Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by architect »

Super S wrote:That lighting still looks cheap though. Basically the same strip lights but with reflectors. It would not have taken much more effort to install nicer looking fixtures. It does accomplish making things brighter, but now you can't tell if they want to look upscale, look cheap, or simply do not care what the stores look like. They are in an obvious identity crisis now. More so with Safeway.

I do remember when Safeway used to have those "tents" over the produce departments but eventually removed them and installed new lighting for many of the same reasons. Somehow They were able to match fixtures then. Why can't they now?
The Safeway center-store fixtures are most definitely still available, as they are being used for the lighting revamps in the LA-area stores. They are actually this model: http://www.wlmd.com/pdf/172.PDF. If I can find this info in 5 minutes, it seems that Albertsons could too...

Also, it appears that Safeway may have actually begun adding additional lighting within the Lifestyle stores prior to the Albertsons merger, and then Albertsons just drastically cheapened these revamps. I actually visited a Randalls in Austin a few months back which had received the Safeway-style fluorescent fixtures around its perimeter since my last visit in early 2014. These fixtures were clearly added by Safeway, as they do not match any of the cheap fixtures installed by Albertsons at other area stores (or in the wine area of this store in question, shown in the background of the front-end photo below) and appear in online photos from just prior to the merger.

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I also saw Foursquare photos of a Safeway in the Bay Area which received the Safeway-style fluorescent fixtures around its perimeter in 2014 (the store had previously been very dark due to low ceilings).
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by omnisuperstore »

Hey fellow Grocery critiquers,

I am a lighting designer, specializing in grocery store and retail lighting. I cannot believe my eyes when I see what Albertsons has done to the Safeway stores in term of lighting. These raw tacky strip lights are a throwback to the 1970s and do not at all look appealing. Additionally they make the current Lifestyle decor look awful as those colors were never meant to be illuminated by 4000k strip lighting. Luckily here in Chicagoland there is a breath of fresh air. When Bob Mariano took over 11 of the former Dominick's, Roundy's quietly remodeled these stores to maintain the elegant lighting with the addition of some 2x4 troffers that fit right in with the former Safeway lighting. Take a look at some of the follow pics.

All I have to say to Albertsons with the remodeled strip light Safeway stores, WTF. If these were in my market, I'd never shop there, these phase out of the recessed cans and phase in of tacky strip lights is about the WORST case of grocery lighting design I've ever seen.

JP
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by SamSpade »

Welcome omnisuperstore! I hope you come back and add more to decor discussions when they arise.

I have to add that the hot bar and olive bar pricing at Mariano's is quite a bit less than stores out here, unless those photos are older. Interesting! (I would assume Chicago, while in the midwest, is still a "city" and somewhat expensive)
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by omnisuperstore »

Thank you Sam,

I appreciate the welcome! It’s great to have found a sounding board for design do and don’t tips.

Those prices are fairly current. Marianos aka Bob Mariano made a big push into Chicago with beautiful stores and low prices. Prices on items such as the hot bar and olive bar have crept up slowly but still very reasonable.

Before Mariano came back to Chicago, eating or drinking in a grocery store was unheard of except for maybe a flagship Whole Foods.

Next I’ll post some photos of the Albertsons Jewel Osco stores that took over old Dominick’s. It’s a huge design difference than what Mariano did with his Safeway stores he bought.
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by rwsandiego »

omnisuperstore wrote: August 6th, 2018, 10:37 am Thank you Sam,

I appreciate the welcome! It’s great to have found a sounding board for design do and don’t tips.

Those prices are fairly current. Marianos aka Bob Mariano made a big push into Chicago with beautiful stores and low prices. Prices on items such as the hot bar and olive bar have crept up slowly but still very reasonable.

Before Mariano came back to Chicago, eating or drinking in a grocery store was unheard of except for maybe a flagship Whole Foods.

Next I’ll post some photos of the Albertsons Jewel Osco stores that took over old Dominick’s. It’s a huge design difference than what Mariano did with his Safeway stores he bought.
Based on the photos and my own experience when shopping at converted Mariano's stores, the biggest difference is Jewel redecorated the stores into the then-current decor package and Mariano's left the acquired stores as they were, save for removing the department names from the Lifestyle signage. Aside from the logo outside, the stores do not look like Mariano's stores. What I find to be very interesting is Kroger has not remodeled them, either. It is also important to note that Dominick's was closed prior to the Safeway-Albertsons merger, so any brighter lighting was either added by Safeway (when they were still Dominick's) or by Roundy's (after they were converted to Mariano's).

For comparison purposes, here are the photos from the Harwood Heights Mariano's, which opened as a Mariano's.

