Albertsons/Safeway 2018 & 2019: Openings and Closings

[storewanderer]

Interesting they have ditched the Safeway Store Layout for the Albertsons Store Layout. Actually it isn't exactly the Albertsons Store Layout, but this is the layout Albertsons has used for 10 years and the layout used on the last Lucky-build stores (which had the Jewel interior) that opened in 2000 in NorCal as Albertsons.

[pseudo3d]

Interesting they have ditched the Safeway Store Layout for the Albertsons Store Layout. Actually it isn't exactly the Albertsons Store Layout, but this is the layout Albertsons has used for 10 years and the layout used on the last Lucky-build stores (which had the Jewel interior) that opened in 2000 in NorCal as Albertsons.

Maybe. I mean, Wegmans started the trend of putting all the perishables in one side of the store, and with the notable exception of some old Greenhouse-era Kroger stores, most stores I see these days do something to that effect. But you are right in that the deli and bakery are right near produce...though I'm still not seeing how that's distinctly Albertsons' design.

[rwsandiego]

Interesting they have ditched the Safeway Store Layout for the Albertsons Store Layout. Actually it isn't exactly the Albertsons Store Layout, but this is the layout Albertsons has used for 10 years and the layout used on the last Lucky-build stores (which had the Jewel interior) that opened in 2000 in NorCal as Albertsons.

I first saw that layout in the late 1980's at Jewel-Osco. It was around the time ASC was trying to replicate the J-O combo format across the company, so I don't know whether it was a J-O design that ASC adopted or an ASC design. It is different than the pre-ASC layout, but then again the gigantic stores took off right around the time of the acquisition.

[storewanderer]

As far as that produce sign in the new Randalls goes, straight out of the late 90's ASC or the mid 00's Albertsons:

That produce sign was actually one of the things I saw that reminded me...

That 20 year old Jewel interior - to me, still looks like an interior you could open a store with today, and it would look very good and modern, not dated at all. The bastardized example of what Save Mart did to Concord looks terrible though. Most people who bought stores with the Jewel interior left them alone. Exceptions were Save Mart in 2007 and then Haggen in 2016.

I like the layout. It is just interesting they have gone with it. Safeway bought chains that had a variety of very nice layouts (Pavilions, Dominicks, Genuardis) but seemed to ultimately settle for the boring but functional and cheaper to build circa 1988 Safeway Marketplace layout during their suicidal assimilation efforts/"Lifestyle" store program.

1999-2000 build Lucky, Pleasant Hill, CA - as Albertsons

Albertsons opened in 2000 built as Lucky Concord, CA - as Save Mart Lucky

Jeremy Ranch, UT - Albertsons built in 2004- photo as AFS Fresh Market

Oklahoma City (Del City), OK - Albertsons built in ? -photo as Homeland

[architect]

As far as that produce sign in the new Randalls goes, straight out of the late 90's ASC or the mid 00's Albertsons:

That produce sign was actually one of the things I saw that reminded me...

That 20 year old Jewel interior - to me, still looks like an interior you could open a store with today, and it would look very good and modern, not dated at all. The bastardized example of what Save Mart did to Concord looks terrible though. Most people who bought stores with the Jewel interior left them alone. Exceptions were Save Mart in 2007 and then Haggen in 2016.

I like the layout. It is just interesting they have gone with it. Safeway bought chains that had a variety of very nice layouts (Pavilions, Dominicks, Genuardis) but seemed to ultimately settle for the boring but functional and cheaper to build circa 1988 Safeway Marketplace layout during their suicidal assimilation efforts/"Lifestyle" store program. IMG_3580.JPG

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The Georgetown-type produce sign was also used at the Turtle Creek Tom Thumb in Dallas, where some produce cases back up to the first aisle of center-store shelving. It is much more noticeable in the Georgetown store though due to the fact that the store is much brighter.

