Albertsons/Safeway 2018 & 2019: Openings and Closings

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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by architect »

Two more under the radar closures to add, both in Houston

- Randalls at 11711 W Bellfort Ave. in Stafford (Not surprising at all, as this store was the last man standing right on the border of Alief, a major declining area. In addition, this store had not received any investment in years. Sadly, this was the last Randall's featuring decor which predated the Safeway acquisition.)
- Randalls at 5264 W 34th St,. in Houston (Store was newer and had Lifestyle decor, but the surrounding demographics simply didn't fit this location. Construction that has been going on for years on neighboring 290 likely also played a role in poor traffic, as this made the store extremely difficult to access. However, this store is reopening under El Rancho Supermercado, so technically it is staying somewhat under the Albertsons umbrella.)

Also of note, this brings the total number of Randall's stores into the mid 20's. I wonder what the next to go will be?
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by pseudo3d »

architect wrote: March 20th, 2018, 10:51 am Two more under the radar closures to add, both in Houston

- Randalls at 11711 W Bellfort Ave. in Stafford (Not surprising at all, as this store was the last man standing right on the border of Alief, a major declining area. In addition, this store had not received any investment in years. Sadly, this was the last Randall's featuring decor which predated the Safeway acquisition.)
- Randalls at 5264 W 34th St,. in Houston (Store was newer and had Lifestyle decor, but the surrounding demographics simply didn't fit this location. Construction that has been going on for years on neighboring 290 likely also played a role in poor traffic, as this made the store extremely difficult to access. However, this store is reopening under El Rancho Supermercado, so technically it is staying somewhat under the Albertsons umbrella.)

Also of note, this brings the total number of Randall's stores into the mid 20's. I wonder what the next to go will be?
The 34th Street store, as I mentioned before, was actually built by Safeway as #1774, to replace a smaller store across the highway (where Academy is now) and demolished a Kmart (which moved to a former Venture). I'm surprised El Rancho is moving into Houston...I remember saying that they would just be "another face in the crowd" rather than a smaller market where they could get more placement (like Waco or Bryan). But yeah, ouch, this does hurt the remaining Randalls (in Houston) as they continue to dwindle. I do wonder if Albertsons is planning to eventually kill the Randalls name by exiting Houston and renaming the Austin stores as Tom Thumb (in effect, bringing a handful of stores to their pre-1994 name) or even Albertsons (as the newest store certainly is laid out like one).
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: March 20th, 2018, 6:32 pm
architect wrote: March 20th, 2018, 10:51 am Two more under the radar closures to add, both in Houston

- Randalls at 11711 W Bellfort Ave. in Stafford (Not surprising at all, as this store was the last man standing right on the border of Alief, a major declining area. In addition, this store had not received any investment in years. Sadly, this was the last Randall's featuring decor which predated the Safeway acquisition.)
- Randalls at 5264 W 34th St,. in Houston (Store was newer and had Lifestyle decor, but the surrounding demographics simply didn't fit this location. Construction that has been going on for years on neighboring 290 likely also played a role in poor traffic, as this made the store extremely difficult to access. However, this store is reopening under El Rancho Supermercado, so technically it is staying somewhat under the Albertsons umbrella.)

Also of note, this brings the total number of Randall's stores into the mid 20's. I wonder what the next to go will be?
The 34th Street store, as I mentioned before, was actually built by Safeway as #1774, to replace a smaller store across the highway (where Academy is now) and demolished a Kmart (which moved to a former Venture). I'm surprised El Rancho is moving into Houston...I remember saying that they would just be "another face in the crowd" rather than a smaller market where they could get more placement (like Waco or Bryan). But yeah, ouch, this does hurt the remaining Randalls (in Houston) as they continue to dwindle. I do wonder if Albertsons is planning to eventually kill the Randalls name by exiting Houston and renaming the Austin stores as Tom Thumb (in effect, bringing a handful of stores to their pre-1994 name) or even Albertsons (as the newest store certainly is laid out like one).
I am also a bit surprised by El Rancho moving into Houston, especially considering that it is the home market of Fiesta, and several other Hispanic-oriented chains are also widespread in Hispanic-dominant areas such as Food Town and HEB's Mi Tienda. My guess is that Albertsons is simply taking advantage of a site which was not working out under Randalls to test the waters in Houston with El Rancho. If the store works, then Albertsons can expand the concept further. If it does not, they have not lost much outside of the cost of renovating the existing store.

