[CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by architect »

klkla wrote:What kind of floors did they use in the Texas version of this format?
In the Texas stores that were new construction or Albertsons conversions, the same gray floor as Florida was used. In the former Fresh Market locations in Dallas, the upscale tile floors which were in the store previously were retained.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

How do those gray floors look in TX? Are they sticky, gunky, full of dirt, and coming up in various places like they were in the Florida Store I visited yesterday afternoon?

Felt like I needed to go wash my shoes after I walked through the filthpit store.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

Tried this store again today. Quite busy, six checkout lanes open. Floors still very dirty and the freezers seem to be leaking under about 9 tiles as you walk on what sounds like water below the tiles at the back of frozen foods near meat.

There was an employee set up near the front of the store with a icebox of frozen shrimp buy one get one free who kept screaming shrimp buy one get one free, almost into my ear as I passed by. Really tacky and annoying. You could hear this employee halfway through the store screaming nonstop. Doesn't the microphone overhead work in this store for this sort of thing?

On this visit the deli looked better and had a few customers. The areas with service pizza and service sandwiches had no customers.

The customer paying ahead of me presented to the cashier a coupon for $10 off $50. The customer had a total of over $100. The coupon would not give the discount, it kept ringing as Grocery Coupon with a charge of 1 cent. The cashier nonchantly gave it back to the customer and the customer then read aloud the coupon terms to the cashier which stated the current week and had the Oakland Park store address on it. The customer then produced a mailer postcard with 3 other $10 off $50 coupons good the next few weeks so the cashier tried to scan all those. This just resulted in more 1 cent charges listed as Grocery Coupon .01. Finally the cashier manually processed the $10 off by scrolling through the transaction and store couponing $ off various items until reaching $10 off.

If this store is issuing postcards of $10 off $50 coupons I question how well it is doing, though traffic was high on my visits and the poor conditions in the store would allude to heavy traffic.

Publix accepts competitor coupons and I can't help but wonder if the $10 off $50 is designed more to hit Publix than draw additional customers into this store.

I question the strategy being used in Florida. Safeway comes off as a downscale operator pushing cheap frozen shrimp, large hanging signs in meat advertising low price high fat ground beef and and chicken breasts, etc. They have no Florida Peaches in produce (Winn Dixie, Publix, and the Fresh Market all do) likely due to the distribution situition. They do not have much hot ready to eat empanadas or similar things yet the Winn Dixie and Publix locations all have a case of those with many flavors and items.

I think Winn Dixie has a somewhat okay group of remaining stores down here and could be a logical target, but they will need to make some changes to expand much in Miami. Miami is not the same grocery market as Orlando and it takes more than Safeway's limited effort of having a hot Cuban bread case to meet those tastes.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: I question the strategy being used in Florida. Safeway comes off as a downscale operator pushing cheap frozen shrimp, large hanging signs in meat advertising low price high fat ground beef and and chicken breasts, etc. They have no Florida Peaches in produce (Winn Dixie, Publix, and the Fresh Market all do) likely due to the distribution situition. They do not have much hot ready to eat empanadas or similar things yet the Winn Dixie and Publix locations all have a case of those with many flavors and items.

I think Winn Dixie has a somewhat okay group of remaining stores down here and could be a logical target, but they will need to make some changes to expand much in Miami. Miami is not the same grocery market as Orlando and it takes more than Safeway's limited effort of having a hot Cuban bread case to meet those tastes.
For what it's worth, the Albertsons was known for the meat and seafood department and were the one of the more popular features of the stores, even though they weren't pushing nearly the volume as Publix was.

Their strategy in Florida is still pretty sketchy though...they either need to dramatically expand their store base to justify the distribution there (like buying Winn-Dixie) or use a third party distributor to bide their time.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

Albertsons typically pushed mid level to better level meat products at attractive prices. This helped them get an image for quality meat and reasonable prices. Cuts like ground round (or at least 80/20), petite sirloin steaks, etc. Safeway hanging signs from the ceiling with <$2/lb meat items is downscale.

