in SoCal, operating about 8 or 9 Grocery Warehouse, Monte Mart, or Max Foods Stores which were catering to hispanic customers. There was also a string of about 8 similar stores in Colorado operating as either Grocery Warehouse or Max Grocery Warehouse. I think there were some in Texas too. These were weird stores, mostly converted conventionals, some still looked like a conventional, some didn't, and a few of them were actually opened as warehouse format stores with cement floors and very limited service departments. None of those were ever converted to Super Saver. These stores had a smaller mix of items than a typical Albertsons, ran a small ad with pretty hot specials (basically like the current Utah Super Saver ad), but were typically low volume/low staffed operations. That is why at this point only two stores from the group are left: that Albertsons in Pueblo, CO, and the Lucky in El Centro, CA.

Super Saver as developed by Albertsons was a hard discount format, it was to be like WinCo. Bag it yourself, no credit cards accepted, limited service departments, lowest possible pricing. It was not catering to any specific demographic group.

The only Super Savers opened by Albertsons were in Texas and Florida. Those two in Utah were former Food 4 Less Stores which Albertsons bought from Fleming when Fleming closed its warehouse in Salt Lake City, and for a while operated as "Food For Less" before being rebranded to Super Saver.
I think the confusion comes because there was really a format called "SuperSaver Foods" (as opposed to Super Saver) that was oriented toward Hispanics. It was a Larry Johnston idea (he probably also engineered the Lawn & Garden department present in certain stores in certain divisions), and appeared to be abandoned quickly (just like the Lawn & Garden departments).

Here's the article, edited to avoid copyright complaints (this article is meant to be fair use to demonstrate and show the existence of a Hispanic-focused Albertsons spin-off in Southern California).
TAPPING THE LATIN BEAT; ALBERTSONS IS TESTING THE WATERS WITH A NEW HISPANIC FORMAT THAT IT PLANS TO ROLL OUT TO OTHER HEAVILY POPULATED LATINO MARKETS

Supermarket News

BOISE, Idaho -- "Viva Albertsons!"

That's been the early response among Hispanic consumers toward SuperSaver Foods, the new Hispanic format that Albertsons is piloting in three Southern California locations.

Larry Johnston, chairman and chief executive officer, told SN in an interview that sales are exceeding expectations, "and we think we've hit a home run with the concept.

"We regard these first three stores as a test, and as we track the results, we'll decide what we want to change. But so far, the signs are good."

Albertsons unveiled the three pilot units of SuperSaver Foods in late August in Santa Ana, Wilmington and Southgate, Calif. -- low- to medium-income communities where Hispanic populations run as high as 75%, chain officials said.

Two of the three SuperSavers formerly operated under the Albertsons Grocery Warehouse banner; the largest of the three, the 59,000-square-foot store in Santa Ana, is a former Albertsons with a clientele that's heavily first-generation American.

(snip)

Johnston declined to say when or where Albertsons might open additional Hispanic units, but there will be further expansion, he said -- albeit with some changes. "We will roll out the Hispanic format after we work on the concept a bit," he said. "The consumer is very discerning, so we want to get it just right."

Johnston said he isn't sure how long the rollout process will take, "but like our online business, we will continue to test the format in different markets till we get it just right."

According to a chain spokeswoman, Albertsons became interested in testing a Hispanic format "because Larry [Johnston] is interested in finding better ways to do things that will produce a better return-on-invested capital."

Albertsons chose Southern California for the pilot SuperSaver units "because that was the first market where we had a group of stores that needed refurbishing, which gave us an opportunity to conduct our tests. And given the large Hispanic population there, it made sense to conduct the test there," the spokeswoman said.

"But there will be other Hispanic formats in other parts of the country," she added.

(snip)

Albertsons is the first major chain in Southern California to open a Hispanic format since Vons Cos. introduced Tianguis there in 1986. Vons opened nine Tianguis stores over the subsequent three years but converted the stores to other formats in 1994 -- a move Vons attributed to ongoing grape-boycotting activity by the United Farm Workers Union and the stores' high service orientation at a time when Vons should have taken costs out of the system.

(snip)
According to Johnston, Albertsons did extensive research before designing the SuperSaver format, including talking with consumers and focus groups, working closely with vendors, exploring best practices around the country, "and visiting every Hispanic-format store in and out of the U.S."

Signage in the stores is bilingual, with English above Spanish on the wall and in-aisle signs, and 90% of employees are bilingual, Ramirez, the store director at the Santa Ana location, told SN.

He said his store, like the two other SuperSavers, features expanded perimeter departments to accommodate the Hispanic customers' demand for fresh products.

(snip)

At the rear of the store is a 48-foot service meat counter, with 24 feet each of fresh seafood and meat. The seafood section includes massive displays of shrimp, whole catfish, tilapia and octopus, and prepared dishes like shrimp ceviche, breaded catfish and imitation crab salad -- with an everyday discount of 50 cents off the price per pound for orders of 3 pounds or more.

(snip)

"The Albertsons store that was here before did not include service meat," Ramirez pointed out. "But Hispanic consumers like that interaction with other humans, and the meat counter is mobbed on the weekend. We turn the displays daily over the weekend, and we have 10 people working the counter to accommodate the crush."

SuperSaver displays 10-pound packages of frozen seafood and poultry on island displays in the meat section.

The dairy case on the back wall features expanded assortments of Sunny Delight drinks, Horchester rice drinks and Tampico fruit drinks; a massive egg display features eggs packed by the dozen, in 18-count cartons and in containers of five dozen.

On the left side of the store is a large panaderia (bakery), featuring Mexican cookies displayed in self-service cases (pan dulce), a reach-in case for freshly baked bolillo rolls, and a bakery counter featuring moist, traditional Mexican cakes known as "tres leches" (three milks).

The service deli in the front left corner of the store features Hispanic salads, cheeses, sauces and tamales, with a hot-foods section that includes fried chicken, chicken wings and pork carnitas -- "one of the store's most popular items," Ramirez said.

(snip)

Other SuperSaver features include the following:

A Sav-on pharmacy -- a carryover from Albertsons. The pharmacy remained open during the month or so that the store was closed for remodeling, Ramirez noted.

(snip)

A promotional aisle featuring Mexican blankets, made-in-Mexico blue jeans priced at $12.99 and Halloween candy.

(snip)

An open area near the store's service deli for in-store demonstrations on the weekend.

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2002 Penton Media, Inc., Penton Business Media, Inc. and their subsidiaries.

Source Citation:
Zwiebach, Elliot. "TAPPING THE LATIN BEAT; ALBERTSONS IS TESTING THE WATERS WITH A NEW HISPANIC FORMAT THAT IT PLANS TO ROLL OUT TO OTHER HEAVILY POPULATED LATINO MARKETS." Supermarket News 30 Sept. 2002
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Re: Super Saver Utah Photos

Post by storewanderer »

Wow! Those stores did not last long at all...

It is interesting however that there is a Lucky in South Gate. I do not think it was a Super Saver, though... I think it went straight from Albertsons to Lucky. Remodeling efforts were limited. That is an Alpha Beta floor with the Lucky interior painted red and black... https://www.yelp.com/biz/lucky-south-gate also nice to see the checkout line stretching WAY out into the aisles in a photo someone took a couple weeks ago. Last time I stopped by this store, which was almost two years ago, I walked out without purchasing anything due to the excessively long few open checkouts. Funny how some things never change.
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