If Albertsons was to pull out of Houston, I would not expect the banner at the Austin stores to change. With Tom Thumb being gone from the market for over 20 years, the Tom Thumb name simply holds almost no brand equity in Austin at this point. Likewise, the Albertsons name is largely damaged goods, and if it was reintroduced to Austin, it would likely give customers flashbacks of the mid-2000's failing to compete Albertsons stores from around the market, rather than the stores today which have at least somewhat been turned around. The only alternate banner I could see even potentially working would be Safeway due to the huge amount of west coast transplants around Austin who are accustomed to the name (and often tend to gravitate towards Randalls due to familiarity vs. HEB which feels somewhat unconventional and Texas-centric compared to your typical supermarket). Even then, I think that this is a longshot as the Safeway name may also still be damaged good in Texas from their previous failures here, along with their destruction of the Randalls and Tom Thumb banners.

As far as additional Randalls store closures, my prediction for the next to go would be the College Park store in the Woodlands, as it is just down the street from a successful HEB, has not been renovated since opening (did not receive a Lifestyle remodel), and is relatively isolated with limited residential development nearby to support it.
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by pseudo3d »

architect wrote: March 20th, 2018, 7:24 pm
pseudo3d wrote: March 20th, 2018, 6:32 pm
architect wrote: March 20th, 2018, 10:51 am Two more under the radar closures to add, both in Houston

- Randalls at 11711 W Bellfort Ave. in Stafford (Not surprising at all, as this store was the last man standing right on the border of Alief, a major declining area. In addition, this store had not received any investment in years. Sadly, this was the last Randall's featuring decor which predated the Safeway acquisition.)
- Randalls at 5264 W 34th St,. in Houston (Store was newer and had Lifestyle decor, but the surrounding demographics simply didn't fit this location. Construction that has been going on for years on neighboring 290 likely also played a role in poor traffic, as this made the store extremely difficult to access. However, this store is reopening under El Rancho Supermercado, so technically it is staying somewhat under the Albertsons umbrella.)

Also of note, this brings the total number of Randall's stores into the mid 20's. I wonder what the next to go will be?
The 34th Street store, as I mentioned before, was actually built by Safeway as #1774, to replace a smaller store across the highway (where Academy is now) and demolished a Kmart (which moved to a former Venture). I'm surprised El Rancho is moving into Houston...I remember saying that they would just be "another face in the crowd" rather than a smaller market where they could get more placement (like Waco or Bryan). But yeah, ouch, this does hurt the remaining Randalls (in Houston) as they continue to dwindle. I do wonder if Albertsons is planning to eventually kill the Randalls name by exiting Houston and renaming the Austin stores as Tom Thumb (in effect, bringing a handful of stores to their pre-1994 name) or even Albertsons (as the newest store certainly is laid out like one).
I am also a bit surprised by El Rancho moving into Houston, especially considering that it is the home market of Fiesta, and several other Hispanic-oriented chains are also widespread in Hispanic-dominant areas such as Food Town and HEB's Mi Tienda. My guess is that Albertsons is simply taking advantage of a site which was not working out under Randalls to test the waters in Houston with El Rancho. If the store works, then Albertsons can expand the concept further. If it does not, they have not lost much outside of the cost of renovating the existing store.