It looks as though the South Cumberland Mariano's in Park Ridge has received new decor since I was last there in mid-2016. Looks to me like the paint color was swapped, which is essentially what Jewel-Osco did albeit using different colors.

Admittedly, I am not a fan of the current Jewel decor package, but it is an improvement from the tired Lifestyle package. The package they borrowed from Pavilions for Division and Clark is my favorite, followed by the ones at Kinzie/Desplaines and Southport. Of the packages that were widely deployed, the one used from 2007-ish to the advent of Premium Fresh and Healthy is my favorite followed by their riff on PFH. Their version of the LLC interior (such as Harlem and Foster) makes me sick to my stomach.

The quality of Mariano's prepared foods is a completely different story. Suffice to say I am not a fan. Whole Foods quality it isn't. Their bakery, on the other hand, is pretty spectacular.
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by omnisuperstore »

I am not the biggest fan of how Marianos left the Safeway decor, but my point was to show how well the Roundys team chose to update the lighting compared to what Safeway is currently Doing with the miserable exposed tube lighting in the Safeway stores. There is no rhyme or reason to rhose ugly strip lights while Marianos took a more cautious and attractive approach.

Jewels newer decor at the Kinzie store and Clark and Divison is quite nice.
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by rwsandiego »

omnisuperstore wrote: August 6th, 2018, 8:35 pm I am not the biggest fan of how Marianos left the Safeway decor, but my point was to show how well the Roundys team chose to update the lighting compared to what Safeway is currently Doing with the miserable exposed tube lighting in the Safeway stores....
Got it. Yeah, that tube lighting is a disaster. Dominick's stores seemed to be better-maintained than their Safeway- and VONS-branded counterparts.
omnisuperstore wrote: August 6th, 2018, 8:35 pm...Jewels newer decor at the Kinzie store and Clark and Divison is quite nice.
Take a look at the one on Southport. Similar, but not exactly the same, as Kinzie/Desplaines. Oh, no crappy tube lighting at Jewel-Osco. Then again, their stores have always been plenty bright.
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: August 7th, 2018, 6:15 pm
Got it. Yeah, that tube lighting is a disaster. Dominick's stores seemed to be better-maintained than their Safeway- and VONS-branded counterparts.

I think the Dominicks Stores seemed better maintained due to being larger, higher ceilings, etc. Maybe it was also because they were brought onto the Lifestyle program a little late (since they were always on the ropes). I felt like Safeway spared no expense on the Lifestyle Store Remodels at Dominicks. I was a little surprised they closed it down to be honest. Dominicks certainly wasn't lacking in store condition/appearance.
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by omnisuperstore »

Hey guys, I need to check out that Jewel on Southport. It’s interesting to see how Jewel has experimented with lighting in the produce area over the years, in my youth in the early 80s the produce area at our Munster IN store had the same bright 1970s 2x4 recesses lighting as the rest of the store.

Then a Jewel opened in Michigan City in 1988, and the produce department was lit with up lighting on the tops of the wall cases and MR16 tracks above the tables.

Then sometime in the early 1990s this was too expensive and Jewel removed Track lighting and it didn’t come back until around 1999-2001 with the first new prototype developed under Albertsons tenure.

The track lighting stayed and was even glorified to be way better under the SuperValu acquisition.

Then when Albertsons LLC took over someone high up absolutely hated anything but strip lighting and fluorescent lighting, so all track lighting has been removed from produce areas which is a huge disservice to the actual customer shopping for produce.
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Re: Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

Post by omnisuperstore »

storewanderer wrote: August 7th, 2018, 7:06 pm
rwsandiego wrote: August 7th, 2018, 6:15 pm
Got it. Yeah, that tube lighting is a disaster. Dominick's stores seemed to be better-maintained than their Safeway- and VONS-branded counterparts.

I think the Dominicks Stores seemed better maintained due to being larger, higher ceilings, etc. Maybe it was also because they were brought onto the Lifestyle program a little late (since they were always on the ropes). I felt like Safeway spared no expense on the Lifestyle Store Remodels at Dominicks. I was a little surprised they closed it down to be honest. Dominicks certainly wasn't lacking in store condition/appearance.
I was quite sad to see Dominick’s close, the Lifestyle stores were quite impressive and well done. The were generally busy and injected a short stint of new life into Dominick’s. Then came Marianos which basically took over where Dominick’s left off when Safeway bought them, and Dominick’s started to hurt again. The whole Dominick’s Fresh Store design was elevated to a new realm with the introduction of Marianos. Everything Bob wanted to do at Dominick’s was done on steroids at Marianos.
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