[CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
storewanderer wrote:Will Winn Dixie sell them a block of stores? You know I think Albertsons original FL Stores (the ones that were closed/sold) were far better than even the best of Winn Dixie. Albertsons original stores were larger and better located.
I've been to a lot of Winn Dixie stores. Here are a couple observations:

Only about 10 WD stores have been built new in the last 15 years. 10! Considering they still tout over 500 stores, 10 is only a fraction, and not all of those are in Florida. They won't sell those.
About half are still just traditional WD stores; no pharmacy, small Deli-Bakery, and more than 20 years old, as they continued building a few of them well into the Marketplace era (1988-present). I don't think Albertsons/Safeway will want those.
Half of the Marketplace stores are so worn out that even they don't want them, and that's bad too. That means massive capital would have to be spent just to get them up to speed. While Albertsons did spend a large amount of money on the three stores to convert them to Safeway, I can't see them buying 100-150 old worn out stores and converting them en masse. Winn Dixie is somewhat like Kmart; by the time they realized they couldn't roll out the current decor to the whole chain, they were too little, too late.

The remaining stores are their profit centers. These stores carry the chain. I know that isn't saying much, but it does put them in perspective. I have 3 stores within a 20 mile drive of my house. One is on the new decor package, but not busy any longer. One is an older store that was brought up to date a few years back. It does decent business, but it isn't modernized. The third, and closest, is stuck in a 1997 time warp. It's a large store, but not busy because of competition close by, and the knowledge that prices, quality and selection are better at some convenience stores.

Having said all that, I can't begin to see Albertsons buying anything from WD, save for the whole chain.
One can make comparisons to Albertsons offloading 49 nice stores to Publix in 2008 but if you keep in mind that while Albertsons in Florida always was a bit of an odd duck. It was always discontiguous with the rest of Albertsons' territory by a number of miles (even in the best of times), while Winn-Dixie's Florida base is the core of the once-great chain. Buying the "core profit" stores would devastate the chain and prolong its death (while helping BI-LO, at least).

But since W-D is also owned by investors, I can see a scenario where they decide that the chain isn't worth their time and effort anymore and decide to auction the whole thing (at least W-D) off to high bidders. There I can see that the nicer "profit center" stores in Florida are eaten largely by Albertsons/Safeway, while the nice store at Jacksonville is converted to a Kroger/Harris Teeter.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

I think whoever it is who will end up owning Food Lion could do okay adding some of the not so great Winn Dixies. Both Food Lion and Winn Dixie have long been troubled but I think Food Lion is actually a better operator at this point. Certainly more competitive on pricing and appears to have a better private label mix.

Food Lion is a place I would not use for any major shopping but I would go there to pick up a few items without hesitation since the prices are at least fair and stores are small, not busy, and seem easy to navigate.

Stores like Winn Dixie, Save Mart, I would not even bother for a few items; prices are too high, stores don't seem organized well, perimeters seem questionable (especially Save Mart after the center store resets they've done the past couple months, they took stores that had a very logical layout unchanged from 1992-1995 when they opened as Albertsons and turned them into utter cluster*****).
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-ne ... ts-florida

Gas rewards program and all those Safeway signs at Chevron Stations will actually be very, very good marketing for them... it will help build awareness Safeway is there...

I think at this point they should just roll out the club card since they have all but rolled it out already.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by architect »

storewanderer wrote:http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-ne ... ts-florida

Gas rewards program and all those Safeway signs at Chevron Stations will actually be very, very good marketing for them... it will help build awareness Safeway is there...

I think at this point they should just roll out the club card since they have all but rolled it out already.
I am curious if all of the former Safeway-owned stores will gradually discontinue their loyalty cards and just use phone numbers for identification? At this point, the physical cards just seem like an extra expense which constitutes one more system which needs to be maintained.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

architect wrote:
storewanderer wrote:http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-ne ... ts-florida

Gas rewards program and all those Safeway signs at Chevron Stations will actually be very, very good marketing for them... it will help build awareness Safeway is there...

I think at this point they should just roll out the club card since they have all but rolled it out already.
I am curious if all of the former Safeway-owned stores will gradually discontinue their loyalty cards and just use phone numbers for identification? At this point, the physical cards just seem like an extra expense which constitutes one more system which needs to be maintained.
Probably. mymixx uses phone numbers only, and while it is rewards-based, you don't need it for most purchases.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

There's an article on this in Supermarket News (behind a paywall unfortunately).
“We’re just taking a look,” one chain executive told an industry source about Florida, though the executive didn’t elaborate.
Doesn't sound TOO promising...again, as much as I like the idea of Albertsons holding out in Florida (and by most accounts, they are good stores), I think capex would've been better elsewhere.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by Knight »

pseudo3d wrote:There's an article on this in Supermarket News (behind a paywall unfortunately).
“We’re just taking a look,” one chain executive told an industry source about Florida, though the executive didn’t elaborate.
Doesn't sound TOO promising...again, as much as I like the idea of Albertsons holding out in Florida (and by most accounts, they are good stores), I think capex would've been better elsewhere.
Three stores in Florida does not bode well for either Albertson's the chain or Safeway the banner. If Albertson's wants to increase its presence in Florida, it needs to open more Safeway stores or it needs to acquire an existing supermarket participant.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

Looks like the ugly gray floor did not work out in Altamonte Springs, already being torn out:
http://albertsonsfloridablog.blogspot.c ... rings.html

Hopefully whatever replaces it will be better.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by klkla »

What kind of floors did they use in the Texas version of this format?
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

Went to the Oakland Park store tonight. Three lanes open, moderate traffic. Publix across the road had six lanes open. Store was a mess, dirty, no traffic in bakery or deli. Deli was filthy and unappetizing; bakery was clean but items really poorly prepared. Meat and produce both looked okay. Pallets back by dairy of refrigerated goods falling over on the floor and not being stocked. Just a terrible looking store. Prices were okay on some items, above Publix on others, but had some really good specials.

Execution was the worst I've seen I'm any Safeway or Albertsons operation perhaps ever. The cashier was slow, indifferent, and had a handwritten name tag on. There were no baggers. Checkout was very slow.

Looks like this Eastern Division has lower store standards than NorCal. I'm actually in shock. Publix has nothing to be worried about. Frankly, neither does Winn Dixie.
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