Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

California. No non-grocery posts.
klkla
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

They included leased Medicine Shoppe pharmacies in a 1996 build in Calabasas and a 1997 build in Northridge (which closed five years ago).

There are quite a few stores that are either free standing or in shopping centers without pharmacies.

Shopping centers with no pharmacies:
Century City, La Canada-Flintridge, Marina Del Rey, Santa Barbara, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana and Westlake Village.

Free standing:
Encino, Hollywood, Pacific Beach, Pacific Palisades, North Hollywood, and West Hollywood.

So lots of opportunities to add pharmacies if they go in that direction.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by SoCalShopper1023 »

Just to make a small correction to the previous poster, the La Cañada store actually does have a Rite Aid in the same shopping center.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

Oops. Thanks for the correction.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by CalItalian »

Thousand Oaks Grand Opening is September 22nd (although there may be a soft opening prior)
https://www.toacorn.com/articles/gelson ... aks-store/
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

I was driving past the Santa Monica location on Monday (Labor Day) so I decided to stop by and see how the remodel is progressing. I think they are trying to set a record for the longest lasting remodel in supermarket history (17 months at this point since the store opened).

They have resumed the project but don't seem to be in a big hurry and seem to just be doing one or two things at a time. When I visited this store six months ago they had built the new cheese shop and added a sushi and poki (raw bar) section to the service meat and seafood department. Since then they have removed about 20 feet of five-deck refrigeration from produce and replaced it with bulk foods. They have also built a juice station in produce. That's all they have completed in the last six months.

There were two sections of the store walled-off and clearly construction is happening in those locations. One is in the middle of the store and is going to be a wine & craft beer bar. At least that was the plan when they had signs around the store promoting the remodel earlier. Those signs have since been removed. The other project is at the front of the store (in front of the checkstands). I would guess they are probably moving floral to that location.

The store wasn't particularly busy. Three cashiers open and no lines. Maybe 20 customers in the store at around 5:00 P.M.
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

The last of the Haggen properties acquired by Gelson's is now open in Thousand Oaks:

https://www.toacorn.com/articles/shoppe ... r-gelsons/

https://www.yelp.com/biz/gelsons-market ... 27s+Market
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by storewanderer »

Nice full remodel on this store. I don't see much of any traces left of Vons.

This was a pretty slow Vons by my observation when I visited it...

I enjoy the light and brighter color scheme that Gelson's is using as opposed to darker earthtones that many chains are stuck on...
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote: October 5th, 2017, 10:15 pm Nice full remodel on this store. I don't see much of any traces left of Vons.

This was a pretty slow Vons by my observation when I visited it...

I enjoy the light and brighter color scheme that Gelson's is using as opposed to darker earthtones that many chains are stuck on...
This was actually a late 80's build Albertson's before Haggen. Vons is still open next door in another shopping center.

They did a drone video and posted it on YouTube. In the middle the CEO gives a little dig at Haggen and also mentioned they kept about two dozen employees that had worked at the store when it closed two years ago. At the end there is a comparison 'then and now' showing what it looked like as a Haggen and what it looks like now:



Unrelated, but there is a new video also posted showing Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres terrorizing the Gelson's in North Hollywood (I've been told that this is currently the highest volume store in the chain although Century City is being remodeled right now and may regain it's crown):

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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by marshd1000 »

I've never been in a Gelsons but while the decor was different, to me Gelsons concept seems to be very much like the legacy Haggen stores. I often wonder if Haggen could have made it in some areas, if only they had NOT done the quick conversions and NOT tried to court the Safeway and Albertsons customers? Here in Washington, I keep thinking of the Gig Harbor Safeway/Haggen/Safeway. Demographically speaking, it is a high income area where Haggen should have done well in but didn't. People were expecting another Safeway style store. Gelsons seems to have done it right. Haggen closed down, then Gelsons took their time in remodeling the store. I am sure there was plenty of publicity. Haagen's only advertising was their circulars and the internet. No radio, tv or billboards! I know, would've, could've, should've!
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Re: Gelsons opening first of former Haggen locations January 14

Post by klkla »

Looks like Rancho Mirage is getting downsized similar to Carlsbad. They are advertising a sublease for 6,127 sq. ft.

They basically cut off the left side of the store where floral, frozen foods and the first couple aisles of grocery were.

The listing is here:
http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/Looplink/tm ... 03&LL=true

There is an attachment on that page linked to text saying 'flyer' that has the complete detailed layout of the interior.

- Larger seating area being added to the Peet's Coffee which now sits alone on the left side.
- Frozen foods is being downsized to just the left wall of the store and a small section along the back wall.
- The main grocery aisles on the left side are going to become split aisles with a break running through the middle.
- Produce is being reduced in size by about a third with a new juice & cut fruit island at the entrance of the department. It will still be in the middle of the store behind the checkstands.
- Floral is being moved to the right side where the customer service desk and one hour photo would have been when the store was originally built.
- To the right of floral they are adding additional restrooms. This is badly needed as the original store had very small restrooms and a lot of elderly customers with small bladders.
- The area in front of where Panda Express was (part of produce) is going to be a Taste Master Station. I have never seen this in Gelson's so I have no idea what that is.
- The area where Panda itself was is being expanded and will have a Sushi-Raw bar, then a Wine and Tapas bar which wraps around to the right side (where gourmet cheese was originally) and that will lead to a Pizza and Custom Salad area (which is where the bakery would have started originally). That section will have 16 bar seats plus 8 tables.
- It looks like Bakery will be downsized to just the area that faces the back wall.

The direct link to the flyer is here and the detailed plan is on page 3:
http://x.lnimg.com/attachments/09F92ECF ... 266E9B.pdf

I'm curious to see how this one turns out as it appears to have some features that are not yet present in any existing Gelson's that I know of.
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