Total count of closing Albertsons / Safeway stores

[pseudo3d]

Missed the Pueblo store, I thought Denver had suffered another closure in 2016. It looks like they're more or less working through by division, first Southern (no problem there, seems like Safeway, Albertsons, and the divestments pretty much did the trick), ACME (sloughing off some weight from A&P, but otherwise good shape), Denver (still a problem, despite closing 9 last year), Southwest (dubious "operational efficiency" reasons), and Eastern.

Still to go:
Northern California - Despite major problems with price, they would only close a store here if they had major problems.
Southern California - I'd be surprised if they didn't close any at all, considering how volatile the market is.
Houston - There might be one Randalls that closes still, considering how it narrowly avoided being destroyed already.
Shaw's - Depending on if Albertsons wants to fold with the Vermont GMO labeling law, it's *possible* that they could pull out of Vermont, but I just don't know. They could close a few stores anyway.
Jewel-Osco - Probably will escape closures since it hasn't seen dramatic growth.
Seattle - That one in the Bellingham area may have been it.
Intermountain - The one in Idaho may have been it.
United - Almost certainly none.

All in all, I think we'll see around 7-8 more store closures this year.

As an aside, they recently released new numbers indicating more sales growths, but the article cut off (needs registration) before if they say they lost anything.

[arizonaguy]

I'm pretty sure that the "operational efficiencies" closures were older, marginal stores that were in need of capitol investment (serious renovations / expansions) that they didn't feel were justified due to the fact that they had other more profitable stores nearby.

The Grant / Craycroft store didn't even have a Pharmacy.

[veteran+]

To me Winco is more like Food4Less, Costco, Sam's Club.

The Wincos I have seen in California look like upscale Food4Less stores.

It's that warehouse feel. Supermarkets to me don't feel like warehouses.

Thanks for all the data and definitions (which I am aware of), I'm just describing the feel of the shopping experience to me.

I guess I should have predicated with "in my opinion".

LOL

[Super S]

To me Winco is more like Food4Less, Costco, Sam's Club.

The Wincos I have seen in California look like upscale Food4Less stores.

It's that warehouse feel. Supermarkets to me don't feel like warehouses.

Thanks for all the data and definitions (which I am aware of), I'm just describing the feel of the shopping experience to me.

I guess I should have predicated with "in my opinion".

LOL

The lines have become more blurred anyway. A lot of supermarkets have adapted somewhat of a "warehouse look" starting with the exposed ceilings and mercury vapor lighting, and more recently a number of stores in general have moved away from tiled floors and now use polished concrete. I sometimes think they are trying to desperately convey an image of low prices though when it's a store like Safeway or Albertsons.

[CalItalian]

To me Winco is more like Food4Less, Costco, Sam's Club.

The Wincos I have seen in California look like upscale Food4Less stores.

It's that warehouse feel. Supermarkets to me don't feel like warehouses.

Thanks for all the data and definitions (which I am aware of), I'm just describing the feel of the shopping experience to me.

I guess I should have predicated with "in my opinion".

LOL

The lines have become more blurred anyway. A lot of supermarkets have adapted somewhat of a "warehouse look" starting with the exposed ceilings and mercury vapor lighting, and more recently a number of stores in general have moved away from tiled floors and now use polished concrete. I sometimes think they are trying to desperately convey an image of low prices though when it's a store like Safeway or Albertsons.

Polished concrete is yesterday's news. Ralphs has already started to retile their stores that went over the last few years to polished concrete. It's an ugly look and hard on employees that work on it all day. But when I go to Las Vegas, Smith's is still one step behind in the latest Kroger look and is still remodeling stores to polished concrete.

I've never seen an Albertsons, Vons or Pavilions with polished concrete floors in Southern California or Southern Nevada.

[storewanderer]

Kroger continues to put polished concrete into new stores and some (not all) remodels in all of the divisions (except Harris Teeter) from what I am seeing. I believe the Ralphs that get remodeled into the standard Kroger decor continue to get the concrete floor. The special stores like Westwood, Woodland Hills, and the fresh fares get the nicer white floor... As far as the brown floor goes, it looks terrible, dark, depressing, and dirty. It is a big mistake and one that they really need to fix.

I have seen some Albertsons with concrete floors but not the majority. The newest Safeways have polished concrete but I suspect it is less than 10 stores in the whole chain that have concrete floors. For example, the remodel they did in South San Francisco in late 2015 has polished concrete floors. It is a former Pak N Save which did previously have a hospital white tile floor throughout.

But then in Florida they installed gray floor tiles in the remodel in Altamonte Springs (probably did that to avoid asbestos issues with that old building involved with going the concrete route).

The WinCos in Reno actually have a grayish-white painted concrete floor. It doesn't look too bad and they keep it clean. It looks far better than the dark brown Kroger or Whole Foods concrete floor. WinCo also displays its products on conventional shelving (not pallet racks). I consider WinCo to be a supermarket. it isn't a pleasant place in my opinion at all, but it is definitely a supermarket.