If Albertsons was to pull out of Houston, I would not expect the banner at the Austin stores to change. With Tom Thumb being gone from the market for over 20 years, the Tom Thumb name simply holds almost no brand equity in Austin at this point. Likewise, the Albertsons name is largely damaged goods, and if it was reintroduced to Austin, it would likely give customers flashbacks of the mid-2000's failing to compete Albertsons stores from around the market, rather than the stores today which have at least somewhat been turned around. The only alternate banner I could see even potentially working would be Safeway due to the huge amount of west coast transplants around Austin who are accustomed to the name (and often tend to gravitate towards Randalls due to familiarity vs. HEB which feels somewhat unconventional and Texas-centric compared to your typical supermarket). Even then, I think that this is a longshot as the Safeway name may also still be damaged good in Texas from their previous failures here, along with their destruction of the Randalls and Tom Thumb banners.

As far as additional Randalls store closures, my prediction for the next to go would be the College Park store in the Woodlands, as it is just down the street from a successful HEB, has not been renovated since opening (did not receive a Lifestyle remodel), and is relatively isolated with limited residential development nearby to support it.
Safeway is just as a forgotten name (they became AppleTree in 1989) and they carry more baggage than the Tom Thumb name did. Tom Thumb in Austin wasn't exactly a successful brand either...the initial Randalls stock in Austin was probably half AppleTree and half Tom Thumb, and Tom Thumb already had sold about half of their stores to Albertsons. But technically, Albertsons didn't really "fail" in Austin, they just chose to sell their stores to H-E-B in 2007, having closed the unprofitable stores in 2006. I'm curious as to how El Rancho works in Houston. I don't live very far away from this particular store (in fact, it was the closest Randalls to me where I live now), and I really do wonder if they'll source some of their "staple" goods out of Albertsons' Dallas-Fort Worth facilities. The independents (including Fiesta and the other Hispanic retailers) in Houston use C&S-owned GSC for their generics. It's still very disappointing that Randalls in Houston continues to shrink (the reopening of Kingwood and the renovation of Midtown hasn't been enough), and I was hoping that El Rancho would put some of their products inside Randalls stores, not the other way around.
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by storewanderer »

Looks like Randalls is shrinking into being gone to me. I think they have already passed the point of too few stores in the Houston market to even be a major player. This also makes advertising, upper management, etc. difficult as you have fewer stores to spread those fixed costs over.

If HEB ever actually expands into Dallas, or El Paso, there will be some pretty serious additional problems for Albertsons for sure. Though I would argue Albertsons has more "ammo" in Dallas but I am not sure any of that "ammo" is any good against HEB: they have the Safeway format, they have the Albertsons format, they have the Market Street format...
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by storewanderer »

Vons Canoga Park closing.
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: March 24th, 2018, 11:45 pm Vons Canoga Park closing.
An article in the Los Angeles Daily News stated a Vallarta might open in the space. A shopper who has a Hispanic-sounding surname commented “I was shocked,...My neighbour [sic] told me that Vallarta might move in here, but you want to have other good stuff. You want to to have many options.”
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: March 23rd, 2018, 9:20 pm I'm curious as to how El Rancho works in Houston. I don't live very far away from this particular store (in fact, it was the closest Randalls to me where I live now), and I really do wonder if they'll source some of their "staple" goods out of Albertsons' Dallas-Fort Worth facilities. The independents (including Fiesta and the other Hispanic retailers) in Houston use C&S-owned GSC for their generics. It's still very disappointing that Randalls in Houston continues to shrink (the reopening of Kingwood and the renovation of Midtown hasn't been enough), and I was hoping that El Rancho would put some of their products inside Randalls stores, not the other way around.
The problem with introducing El Rancho's products to Randalls is that the two concepts do not fit together whatsoever. For most of the chains history (and particularly so after the Safeway acquisition), Randalls has largely been run as an upscale chain with higher pricing but a higher level of service and selection to go along (in theory, though we and most customers all know what has really happened under Safeway/Albertsons). On the other hand, El Rancho's stores tend to be somewhat downscale and tend to cater almost exclusively to the Hispanic market, unlike some Fiesta locations which attract a broader shopper base. If El Rancho's products were widely introduced at Randalls, inevitably certain mainstream products would have to be discontinued to make room for the expanded Hispanic line, driving away Randalls' traditional customer base. At that point, the only route which would really work for them to even potentially attract customers would be to take a Food Town approach and stock a good Hispanic selection while also providing an extremely basic selection of mainstream items. And even at that, Food Town isn't exactly a market leader in Houston.