Today this store had probably 60 packages of meat in its "reduced for quick sale" meat area. The packages were thrown into the area and it was heaping (literally) atop the case, like a scoop of ice cream or something.

The thing is Publix does not really operate with loss leaders or really any good specials at all on meat or produce. That is not part of their formula. They have a few specials in those departments but they are not loss leaders like most grocers typically run in those departments on 1-2 items every week.

I think this is a market that is ripe for more competition. Publix has such a penetration of locations, but they do a nice job on having clean, well staffed, consistent stores. I do not think their employees are very friendly in Miami but they seem to be better disciplined (actually working...) than the employees at most other retail/fast food businesses I have visited in Miami area where standing around and talking even if customers are waiting, or working at speeds so slow it is almost like not working at all, seems to be very acceptable for some reason.

It is unfortunate Albertsons did not maintain more stores, particularly modern stores, here to try this Safeway format in. This Safeway format is somewhat different from a standard Safeway or a standard Albertsons, yet at the same time, does not seem to be tailored particularly well to the market. It appears to be tailored to Florida at large but Miami is really a different grocery market than Tampa or Orlando. If price is the main attraction to the store, that is probably not going to be enough...
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by cathandler »

Do you get the feeling that the Florida stores are being used as a test bed for mixing and matching "best practices" of the various divisions? Obviously, flooring isn't one of them...
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by architect »

storewanderer wrote:How do those gray floors look in TX? Are they sticky, gunky, full of dirt, and coming up in various places like they were in the Florida Store I visited yesterday afternoon?

Felt like I needed to go wash my shoes after I walked through the filthpit store.
In Texas, the only store I have actually visited with the gray floors is in Wylie, and it was still in good shape the last time I visited months ago. However, this store conversion occurred months after the Florida Safeways, so any damage in Wylie may just not be apparent yet.

Also, the Florida flooring issues could be caused by something as simple as an improper installation technique, particularly in ultra-humid Florida.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

If it was already gray, they should just strip out the remaining flooring, grind out the residue, and polish the concrete. :roll:
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by rwsandiego »

cathandler wrote:Do you get the feeling that the Florida stores are being used as a test bed for mixing and matching "best practices" of the various divisions? Obviously, flooring isn't one of them...
It does seem that way. It is also notable that they located one store in metro Tampa, one in metro Miami, and one in metro Orlando. They get to test what works/does not work in three distinct areas. Not sure how much meaningful data they will receive from three stores, but they must be deriving some benefit from it. I just keep hoping to walk up to my local Safeway and see it has magically transformed into a big, gleaming Jewel-Osco. It isn't going to happen, but then again one never knows with Albertsons.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

rwsandiego wrote:
cathandler wrote:Do you get the feeling that the Florida stores are being used as a test bed for mixing and matching "best practices" of the various divisions? Obviously, flooring isn't one of them...
It does seem that way. It is also notable that they located one store in metro Tampa, one in metro Miami, and one in metro Orlando. They get to test what works/does not work in three distinct areas. Not sure how much meaningful data they will receive from three stores, but they must be deriving some benefit from it. I just keep hoping to walk up to my local Safeway and see it has magically transformed into a big, gleaming Jewel-Osco. It isn't going to happen, but then again one never knows with Albertsons.
Interestingly, the Tampa (Largo) store did open as a Jewel-Osco with a selection of general merchandise, and other features including a soda fountain, a juice bar, and a selection of out of town newspapers.
"Nonfood is our real specialty," he said. "American Stores grew from the old Skaggs Drug Centers, and that's how we got our start. We've always thought we had the best nonfood presentation of any combination store in the country, and we've found nonfood is critically important in Florida."
The product array in the Jewel Oscos would rival that of a hypermarket with its inclusion of items such as kitchen gadgets, sporting goods, bicycles, lawn mowers, automotives, lawn furniture, seasonal selections and a host of others.
"We've brought in an aggressive nonfood presentation because it just wasn't being done by anyone else," said Skaggs.
It's a shame that they only have one store in a metro area and aren't experimenting more with product mix and services.
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