Lucky Grand Opening

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flyinpenguin
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Lucky Grand Opening

Post by flyinpenguin »

I went to the West Valley Lucky on November 1. First thing I noticed is that they invested in all new carts, in my opinion the old ones were in good shape and could have been re-branded. I do know that the checkstands were recycled from Acme because prior to closing for 3 days one of the checkstand lights had the Acme logo on it. So at least we know they were somewhat frugal on the remodel. The layout is similar to a Winco with the bargain aisle leading you to produce.

True to Albertsons form they were pushing the fried chicken meal deal. The product mix is definitely heavy on store brands. I have a dairy allergy so I am always on the lookout for things I can eat. In frozen they have a really good selection of non-dairy ice creams but no Amy's frozen products at all. Prior to final change over they had Van's frozen waffles on clearance for $1.75 which is a steal. Almost makes me wonder if they will bring in overstock or clearance type items from the warehouse on a rotating basis. They did have Tofutti cream cheese, and sour cream, both priced at $3.18. The sour cream was a good price, the cream cheese was priced higher than Walmart. Seems odd that a discount type store would stock either one of those. I was impressed by the deli selection. Having 3 salsas available by the pound was interesting. Also had some larger quantity packaged hispanic products for sale. A large bag of frozen tamales for $10 comes to mind.

For being 8:30 at night the store was very busy. Probably had 6 or so checkstands open. No self check in this store, also this location does not have a pharmacy. Now if we can get them to get rid of the category breakdown and shorten the receipt it will be even better. It will be interesting to see if they expand on this concept. Could be good to replace a dumpy Albertsons with this concept.

Added photos to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/154215572 ... 4580413092

The signs to the left and right of the center say "Low priced food"
storewanderer
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by storewanderer »

They were already using them as clearance stores back when they were Super Saver. All of the pulled AFS merchandise from the Paul's up in Idaho they bought was taken down to those stores to be clearanced at very very dirt cheap prices, I am still going through some canned goods and spices I got there over a year ago.

The bargain aisle (wall of values) already led you to produce before when these were Super Saver and back when they were Food 4 Less, so that is unchanged.

The carts are more of a loss prevention thing than anything else. That cart design is intended to make it easier for the cashier to see items left inside the cart as they are checking out the customer.

The category breakdown and large amount of space on the receipts is a Safeway thing and has been like that for years. I think the old Albertsons IBM receipts were also like that though. I notice Kroger, at Smiths at least, seems to have shortened its receipt, unless you get a survey in which case the English/Spanish survey message makes for a very long receipt.

I am not a fan of that Lucky logo in an oval and the other text in that circle. Cut out Lucky letters looked a lot cleaner. This looks tacky and over-done.

I am suspicious the only reason they rolled out this "Lucky" banner in Utah was to stop "Lucky's Market" from using that name in Utah. Given they are already present in WY and CO, I am suspicious UT may have been on their radar and this was Albertsons way of throwing a curve at them. I have no idea what the license agreement Albertsons has with "Lucky's Market" is but I would assume there is something so only one party can use the name in a given territory.
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by pseudo3d »

I've noticed that the "Means Low Prices" has really been emphasized unlike the SoCal stores. Now that they have this to hold onto the name and all, I wonder if the SoCal Lucky stores will end up closing or getting rebranded.
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by marshd1000 »

I wonder if Albertsons would expand this version of Lucky into other regions? We used to have Lucky in Washington up until 1985, when they sold their stores to Associated Grocers (now Supervalu) who then sold them to their various members. Of course our old Lucky stores were smaller and had no deli and bakeries back then. But they were not warehouse like Winco like locations either.
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by arizonaguy »

marshd1000 wrote: November 2nd, 2017, 8:55 am I wonder if Albertsons would expand this version of Lucky into other regions? We used to have Lucky in Washington up until 1985, when they sold their stores to Associated Grocers (now Supervalu) who then sold them to their various members. Of course our old Lucky stores were smaller and had no deli and bakeries back then. But they were not warehouse like Winco like locations either.
This looks like it could be the format for some Albertsons and Safeway stores in Arizona in more economically challenged areas.