[pseudo3d]

Concrete floors are hit and miss, to be honest. The H-E-B stores have all put concrete floors in new-build stores since at least the early 2000s, and it makes it impossible to renovate or do repairs without leaving hideous scars (then again, for stores with tile, the replacement tile never matches the old, especially since the old has wear and tear on it). Kroger has had concrete floors for its stores since at least the mid-2000s, and has even removed tile from a few stores (last year I visited a Kroger in Houston built in the early 1970s but remodeled in 2011...and while the store had the newest décor package and some upscale flourishes, you could actually see the scars of the tile on the concrete floor).

[veteran+]

Concrete floors are hit and miss, to be honest. The H-E-B stores have all put concrete floors in new-build stores since at least the early 2000s, and it makes it impossible to renovate or do repairs without leaving hideous scars (then again, for stores with tile, the replacement tile never matches the old, especially since the old has wear and tear on it). Kroger has had concrete floors for its stores since at least the mid-2000s, and has even removed tile from a few stores (last year I visited a Kroger in Houston built in the early 1970s but remodeled in 2011...and while the store had the newest décor package and some upscale flourishes, you could actually see the scars of the tile on the concrete floor).

Well, it's going to be a personal taste thing about concrete floors. I personally like them. I like the industrial feel. It also reminds me of mid-century design. My home is all mid-century furniture and I have concrete floors with some cool shape rugs here and there. The scaring or cracking that happens when the ground/foundation shifts or after repairs can be considered concretes' version of a patina effect.



In the past, I really loved the terrazzo floors I saw in Publix and Food Fair in Florida. The only problem is that when it cracked, there was nothing you could do.

I wonder which is more cost effective? Concrete, tiles, wood, etc. etc.?

[klkla]

I wonder which is more cost effective? Concrete, tiles, wood, etc. etc.?

Concrete by far. It doesn't cost anything to install. In addition, it requires very little maintenance.

[Super S]

Kroger continues to put polished concrete into new stores and some (not all) remodels in all of the divisions (except Harris Teeter) from what I am seeing. I believe the Ralphs that get remodeled into the standard Kroger decor continue to get the concrete floor. The special stores like Westwood, Woodland Hills, and the fresh fares get the nicer white floor... As far as the brown floor goes, it looks terrible, dark, depressing, and dirty. It is a big mistake and one that they really need to fix.

I have seen some Albertsons with concrete floors but not the majority. The newest Safeways have polished concrete but I suspect it is less than 10 stores in the whole chain that have concrete floors. For example, the remodel they did in South San Francisco in late 2015 has polished concrete floors. It is a former Pak N Save which did previously have a hospital white tile floor throughout.

But then in Florida they installed gray floor tiles in the remodel in Altamonte Springs (probably did that to avoid asbestos issues with that old building involved with going the concrete route).

The WinCos in Reno actually have a grayish-white painted concrete floor. It doesn't look too bad and they keep it clean. It looks far better than the dark brown Kroger or Whole Foods concrete floor. WinCo also displays its products on conventional shelving (not pallet racks). I consider WinCo to be a supermarket. it isn't a pleasant place in my opinion at all, but it is definitely a supermarket.

I know of at least one recent Fred Meyer remodel where they did install new tile, as well as one Walmart near me which was closed for a year for an expansion/supercenter conversion. Although the whole store was completely gutted, when finished it had tile throughout the whole store, unlike the other Walmart in town which was built the year before which has polished concrete.

There are several Fred Meyers near me where they removed the tile, and did a poor job as you can not only see where the tile was, but all the places where the floors have been patched or cut into over the years. Personally, I think the polished concrete only really works with new builds.

All of the Winco stores I have been to have that painted concrete. I think it is some sort of epoxy based paint. It actually looks decent though and seems to hold up well.

There are some stores near me that do a very poor job of maintaining tile floors though. I have been to a few Walgreens, as well as one auto parts store near me, where there are cleaner wear patterns where people have been walking, the floors should be stripped and re-waxed periodically.

As for Albertsons/Safeway, The Kelso Safeway, which is a former TOP Foods, retained the mercury vapor lights when they first took over the building. It really did not work with Safeway's early 2000s interior package at all. They went to the fixtures used in most Lifestyle stores when that remodel came about. It looks a little better, but still has the open warehouse ceiling which seems out of place in a Safeway. Albertsons moved toward open ceilings more recently, first with an open ceiling around the peremeiter of the store with a drop ceiling in the middle, then with an open ceiling across the whole store. Some of the later builds, such as the now-closed Padden Parkway store in Vancouver, were hit with the cost-saving idea of removing half of the fluorescent bulbs, and that store looked more like a dark, dingy, dirty warehouse than an Albertsons. Honestly, some Albertsons have been neglected long enough that a WinCo or Walmart actually looks more upscale.