Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

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Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by Super S »

http://www.columbian.com/news/2014/jan/ ... re-stores/

This leaves only two locations in Southwest Washington. The future of those remaining locations is unclear, but this is yet another sign that Albertsons is continuing to falter in SW Washington/Portland.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by storewanderer »

It appears they are closing 7 locations in OR/WA/ID, at least 2 in SoCal, and at least 4 in Southwest Division. Also Bob Miller resigned from the Supervalu Board and the president of Jewel resigned. And they sold the store in Burley, ID to an independent operator. That was announced a couple weeks ago now.

It was no secret the Supervalu stuff was in really bad shape. These moves make some sense. They really need to work on price, and bad, in OR/WA and in SoCal.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by kr.abs.swy »

As of 2011, the Fourth Plain store (the one pictured in the Columbian article) had the blue-grey interior.

Based on the Columbian picture, it looks like it still has the blue-grey interior, although it is tough to tell for certain.

The exterior of the store got a new paint job since I took the attached pictures in 2011.

The Fourth Plain store shares a strip mall with a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

I went in that store in 2011 looking for a specialty product that I had bought in other Albertsons stores. They said they had stopped carrying it because they couldn't sell it fast enough (it was perishable). It seemed like an example of a supermarket death spiral to me. Your volumes are low, so you trim back your selection, making it harder for people to find what they want, so your volumes fall even more ... and then you lock your doors.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by kr.abs.swy »

It looks like the Albany, Oregon store got cut: http://democratherald.com/news/local/al ... f887a.html. This store is very close to a Safeway and a Fred Meyer and not far from a Walmart Supercenter and Mega Foods.

The other Oregon store to get cut is in Pendleton, Oregon. http://www.eastoregonian.com/news/local ... 963f4.html Based on fiddling around with Google Maps and this picture, I'd say that used to be a Buttrey -- WOW. http://pnd.stparchive.com/Archive/PND/P ... 972P05.php

According to this article, two stores in Tacoma and a store in Bothell are closing: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/01/1 ... rsity.html

Those three stores plus the two in Vancouver make five in Washington.

This article has some pictures of the remodel that Stokes plans for the Burley, Idaho, Albertsons. That Albertsons store looks REALLY tired after seeing the pictures of the planned remodel. http://magicvalley.com/news/local/mini- ... 87a.html#7

The last time I was in that Albertsons store (which was five or six years ago) it had an early blue-grey remodel. It is in a strip mall with a former Payless / Rite Aid, which had moved to a freestanding store (subsequently sold to Walgreen's). The Payless was being used as some kind of shop space, and the guy that was there let me take a few pictures (although he became suspicious).
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by Super S »

The Fourth Plain store was, I believe, the last Vancouver location to open with the blue-gray interior. The stores that opened toward the end of the blue-gray package did not have a lower ceiling over the produce area, the former location in Orchards (which the Padden location replaced) was also like that .One unique feature of Fourth Plain is that it used to have an auto licensing office inside, but am not sure if it is still there. It has been several years since I have visited that store. It is possible that it received a cheap Supervalu remodel like the Salmon Creek store (which is remaining open, at least for now) In the case of Salmon Creek, it involved simply repainting the walls and rearranging a few aisles. The lighting was left alone (although they did reinstall the fluorescent tubes which were removed) and the store still has the floor tiles from the blue-gray interior, although that store's exterior also was repainted. I was in the Salmon Creek store about two months ago, and that store's remodel looks cheap and rushed.

As for Padden Parkway, that store is interesting in that it is, according to a few that have posted in the past, a Jewel design that was more or less adapted to suit Albertsons. This store did not have the best layout though, as there were wide open spaces in parts of the store, and cramped spaces in other parts, particularly around service areas and the pharmacy. It is also interesting in that it replaced the Orchards store, which opened as a new build in the mid 1990s and was open for less than ten years. There was an Orchards store before that which opened in the 1970s, and is currently vacant, in the nearby strip mall which currently has a Bi-Mart. I did visit the Padden location about a year ago and it looked awful. The interior was unremodeled, but was hit with Supervalu's cost-cutting idea of removing half of the fluorescent tubes, and it looked dark in there. It also was almost dead inside. One interesting note is that, not far away in Orchards, there is still a Safeway which has not received a Lifestyle remodel and still has the old logo on the building.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by storewanderer »

I am in Medford and I see both Medford Stores and the Central Point Store received late Supervalu remodels (colored walls). All three stores were early 2000's locations previously with rather elaborate décor.