Eventually I expect the Albertsons banner to leave Arizona (especially as recent Albertsons remodels have been to Colorful Lifestyle decor packages). However, there are a couple dozen stores that this Lucky format could do well with.
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by klkla »

Someone else has mentioned that this could be a way to block Lucky's Market (Kroger made a significant investment in this company last year) from using their brand name in states where ABS has operations and they have not yet opened stores.

If that is the purpose they could convert stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois and numerous states in the Northeast where Lucky's Market does not currently operate.
flyinpenguin
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by flyinpenguin »

I thought that Albertsons owned the Lucky trademark and are licensing the name to Save Mart which operates the Luckys Market? I think this is the Albertsons answer to Winco. And I would assume that they could convert slower stores to this concept. I don't know if they would take it to Idaho. Although in a smaller market like Idaho Falls where there are 2 Albertsons stores it might make sense to convert one to Lucky. I had heard there was going to be a third Lucky opening in Salt Lake but haven't seen anything yet.
flyinpenguin
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by flyinpenguin »

storewanderer wrote: November 1st, 2017, 10:15 pm They were already using them as clearance stores back when they were Super Saver. All of the pulled AFS merchandise from the Paul's up in Idaho they bought was taken down to those stores to be clearanced at very very dirt cheap prices, I am still going through some canned goods and spices I got there over a year ago.

The bargain aisle (wall of values) already led you to produce before when these were Super Saver and back when they were Food 4 Less, so that is unchanged.

The carts are more of a loss prevention thing than anything else. That cart design is intended to make it easier for the cashier to see items left inside the cart as they are checking out the customer.

The category breakdown and large amount of space on the receipts is a Safeway thing and has been like that for years. I think the old Albertsons IBM receipts were also like that though. I notice Kroger, at Smiths at least, seems to have shortened its receipt, unless you get a survey in which case the English/Spanish survey message makes for a very long receipt.

I am not a fan of that Lucky logo in an oval and the other text in that circle. Cut out Lucky letters looked a lot cleaner. This looks tacky and over-done.

I am suspicious the only reason they rolled out this "Lucky" banner in Utah was to stop "Lucky's Market" from using that name in Utah. Given they are already present in WY and CO, I am suspicious UT may have been on their radar and this was Albertsons way of throwing a curve at them. I have no idea what the license agreement Albertsons has with "Lucky's Market" is but I would assume there is something so only one party can use the name in a given territory.
I don't think that you need to worry about someone new entering the Utah market. I doubt that will happen. There are already too many players here already. The exception would be if Aldi ever moves into the region.
storewanderer
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by storewanderer »

Lucky's Market is a different format run by some former Sunflower and Wild Oats people out of Boulder. Also quite a few store managers from those two chains. Kroger has some sort of investment in them, but they do not seem to have any sort of operational control. http://www.luckysmarket.com
There was a lawsuit between Albertsons and Lucky's Market over use of the Lucky name but it was resolved and at this point there is some kind of licensing agreement between the companies.

The Save Mart format, bannered Lucky, with the identical-to-Albertsons logo (except one store has a different logo and is called Lucky California), is different as they have the rights to use the Lucky name within their operating areas and that was part of the sale of NorCal Division to Save Mart.

Lucky's Market recently opened in Jackson Hole, WY. I believe they may have caught the attention of Intermountain Albertsons by doing that. The Jackson Hole Albertsons has been the crown jewel of Intermountain Albertsons for years, their most upscale store. It has Boar's Head meats and various other upscale features, extremely profitable store and one the company has been putting a lot of resources into for the past 20 years.

Frankly, if I were "Lucky's Market" I would probably have changed my name.

Also I think the "Lucky's Market" format would do well in Utah. It would all come down to execution but I think if they executed well, the format could be quite well received in Utah. It has a lot more personality and perhaps less of a center store mix than Sprouts, but is a similar idea.
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Re: Lucky Grand Opening

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: November 2nd, 2017, 9:54 pm There was a lawsuit between Albertsons and Lucky's Market over use of the Lucky name but it was resolved and at this point there is some kind of licensing agreement between the companies.
If that was the case, then why the name change in Utah? I do know that Lucky was involved in a trademark abandonment case when Grocery Outlet wanted to use it, but they were able to block it.
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