Atlas Market in Poway

[klkla]

I accidentally stumbled on this today. It was a former Albertson's / Haggen that opened about a year ago in the San Diego suburb of Poway.

They did a very ambitious remodel for an independent. Google has a virtual tour where you can walk through the entire store:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Atlas ... 17.0607111

The design actually puts the big chains to shame but I would be curious about how well they will be able to execute all this.

[storewanderer]

I had wondered what was going to come of that particular location... it was a pretty boring Albertsons. I was kind of surprised Supervalu remodeled it because I don't think it was ever too busy.

This operator appears to mean business. They subleased the pharmacy space to an indy pharmacy even.

I wonder if this is them:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/pom ... story.html

[rwsandiego]

I'll go out on a limb and say he will succeed. San Diego has a couple of independently owned chains, including North Park Produce (and their various affiliates) and Baron's. Both do extremely well. North Park offers more ethnic specialties in their stores than does Barons. However, North Parks' stores are not always as pretty and neat as your typical supermarket, which is where Atlas comes in. If I still lived in SD I'd drive out to Poway to shop there.

[storewanderer]

Assuming proper execution I think this store will be successful.

It also sounds like they replaced an Indian Food station with Mexican food since opening so this demonstrates some flexibility to try new things when the other thing isn't working. I would expect more changes to follow assuming they have enough traffic to keep the store at large going.

Kind of looks like a Jons with a much better perimeter operation...

[rwsandiego]

...Kind of looks like a Jons with a much better perimeter operation...

I thought the same thing. It also looks cleaner.

[klkla]

One thing I noticed is a sign that their meat is halal certified. So everything is not going to be better with bacon at this store. I assume they cannot sell any pork products in the store?

[rwsandiego]

One thing I noticed is a sign that their meat is halal certified. So everything is not going to be better with bacon at this store. I assume they cannot sell any pork products in the store?

That's a great question. Maybe they could sell pre-packaged pork products (bacon and ham come to mind).

EDIT: One of their ads features a sale on Dubuque canned hams, so my guess is right - they can sell pre-packaged pork products.

[storewanderer]

One thing I noticed is a sign that their meat is halal certified. So everything is not going to be better with bacon at this store. I assume they cannot sell any pork products in the store?

There was pepperoni pizza in one of the hot food photos.

[klkla]

So it looks like it only applies to the meat department and not the entire store.

Both of the Asian stalls sell pork products.

They do advertise the Pizza as being the only Halal Pizzeria in San Diego. Maybe the pepperoni is made with turkey?

[rwsandiego]

So it looks like it only applies to the meat department and not the entire store.

Both of the Asian stalls sell pork products.

They do advertise the Pizza as being the only Halal Pizzeria in San Diego. Maybe the pepperoni is made with turkey?

That could be or there are multiple types of pizza sold at the pizza stall. There are conventional grocery stores that sell kosher and conventional products, such as sushi, out of separate cases. As long as they are prepared, handled, and sold separately using different utensils they are fine.