Also, if Randalls focused on catering to the Hispanic population in Houston, it would leave a question of what to do with the Austin-area stores from a merchandising standpoint. Austin's Hispanic population is comparatively much lower and dropping, and all of the Randalls Austin stores are in areas which have little to no Hispanic presence. The saving grace for the Austin Randalls stores is that they serve as a mainstream alternative to the often bustling HEB locations throughout the city, making them a convenient place to run in for just an item or two, or for shoppers who are somehow turned off to the HEB experience. If Albertsons was to change the formatting of these stores, they would start dropping like flies.
storewanderer wrote: March 24th, 2018, 10:53 pm Looks like Randalls is shrinking into being gone to me. I think they have already passed the point of too few stores in the Houston market to even be a major player. This also makes advertising, upper management, etc. difficult as you have fewer stores to spread those fixed costs over.

If HEB ever actually expands into Dallas, or El Paso, there will be some pretty serious additional problems for Albertsons for sure. Though I would argue Albertsons has more "ammo" in Dallas but I am not sure any of that "ammo" is any good against HEB: they have the Safeway format, they have the Albertsons format, they have the Market Street format...
I am really curious to see how much longer Albertsons decides to stick it out in the Houston market. Like you are saying, the economies of scale for marketing, promotions, etc. simply do not work out compared to HEB, Kroger and Walmart, and the brand has only really a significant player in certain areas where HEB and Kroger have been unable to build out a large/modern store base. In most cases, HEB has been actively infilling these areas with new and modern stores, so the clock is ticking. In recent years, HEB has built stores which directly compete with the Westheimer/Shepherd, San Felipe/Sage, Holcombe/Buffalo Speedway, The Woodlands (College Park), Kingwood, Clear Lake and League City Randalls locations. Bellaire and Meyerland are also under construction or in the works. This leaves few Randalls stores with only an outdated Kroger or HEB nearby, which have traditionally been the locations which have allowed Randalls to survive. The Midtown, Town and Country, Clay/Barker Cypress and The Woodlands (Grogan's Mill) stores are the only locations remaining without direct, nearby competition.

As far as Dallas goes, if HEB decides to expand into the market, it will take them several years to build up their store base, which could give Albertsons at least a decent opportunity to respond. However, if Albertsons was to sit idly and HEB was to replicate their current Houston strategy, Albertsons would have a major problem on their hands. One thing is for sure, a new coat of paint and new floors will not win the battle if pricing, promotions, operations and product mix are not improved. So far, this seems to be Albertsons exclusive strategy in DFW, a strategy which to make matters worse is rolling out quite slowly (only four Tom Thumb stores have received said refresh so far, along with three Albertsons stores and two Albertsons to Tom Thumb conversions). Clearly, Market Street is the format which is performing the best in DFW on a per-store basis and would be the best competitor to HEB. However, Albertsons could also play their cards with Tom Thumb, or a combination of the two. The Albertsons banner at this point is simply a distraction, and is holding back the company is presenting a unified image within the market.

Even if HEB does not make a DFW entry, Albertsons still has bleak days ahead in DFW due to the proliferation of Walmart, Aldi and Winco on the value-end, Kroger as a mainstream competitor, and Central Market, Whole Foods and Sprouts in the high-end/specialty space. There is little direction which Albertsons/Tom Thumb can go beyond simply improving their operations and hopefully market share with their core customers, which leaves them little potential for growth.
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by pseudo3d »

