Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

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Super S
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Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

Post by Super S »

https://www.idahostatesman.com/latest-n ... 12054.html

The article mentions that half of the building, which started life as a Kmart, will be used as offices, a prototype store, and research activities, and the other half for seasonal material and display storage.

Albertsons already has a store in the same shopping center which, according to the article, will be remodeled soon. This store moved from the Eastgate center nearby in the early 1990s, when the shopping center was built.

I could see having something like this close to the main offices on Parkcenter. However, a strip mall is an odd place for offices. But it makes me wonder if they are buying this just in case the new store in Meridian, in the former Shopko, takes off as this is close to the same size. If they wanted to expand the Market Street concept they have an easy way to do it. Even though Broadway is being rebuilt they did decide not to use the Market Street name at that location.

It makes some sense though due to how long the building sat vacant after Kmart closed (which surprised me given that this was a 1990s era store). At least it will be used for something.
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Re: Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

Post by marshd1000 »

Talking about the about face on the Broadway store. Couldn’t they had bannered it “Market Street Idaho, by Albertsons”? That way they tip a hat to the Albertsons heritage, yet lets people know that it is not a normal Albertsons. It would make sense to have that store on a different ad than the regular Albertsons.
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Re: Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

Post by Super S »

marshd1000 wrote: June 27th, 2018, 8:43 pm Talking about the about face on the Broadway store. Couldn’t they had bannered it “Market Street Idaho, by Albertsons”? That way they tip a hat to the Albertsons heritage, yet lets people know that it is not a normal Albertsons. It would make sense to have that store on a different ad than the regular Albertsons.
For what it's worth, when the new Broadway store was originally announced, it was going to be as Albertsons, not Market Street. That name came about when the former Meridian Shopko was purchased. The Albertsons store was long-established at Broadway and it makes more sense to keep it as Albertsons, while the Meridian store is more of a new concept so it makes sense to have the different name there.

Albertsons history in Boise experimenting with different nameplates hasn't been great. There was Maxx Warehouse Food & Drug (later Max Foods) which has been vacant for years, as well as the standalone Sav-On drug stores which were a flop. It is wise for them not to get carried away with too many brands.
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Re: Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

Post by pseudo3d »

Super S wrote: June 27th, 2018, 8:28 am https://www.idahostatesman.com/latest-n ... 12054.html

The article mentions that half of the building, which started life as a Kmart, will be used as offices, a prototype store, and research activities, and the other half for seasonal material and display storage.

Albertsons already has a store in the same shopping center which, according to the article, will be remodeled soon. This store moved from the Eastgate center nearby in the early 1990s, when the shopping center was built.

I could see having something like this close to the main offices on Parkcenter. However, a strip mall is an odd place for offices. But it makes me wonder if they are buying this just in case the new store in Meridian, in the former Shopko, takes off as this is close to the same size. If they wanted to expand the Market Street concept they have an easy way to do it. Even though Broadway is being rebuilt they did decide not to use the Market Street name at that location.

It makes some sense though due to how long the building sat vacant after Kmart closed (which surprised me given that this was a 1990s era store). At least it will be used for something.
Strip center offices are not a bad idea if they're hurting for tenants, and an office can get a good deal on them. (As an aside, I've visited THREE county health departments in Texas, and they're ALL located in defunct retail buildings). It sounds like the Albertsons headquarters needs space but they can't physically expand their Parkcenter offices. The "prototype store" sounds like something for internal testing/training and not actually open to the public.
Super S wrote: June 28th, 2018, 8:51 am Albertsons history in Boise experimenting with different nameplates hasn't been great. There was Maxx Warehouse Food & Drug (later Max Foods) which has been vacant for years, as well as the standalone Sav-On drug stores which were a flop. It is wise for them not to get carried away with too many brands.
The Maxx/Max warehouse food concept was turned into Super Saver, which was a "saving throw" for many failing stores in the mid-2000s as the wheels were beginning to fall off for Albertsons, and LLC put an end to it. The stand-alone Sav-on drug store was a new concept in Boise (they were popular in California, though) and only was for one store. This one store was actually more a hybrid store that had an expanded food/deli department, which probably made it more expensive to operate.
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Re: Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

Post by Super S »

pseudo3d wrote: June 28th, 2018, 9:06 am

The Maxx/Max warehouse food concept was turned into Super Saver, which was a "saving throw" for many failing stores in the mid-2000s as the wheels were beginning to fall off for Albertsons, and LLC put an end to it. The stand-alone Sav-on drug store was a new concept in Boise (they were popular in California, though) and only was for one store. This one store was actually more a hybrid store that had an expanded food/deli department, which probably made it more expensive to operate.
The Maxx concept just didn't fly in Boise. It never became Super Saver there. It could have had to do with the fact that it replaced D'Alessandro's (which could have been considered a higher end store in the day) and was a whole different experience, not to mention that some probably viewed this as "gobbling up the competition" since there was already an Albertsons close by at State Street/Gary Lane. I know some people, including my parents, thought it looked like a desperate attempt to compete with Waremart.

The Sav-On mentioned is the one that took over part of the former Smith's on Bogus Basin Road, and I think it failed for some of the same reasons. There was one other Sav-On which was technically in Meridian, but I grouped that in with Boise. I want to say it was a new build but am not sure.

The more I think about it, the location, since it is an old store, does make some sense for experimenting with prototype store layouts, interiors, etc. as the dimensions are realistic even when working with a smaller scale, and with facilities present such as a loading dock and warehouse area would be good for training in those regards.
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Re: Albertsons purchases former Gordmans/Kmart in Boise

Post by bm11k »

The Broadway Store open up on Saturday. They are
advertising as a store for foodies

(as for my name this is bm10k but couldn't remember my email that i signed with, so i created a new account)
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