Albertsons announces "Market Street Idaho"

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Re: Albertsons announces "Market Street Idaho"

Post by storewanderer »

pseudo3d wrote: March 8th, 2019, 7:21 pm
Super S wrote: March 8th, 2019, 1:47 pm The new Meridian store has opened as "Albertsons Market Street"

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/bus ... 09309.html

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if we will see more large stores like this.
Definitely looks like the fanciest, largest, and generally best store in the chain (a West Coast Wegmans?) but with so many of their stores and divisions having some...uneven execution, to be polite, I do wonder how long that store will last with that sort of thing.
I don't know too much about Meridian but I am wondering if it can even support a store this large with this many fresh departments.

I would guess Fred Meyer and WinCo both run some fairly high volume stores around Boise, so maybe they expect they can do the same with this store.

In any case this is a fantastic looking store. Clearly the best in the chain. Given the proximity to the corporate office, hopefully they will maintain it and do what they need to do to be successful with this store (dropping everyday shelf prices on center store would be a really good idea... not sure if that happened here or not). Fresh departments can command standard or even higher pricing if quality is superior.
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Re: Albertsons announces "Market Street Idaho"

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: March 8th, 2019, 11:09 pm
I don't know too much about Meridian but I am wondering if it can even support a store this large with this many fresh departments.

I would guess Fred Meyer and WinCo both run some fairly high volume stores around Boise, so maybe they expect they can do the same with this store.

In any case this is a fantastic looking store. Clearly the best in the chain. Given the proximity to the corporate office, hopefully they will maintain it and do what they need to do to be successful with this store (dropping everyday shelf prices on center store would be a really good idea... not sure if that happened here or not). Fresh departments can command standard or even higher pricing if quality is superior.
I haven't lived in Boise in over 20 years, but was there briefly last summer for a funeral. We drove through Meridian and growth has exploded big time. I have to wonder though if this store will cannibalize sales from existing stores, such as the Cherry Plaza store which is a former Paul's. People are going to see these big new stores and have higher expectations, something which can be hard to accomplish in a store half the size of the new one.

Albertsons has a lot of 1970s vintage stores in the Boise area, but I will say they (probably due to the headquarters close by) have historically kept these up better than other markets. But still, a few of these are aging and it may make sense to close a few of the older ones.
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Re: Albertsons announces "Market Street Idaho"

Post by SamSpade »

More photos of the new store, via BoiseDev.com local business blog:
https://boisedev.com/news/2019/03/07/al ... et-street/
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Re: Albertsons announces "Market Street Idaho"

Post by storewanderer »

I spent some time in both of these new concept stores recently and they are really fantastic. I have no clue if this is a profitable concept given the labor needed, but it is sure a great concept in my opinion.

Also interesting is a number of prices in these two stores are lower than their standard locations. Some prices are higher too, for items unique to these two stores, on the fresh product end. Many prepared food and bakery items are unique to these stores and made in store.

The Meridian Store really reminds me of a Kroger Marketplace but with radically better product presentation, way more ready to eat foods, and exponentially higher quality fresh products. The store is very, very busy all day and into the night. The fresh areas and ready to eat areas are very lively and the store has a great vibe. Center store aisles are a lot more quiet than the perimeter of the store. Product mix is very wide, even wider than the typical Albertsons which has an above average product mix in center store.

The Broadway Store is similar but not as large. It has a second floor bar which has a great atmosphere. This store has traffic, plenty of traffic, but the nearby Winco and Whole Foods seem much busier...

Overall these are truly excellent stores. Again no clue if they are profitable. These stores really felt over the top and the execution meets that feeling. They are doing everything right to have a superior quality operation. I'd really like to see this concept expanded to other markets where they have the right locations and have the ability to execute this type of concept.
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