architect wrote: March 25th, 2018, 11:30 am
pseudo3d wrote: March 23rd, 2018, 9:20 pm I'm curious as to how El Rancho works in Houston. I don't live very far away from this particular store (in fact, it was the closest Randalls to me where I live now), and I really do wonder if they'll source some of their "staple" goods out of Albertsons' Dallas-Fort Worth facilities. The independents (including Fiesta and the other Hispanic retailers) in Houston use C&S-owned GSC for their generics. It's still very disappointing that Randalls in Houston continues to shrink (the reopening of Kingwood and the renovation of Midtown hasn't been enough), and I was hoping that El Rancho would put some of their products inside Randalls stores, not the other way around.
The problem with introducing El Rancho's products to Randalls is that the two concepts do not fit together whatsoever. For most of the chains history (and particularly so after the Safeway acquisition), Randalls has largely been run as an upscale chain with higher pricing but a higher level of service and selection to go along (in theory, though we and most customers all know what has really happened under Safeway/Albertsons). On the other hand, El Rancho's stores tend to be somewhat downscale and tend to cater almost exclusively to the Hispanic market, unlike some Fiesta locations which attract a broader shopper base. If El Rancho's products were widely introduced at Randalls, inevitably certain mainstream products would have to be discontinued to make room for the expanded Hispanic line, driving away Randalls' traditional customer base. At that point, the only route which would really work for them to even potentially attract customers would be to take a Food Town approach and stock a good Hispanic selection while also providing an extremely basic selection of mainstream items. And even at that, Food Town isn't exactly a market leader in Houston.

Also, if Randalls focused on catering to the Hispanic population in Houston, it would leave a question of what to do with the Austin-area stores from a merchandising standpoint. Austin's Hispanic population is comparatively much lower and dropping, and all of the Randalls Austin stores are in areas which have little to no Hispanic presence. The saving grace for the Austin Randalls stores is that they serve as a mainstream alternative to the often bustling HEB locations throughout the city, making them a convenient place to run in for just an item or two, or for shoppers who are somehow turned off to the HEB experience. If Albertsons was to change the formatting of these stores, they would start dropping like flies.
storewanderer wrote: March 24th, 2018, 10:53 pm Looks like Randalls is shrinking into being gone to me. I think they have already passed the point of too few stores in the Houston market to even be a major player. This also makes advertising, upper management, etc. difficult as you have fewer stores to spread those fixed costs over.

If HEB ever actually expands into Dallas, or El Paso, there will be some pretty serious additional problems for Albertsons for sure. Though I would argue Albertsons has more "ammo" in Dallas but I am not sure any of that "ammo" is any good against HEB: they have the Safeway format, they have the Albertsons format, they have the Market Street format...
I am really curious to see how much longer Albertsons decides to stick it out in the Houston market. Like you are saying, the economies of scale for marketing, promotions, etc. simply do not work out compared to HEB, Kroger and Walmart, and the brand has only really a significant player in certain areas where HEB and Kroger have been unable to build out a large/modern store base. In most cases, HEB has been actively infilling these areas with new and modern stores, so the clock is ticking. In recent years, HEB has built stores which directly compete with the Westheimer/Shepherd, San Felipe/Sage, Holcombe/Buffalo Speedway, The Woodlands (College Park), Kingwood, Clear Lake and League City Randalls locations. Bellaire and Meyerland are also under construction or in the works. This leaves few Randalls stores with only an outdated Kroger or HEB nearby, which have traditionally been the locations which have allowed Randalls to survive. The Midtown, Town and Country, Clay/Barker Cypress and The Woodlands (Grogan's Mill) stores are the only locations remaining without direct, nearby competition.

As far as Dallas goes, if HEB decides to expand into the market, it will take them several years to build up their store base, which could give Albertsons at least a decent opportunity to respond. However, if Albertsons was to sit idly and HEB was to replicate their current Houston strategy, Albertsons would have a major problem on their hands. One thing is for sure, a new coat of paint and new floors will not win the battle if pricing, promotions, operations and product mix are not improved. So far, this seems to be Albertsons exclusive strategy in DFW, a strategy which to make matters worse is rolling out quite slowly (only four Tom Thumb stores have received said refresh so far, along with three Albertsons stores and two Albertsons to Tom Thumb conversions). Clearly, Market Street is the format which is performing the best in DFW on a per-store basis and would be the best competitor to HEB. However, Albertsons could also play their cards with Tom Thumb, or a combination of the two. The Albertsons banner at this point is simply a distraction, and is holding back the company is presenting a unified image within the market.