As far as the Jewel signage goes, it is actually still quite common around DFW to this day, with at least four stores that I know of using it (Tollway/Frankfort in Dallas, Belt Line/Cartwright in Mesquite, Belt Line/Cockrell Hill in Desoto, and Beach/Golden Triangle in Keller). In addition, Minyard Sun Fresh and Fiesta kept it at their Forest/Marsh store up until the store's demise. Even though it was not widely seen under the Albertsons banner as a whole, it's development seemed to be timed with a remodel spree around DFW back in the early-mid 2000's.

[pseudo3d]

As far as that produce sign in the new Randalls goes, straight out of the late 90's ASC or the mid 00's Albertsons:

That produce sign was actually one of the things I saw that reminded me...

That 20 year old Jewel interior - to me, still looks like an interior you could open a store with today, and it would look very good and modern, not dated at all. The bastardized example of what Save Mart did to Concord looks terrible though. Most people who bought stores with the Jewel interior left them alone. Exceptions were Save Mart in 2007 and then Haggen in 2016.

I like the layout. It is just interesting they have gone with it. Safeway bought chains that had a variety of very nice layouts (Pavilions, Dominicks, Genuardis) but seemed to ultimately settle for the boring but functional and cheaper to build circa 1988 Safeway Marketplace layout during their suicidal assimilation efforts/"Lifestyle" store program.

The produce sign did remind me too of the the Devon ACME store.

Funny you bring up layouts, as when Albertsons was in the Austin area (including a store close to Georgetown's center) they were largely all modern stores when they sold out under LLC (even though they entered via purchase of a number of Tom Thumb stores in the late 1980s). In comparison, Randalls never brought over their New Generation stores and layouts (of 70k-80k square feet) as it had it in Houston and Dallas (partly because of cash flow issues), and while the locations and demographics in Austin were generally better as they had in Houston, they had entered the market by rebranding the remaining Tom Thumb stores (which as the name would imply tended to be pretty small, a few stores are 20k-25k square feet, and that was AFTER they were later expanded), and AppleTree stores (which were all rebranded Safeways and hadn't been touched since the late 1980s).

While the new Georgetown store is very much like Albertsons' design I suppose (the original Georgetown store was about the same size) it's a shame that they can't come close to the square footage of H-E-B which often pushes the limit to 90k-100k square feet (or to the price, apparently).

[architect]

Funny you bring up layouts, as when Albertsons was in the Austin area (including a store close to Georgetown's center) they were largely all modern stores when they sold out under LLC (even though they entered via purchase of a number of Tom Thumb stores in the late 1980s). In comparison, Randalls never brought over their New Generation stores and layouts (of 70k-80k square feet) as it had it in Houston and Dallas (partly because of cash flow issues), and while the locations and demographics in Austin were generally better as they had in Houston, they had entered the market by rebranding the remaining Tom Thumb stores (which as the name would imply tended to be pretty small, a few stores are 20k-25k square feet, and that was AFTER they were later expanded), and AppleTree stores (which were all rebranded Safeways and hadn't been touched since the late 1980s).

Actually, there were four New Generation stores built around the Austin area, though they were certain less numerous than Houston and Dallas. All feel somewhat unconventional, and one of which has since closed.

- The first of these to be built was at William Cannon/MoPac, and is almost a carbon copy of the Lovers/Greenville Tom Thumb in Dallas. This store is extremely large, and was built early in the New Generation era (likely around 1995 or so). Like Lovers/Greenville, it features a warehouse ceiling throughout.
- The second store out of the four is located near the Arboretum at Braker/183, and has a typical later New Generation layout minus the drop ceiling common over the center-store portion of the store in other locations.
- The next store was at Parmer/Metric, and opened as a typical New Generation store, but was closed during the 2005 Texas closings. Today, an Asian market and a Goodwill operate in the space, and both have remnants of the space's previous life as a Randalls (particularly the department signage and "roof awnings" over departments in the Asian market half, this store warrants a post just on its own).
- The last store is in Lakeway, and features a typical New Generation layout minus the typical center-store drop ceiling. Notably, this store also features a funky roof design with gives the warehouse ceilings inside the store a "zig-zag" shape of sorts.

