[CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by SamSpade »

I'm not sure why Pseudo's link didn't work for me, here's the article I found:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/r ... nd/2282008
Also on the Times was an older feature about Publix and their Florida dominance.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

SamSpade wrote:I'm not sure why Pseudo's link didn't work for me, here's the article I found:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/r ... nd/2282008
Also on the Times was an older feature about Publix and their Florida dominance.
For some reason, the page was originally was at /business/a-safeway-grocery....it must have been moved later. I posted the article here maybe within a hour or so of when the news broke.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

Finally, a proper Grand Opening circular.

The Big Book of Savings mentions Just 4 You, neither one mention a card.

http://plan.safeway.com/Circular/Largo- ... 90/Other/3
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by klkla »

The stores are finally listed on Yelp in place of Albertson's.

Some photos from the store Fort Lauderdale:
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway-oakland-park-2

This was the only Albertson's in Florida I was ever in and it was a dump so this seems like a improvement. The service meat and fresh juice sections look nice.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

Compared to what was happening before this is absolutely an improvement; hopefully Eastern Division will be committed to this.

I am not clear if the plan all along was to transfer these to Eastern Division or that was a more recent decision.

They probably had to run proper grand opening circulars after their numbers were lousy with the half hearted grand opening ads they ran in May.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:Compared to what was happening before this is absolutely an improvement; hopefully Eastern Division will be committed to this.

I am not clear if the plan all along was to transfer these to Eastern Division or that was a more recent decision.

They probably had to run proper grand opening circulars after their numbers were lousy with the half hearted grand opening ads they ran in May.
The original plan was to renovate them as Albertsons stores under Houston, at some point at the beginning points of the renovation, plans changed and they were to be Safeway stores. I also think that the opening really was supposed to be June, as mid-June was the original date the Safeway website had for the openings of these stores.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

The bigger key now will be to see what they will do next. Will we see a new store or two open? 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.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:The bigger key now will be to see what they will do next. Will we see a new store or two open? 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.
Definitely a disadvantage as far as nice-ness of stores go, and the 2008 sold stores (and even later ones, like Port St. Lucie) were definitely better stores. Then again, Albertsons did show some creativity in some of the way they made their stores in the first place...one of the 49 stores sold to Publix in 2008 (which Publix rebuilt) was a Kmart that had closed in the mid-1990s with Albertsons reopening it with minimal changes to the facade. So we'll see, but I honestly don't know.
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Re: [CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

Post by wnetmacman »

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.
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