Pricing is still problematic but appears to be improving. Still higher than Safeway. The stores looked excellent and service seemed better.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by StoreLiker2006 »

Can we all look back on Albertson's Pacific Northwest-area dominance, in its prime, the 1980s? I also mean to ask you this in terms of any pictures you may have of these stores then.

Albertson's operated these stores in January 1987 in the Portland (OR) area of the Pacific Northwest:

SUPER STORES
17120 SE Powell Blvd. (opened 1981; closed 2008)
2950 NE Hogan Dr. (at Stark St.), Gresham (opened 1983; closed 2008)
8155 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard (Greenway Center) (opened 1983)
6055 SW 185th Ave. (at Farmington Rd.), Aloha (opened 1984)
12102 SE Division St. (opened 1986; closed January 2012)

OTHER STORES
1350 NE 122nd Ave. (opened 1959; closed 2006)
4405 NE Cully Blvd. (opened 1959)
5415 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. (Raleigh Hills) (opened 1960)
2605 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. (Cedar Hills) (opened 1960)
909 N Killingsworth St. (opened 1960; sold 1989)
250 SE 10th St. (Hillsboro) (opened 1964)
610 NE 122nd Ave. (at Glisan St.) (opened 1964; moved to 451 NE 122nd Ave. in August 1987)
3232 SE Harrison St. (Milwaukie) (opened 1964; moved to Milwaukie Marketplace, 10830 SE Oak St. in 1989)
16199 SW Boones Ferry Rd. (Lake Grove) (opened 1965)
940 SE 39th Ave. (at Belmont St.) (opened 1966; sold 1989)
4715 SE 39th Ave. (at Holgate Blvd.) (opened 1966; sold 1989)
12060 SW Main St. (Tigard) (opened 1976)
15810 SE McLoughlin Blvd. (Oak Grove) (opened 1977; closed January 2004)
2323 SE 82nd Ave. (at Division St.) (opened 1978; moved to 4140 SE 82nd Ave. 1997, closed 2005)
1809 Molalla Ave., Oregon City (Southridge Center) (opened 1980; moved to Berryhill Shopping Center, 19007 S Beavercreek Rd. 1990)

Based on the amount of stores closed or sold to other companies, Albertson's really needs to get tough here, competitively, in the Portland/Vancouver area.

Anyway, the Super Stores (sized 35,000 sq. ft. or more) were a big deal: they stocked many other goods beyond food, such as housewares, small appliances and home electronics. They seemed to follow Safeway's own "superstore" concept that that chain pioneered around 1976.

~Ben
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by Super S »

I stopped in the Fourth Plain store last week when I was passing through the area. It still has the blue-grey interior, and it looked like the Licensing office had moved out. The interior itself really didn't look all that bad, and in my opinion, still looks nicer than the cheap remodel they did to the Salmon Creek store.

I did not make it to the Padden store, however, I have a friend that lives within a half mile who has told me that the adjacent strip mall has emptied out a bit recently, with the closing of Blockbuster, and the closing of a Chase Bank branch. The Starbucks inside the Padden store has also apparently closed already.

There will probably be more closings in the not too distant future if Albertsons doesn't start paying attention. They almost have no presence left in Vancouver, and are well on their way to having little to no presence in the Portland market.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by storewanderer »

Based on my observations, I expect more closures. I am aware of some locations in OR/WA that are not doing well, yet seem to be staying open. I don't see a turnaround for the locations I'm thinking of (3-4 locations).

OR/WA are long time legacy markets for Albertsons and you'd think they could get things turned around. But with their price structure (far higher than Safeway, higher than various independents), good luck. Lots of really good competition up in OR/WA.
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Re: Two more SW Washington Albertsons locations to close

Post by VibeGuy »

The UP and Tacoma locations were the textbook definition of "grim"; a couple of skipped remodels really adds up.

Were these originally built as Albertsons, or were they part of the Lucky operations in WA?
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