[pseudo3d]

Funny you bring up layouts, as when Albertsons was in the Austin area (including a store close to Georgetown's center) they were largely all modern stores when they sold out under LLC (even though they entered via purchase of a number of Tom Thumb stores in the late 1980s). In comparison, Randalls never brought over their New Generation stores and layouts (of 70k-80k square feet) as it had it in Houston and Dallas (partly because of cash flow issues), and while the locations and demographics in Austin were generally better as they had in Houston, they had entered the market by rebranding the remaining Tom Thumb stores (which as the name would imply tended to be pretty small, a few stores are 20k-25k square feet, and that was AFTER they were later expanded), and AppleTree stores (which were all rebranded Safeways and hadn't been touched since the late 1980s).

Actually, there were four New Generation stores built around the Austin area, though they were certain less numerous than Houston and Dallas. All feel somewhat unconventional, and one of which has since closed.

- The first of these to be built was at William Cannon/MoPac, and is almost a carbon copy of the Lovers/Greenville Tom Thumb in Dallas. This store is extremely large, and was built early in the New Generation era (likely around 1995 or so). Like Lovers/Greenville, it features a warehouse ceiling throughout.
- The second store out of the four is located near the Arboretum at Braker/183, and has a typical later New Generation layout minus the drop ceiling common over the center-store portion of the store in other locations.
- The next store was at Parmer/Metric, and opened as a typical New Generation store, but was closed during the 2005 Texas closings. Today, an Asian market and a Goodwill operate in the space, and both have remnants of the space's previous life as a Randalls (particularly the department signage and "roof awnings" over departments in the Asian market half, this store warrants a post just on its own).
- The last store is in Lakeway, and features a typical New Generation layout minus the typical center-store drop ceiling. Notably, this store also features a funky roof design with gives the warehouse ceilings inside the store a "zig-zag" shape of sorts.

William Cannon/MoPac appears to have opened in 1995 (construction in January 1995) is about 67k square feet. That's a bit larger than average but still leaning a bit on the smaller side of New Generation.
The Braker/183 store is even smaller (50k). Either way, not many of them opened or are still open. There was even another store that exceeded 60k square feet at Round Rock and I-35, a former Albertsons. (This appears, at least, to be the store they sold to Albertsons in 1997, which they closed nine years later). It wasn't around in the mid-1980s (but was in the mid-1990s)...I'm thinking it may have been a Tom Thumb New Generation that opened after they bought Cullum Cos. but before they converted it to Randalls.

While I'm still on the fence as to why Randalls succeeded in Austin but not Houston (between "less competition" and "stores in better locations that Safeway didn't have to worry about"), I can understand why Albertsons may not want to build "Albertsons-style stores", like Georgetown is, in Houston again...

[architect]

There was even another store that exceeded 60k square feet at Round Rock and I-35, a former Albertsons. (This appears, at least, to be the store they sold to Albertsons in 1997, which they closed nine years later). It wasn't around in the mid-1980s (but was in the mid-1990s)...I'm thinking it may have been a Tom Thumb New Generation that opened after they bought Cullum Cos. but before they converted it to Randalls.

Actually, this store was a Tom Thumb which was built based on a pre-Randalls layout (the arches on the front are a dead giveaway). Tom Thumb's standard store layout in the late 80's-early 90's featured a symmetrical store design with two entrances. Typically, one side of the store (most often the left for some reason) would have the bakery/deli/produce departments, with meat/seafood along the back and the opposite side featuring a couple of beer/wine aisles (often with a lowered ceiling) and the pharmacy.

[rwsandiego]

We can add Tatum and Shea in Phoenix to the list of closures. Was there today and everything is 25% off with a projected closing date between 2/10 and 2/24. Center store and wine/liquor were pretty well-stocked. Bakery had some pre-packaged brownies and cookies as well as fresh donuts. Produce and meat/fish were empty as was most of dairy.

Sad to see such a nice store bite the dust.