Even if HEB does not make a DFW entry, Albertsons still has bleak days ahead in DFW due to the proliferation of Walmart, Aldi and Winco on the value-end, Kroger as a mainstream competitor, and Central Market, Whole Foods and Sprouts in the high-end/specialty space. There is little direction which Albertsons/Tom Thumb can go beyond simply improving their operations and hopefully market share with their core customers, which leaves them little potential for growth.
Randalls tried to move into less-affluent areas in the early 1990s with New Generation stores in Deer Park (now offices for Galena Park ISD), College Station (later Albertsons and kept empty as a dark store by H-E-B today), and Lufkin (closed 2005 and still vacant) and some AppleTree stores (including Killeen and San Marcos) but attempts to keep those open went away due to debt from Cullum Cos. and Safeway's mismanagement. Trying to move the 34th Street store downscale might've worked, but what it needs is investment in the suburbs and developing areas, especially as H-E-B (which already sniped stores as Randalls moved out) continues its march into the Inner Loop, redeveloping areas that Randalls could've used. It also would've helped current Randalls if Safeway had been a bit more proactive in securing defunct Albertsons locations in 2002, as Kroger's purchase left them VERY concentrated in northwest Houston. I had a lot of hope that merging Houston into South would improve operations, but they've been "asleep at the switch" since. I can't blame them in not taking the stores Winn-Dixie was selling in Louisiana so far but they stand to make an opportunity in attracting shoppers when WD's Baton Rouge stores finally bite the dust.
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Re: Albertsons/Safeway 2018: Openings and Closings

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote: March 25th, 2018, 12:12 pm Lufkin (closed 2005 and still vacant)
Lufkin isn't vacant any more. Burke's Outlet moved into half of that spot last year. However, with the now closed Kmart next door, it will be much harder to fill.
pseudo3d wrote: March 25th, 2018, 12:12 pm Trying to move the 34th Street store downscale might've worked, but what it needs is investment in the suburbs and developing areas, especially as H-E-B (which already sniped stores as Randalls moved out) continues its march into the Inner Loop, redeveloping areas that Randalls could've used. It also would've helped current Randalls if Safeway had been a bit more proactive in securing defunct Albertsons locations in 2002, as Kroger's purchase left them VERY concentrated in northwest Houston. I had a lot of hope that merging Houston into South would improve operations, but they've been "asleep at the switch" since. I can't blame them in not taking the stores Winn-Dixie was selling in Louisiana so far but they stand to make an opportunity in attracting shoppers when WD's Baton Rouge stores finally bite the dust.
Randalls is a dying brand in Houston. It doesn't have the longevity of Kroger there, nor the endlessly deep pockets of HEB. If Albertsons doesn't move quickly to improve it, they stand the chance of failure soon. They recently completed a remodel of the flagship Lafayette, LA store, and it is, at best, unimpressive to me. It essentially looks like they are trying, half heartedly, to beat Rouses right around the corner. They keep reinventing this store with the hopes of improvement, but it doesn't seem to take. The LLC remodel a few years ago was a disaster, as it pretty much made everything in the store unlocatable. Since they started getting serviced out of Houston, things have only gone downhill. I don't blame them for not taking over any WD stores here. The stores left in BR are now just a hodgepodge of old Marketplace stores that simply need help. Brookshire Grocery's purchase of all the outlying Lafayette-area stores was a great boost for them, as they now stand a chance of survival, though at least two, possibly three of those will be store replacements (Abbeville and Eunice will simply replace smaller old Delchamps stores they bought in 2001. New Iberia is close to the other Super 1 there.)

At this point, I simply don't expect great things from this new company, and thus far they aren't disappointing me.
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