Albertsons, LLC Closing 4 Stores

[Alpha8472]

Albertsons is closing 4 underperforming stores next month: one in Arizona, one in Louisiana, and two in Texas.

Casa Grande, Arizona
Lafayette, Louisiana
Benbrook and Frisco, Texas

The company does not expect additional closings. After the closings, Albertsons LLC will operate 205 stores in the Southwest and the South

http://supermarketnews.com/latest-news/ ... e-closings

[wnetmacman]

I can't speak for the other four stores, but the Lafayette store closing is a relatively small store, built in 1998. It replaced a corner of an older mall where a JC Penney store once stood. It was only about 40,000 square feet, which was small for an Albertsons at that time. It still has the Pink and Gray interior, and is laid out very strangely, with the grocery section aisles running from the front to the back, then the frozen section, then the GM aisles running side to side. There was no mall entrance for the store, because at its construction there was a K&B/Rite Aid in the mall as well, and there could not be two pharmacies due to lease considerations. The K&B closed in 2002.

The store was always a bit dingy and outdated to me. We would go there because it was on the way home. Never did all our shopping there, and the rumor around town is that even though other stores were less travelled, this store lost a lot to shoplifting. I hate to see it close, but I'm not surprised, considering the position on stores in Albertsons, LLC. If it doesn't make money, sell it.

[klkla]

It still has the Pink and Gray interior, and is laid out very strangely, with the grocery section aisles running from the front to the back, then the frozen section, then the GM aisles running side to side.

For what it's worth all of the Albertson' stores here in Socal with that interior (although I think it was blue and gray here) had the GM aisles running side to side. Definitely any of the stores built with the entrance on one side only (instead of both) did.

[storewanderer]

The initial design and layout of the stores with the vertical grocery aisles and horizontal drug/pet/paper aisles was designed to help isolate food from drug and also to help cross sales. However in the older variants of this design (this has since changed) they usually had soda/chips on the horizontal drug aisles typically the back-most set of aisles closest to meat.

One of the things that is typical with that design is the ice cream freezer (vertical) faces the drug aisles (horizontal). The intention was to get impulse sales from the soda/chip and drug shoppers on the ice cream as people shopped the drug aisles, on that side and it is my understanding the company had sales studies to validate that design did indeed help sales of ice cream.

It varied by area what was on the wall opposite the freezers for cross sale creation. Some of those walls I saw with cosmetics, random promotional, some with paper products, some with pharmacy, some with liquor... lots of variations there. But the intention here was to create cross sales on that stuff with the drug/soda/chip customers too.

Another reason for the aisles being laid out this way was so the pharmacy staff was "looking" over a few of the drug aisles with baby/otc... potentially engages customer and may deter theft.

I do know a lot of people didn't particularly like this layout, and it isn't one I've seen used much by other chains. I know I saw it somewhere...

[wnetmacman]

The reason I mention the Pink/Gray interior is that we have five Albertsons in Lafayette. The other four stores have had massive renovations and investments, including one that we really thought shouldn't have. One of the remodels removed the pink/gray interior.

This store has never been remodeled in its 14 or so years of existence. A small investment, like a paint and decor job, would have really enhanced it, but Albertsons neglected it, and now it's closing. It also seemed small; this store is only about 40,000 sq. ft., which to me seems pretty small for a full-line Albertsons. The other four stores are 55,000 sq. ft. or larger. And if the pharmacy was looking over the GM side, they would have to have shown up; the pharmacy was almost never open.

There are two other large supermarkets within a mile and a half of this place that do incredibly well; a Winn Dixie Marketplace and a Super 1 Foods. There's also a Walmart Supercenter close by. There was no excuse for this store not turning a profit. Albertsons didn't try.

[wnetmacman]

Here's a picture of the store; indeed a single entry store. The carts are stored under the close up area of the overhang.

Albertsons Lafayette

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