storewanderer wrote: ↑February 27th, 2019, 8:36 pm
architect wrote: ↑February 27th, 2019, 8:25 am
Not official yet, but the Randalls at Exposition Blvd and Lake Austin Blvd in Austin will likely be closing over the coming months as the property's lease comes up for renewal. UT Austin owns the property, and as of now, intends to lease it to HEB.
This property is a tight squeeze, but would likely be an excellent location for a two-level HEB. The existing Randalls store was originally opened by Safeway in the 70's before being converted to Appletree and then Randalls; it is definitely showing it's age and is drastically undersized for the amount of traffic it pulls.
https://www.statesman.com/news/20190226 ... est-austin
It appears the chain saw this coming as this store did not receive the lighting
fiasco enhancements.
Interesting UT Austin is going to negotiate with 7-Eleven to remain in its spot but does not appear to be negotiating with Randalls. I wonder who walked away from the table on this one.
This seems like just the kind of store you want to keep. Hard to duplicate location, captive audience (students), small simple size (low ceilings too- must be great for heating and AC bills)...
Actually, the store in question at 715 South Exposition Blvd received not only one, but two lighting hackjobs at the hands of Albertsons. The first one which was completed within the first year or two after the Albertsons merger simply added additional lighting strips over the produce/bakery/deli areas. Then a year or so later, additional lighting was added around the front end and the pharmacy. In both cases, the fixtures were the 70's style tacky strips typical of Albertsons, but the fixtures differ slightly (the first ones were the fixtures used across the majority of drop-ceiling Houston Randalls locations, while the second type are common in DFW Tom Thumbs). The ceiling in this store is actually decently high, and features a raised ceiling over the checklanes typical of many 60's-70's Safeway locations. The exterior side walls of the store also feature Safeway's signature pebble-texture from the time period.
Overall, the store is still in good shape and is of a decent size on its own, but is simply inadequate considering the traffic it pulls and has clearly seen little investment from Albertsons in a while outside of lighting. Considering HEB's willingness to invest in multi-story locations in tight urban sites (they have several urban stores open in Houston/San Antonio already, with several more in the works), UT likely hoped that by leasing the site to HEB, that it would receive a modern store which is actually adequate for the surrounding neighborhood (quite a bit of student housing is nearby) while also increasing income from sales at the property. In addition, with Albertsons Texas future somewhat in flux at this point (particularly regarding Randalls), HEB is likely considered far less risky from UT's standpoint.
Question, are you potentially confusing the store in question with the store further up Exposition at 2727 Exposition Blvd? That Randalls has the extremely low ceilings you mentioned, and is definitely one of the 2-3 smallest Albertsons-owned locations in Texas. It also received new florescent light strips in the majority of its perimeter under Safeway, so it actually looks quite presentable throughout. The only Albertsons-added lighting in this store is at one of the front corners over beer/wine; it looks horribly out of place as the fixtures sit directly in line which the far more attractive Safeway-era lighting (visible in this photo:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Randa ... 6389?hl=en). During my visits to this location, I am always amazed that it remains open simply due to its size alone and its perceived low traffic, but maybe it receives quite a bit of traffic in the evenings from nearby residents?