Trailers appearing at closed Padden Parkway Albertsons

[Super S]

A few days ago I was in Vancouver, and drove past the old Padden Parkway Albertsons, which has been closed for several years now, and has sat vacant since closing. (The back of the store faces Padden Parkway) I took note of the fact that there was a current Safeway/Albertsons trailer backed up to the loading dock, which I found interesting. I got to wondering...does Albertsons still hold a lease on this location and is just using it for storage? Or does this hint at the possibility of the location reopening? (the latter I find unlikely due to the proposed merger with Kroger, and the close proximity of Fred Meyer, but Safeway did close their old Orchards location a while back) Or is Albertsons just removing equipment for a new tenant? I could see them storing equipment, fixtures, etc. here if they still hold the lease, but at the same time am puzzled by how long this site has sat vacant when you consider this is a relatively new building which opened in 2003, and was open just a little over 10 years. It closed not long before Safeway and Albertsons joined together.

I haven't seen a news story or heard anything, but this is just an observation.

[retailfanmitchell019]

This Jewel-Osco (err, Albertsons) in Vancouver looked to be the nicest supermarket in Vancouver. Storewanderer had pictures on his Photobucket for this store. Why do I call it a Jewel-Osco? The exterior looked like a typical early 2000's Jewel-Osco. This store also had the good ol' Jewel interior. I suspect it closed because of bad access from Padden Parkway, and I can imagine the nearby Fred Meyer and Walmart was smoking it in business.
I suspect Albertsons still holds the lease on this store to keep out competition. They still hold the lease on their store in Wilsonville, OR; which is a flipped layout of this store. That one also had the Jewel interior. It closed in 2016 as Albertsons bought some independent nearby that was converted to Safeway.
Another store that clones this Vancouver Albertsons is the Albertsons (now Vons) in the Torrey Highlands neighborhood of San Diego. That store opened in July 2004 (I think). Haggen bought it and sold it back to Albertsons, who rebranded it to Vons for some reason. That was the nicest Albertsons in the county, up there with La Costa and Del Mar.

[pseudo3d]

A few days ago I was in Vancouver, and drove past the old Padden Parkway Albertsons, which has been closed for several years now, and has sat vacant since closing. (The back of the store faces Padden Parkway) I took note of the fact that there was a current Safeway/Albertsons trailer backed up to the loading dock, which I found interesting. I got to wondering...does Albertsons still hold a lease on this location and is just using it for storage? Or does this hint at the possibility of the location reopening? (the latter I find unlikely due to the proposed merger with Kroger, and the close proximity of Fred Meyer, but Safeway did close their old Orchards location a while back) Or is Albertsons just removing equipment for a new tenant? I could see them storing equipment, fixtures, etc. here if they still hold the lease, but at the same time am puzzled by how long this site has sat vacant when you consider this is a relatively new building which opened in 2003, and was open just a little over 10 years. It closed not long before Safeway and Albertsons joined together.

I haven't seen a news story or heard anything, but this is just an observation.

Company can't just sit on their hands for a year waiting to see if the merger happens or not. I think both of your observations are equally valid.

There must be a place for them to store unused equipment--when Randalls reopened a flooded store in Houston (they would end up closing it just over two years later), they did it on a budget and the checkstands were a mismatch of various fixtures that they had on hand--so some had the Albertsons circular checkstands, some didn't. (I can only imagine that the bakery and deli had some weird stuff).

[storewanderer]

I don't understand why they closed that store in the first place.

There could be something coming up about them holding real estate where a competitor could open... maybe they want to put this on the market vs. be forced to divest it to a competitor or SpinCo. Or they want to open it back up so it has more value to divest to a competitor or SpinCo...

[ClownLoach]

So much growth around there right now... If they're paying dead rent the odds are they can at least break even with it open now.

[retailfanmitchell019]

I don't understand why they closed that store in the first place.

I can imagine Fred Meyer, WinCo and even Walmart nearby were all ramming the store out of business. That part of Vancouver is kind of a working-class area where Albertsons isn't the best fit.
Perhaps Rosauers can take this store.

[pseudo3d]

I don't understand why they closed that store in the first place.

I can imagine Fred Meyer, WinCo and even Walmart nearby were all ramming the store out of business. That part of Vancouver is kind of a working-class area where Albertsons isn't the best fit.
Perhaps Rosauers can take this store.

If Albertsons couldn't make it on the basis of economics, Rosauer's definitely won't.

[ClownLoach]

It's a totally different place now versus when that store was in operation. That northern part of Vancouver had what I believe to be the first Best Buy to close as well. There was a ton of retail built for new housing that never got finished. Now those homes are being built and prices in the area are crazy expensive. For years I wanted to move to the Vancouver-Camas area but the pricing has exploded to the point we were priced out of the market and had to settle for the CA Inland Empire. I've watched the same developments increase their prices over 300K per house from early 2022 until now. Nice new homes I looked at 9 months ago for $700K wound up being built and sold at $1M and up. Prices are still rising there. I'm sure there is plenty to go around if they were to reopen this store. The Costco on Padden Pkwy was a ghost town when it opened and now it is bursting at the seams with another store soon to open closer to I-5. Vancouver, Washington and Camas are the escape valve for frustrated Portland residents who are done with the rampant crime, car break ins, and homeless encampments lining every major roadway. Labor is tight but maybe they can close a Safeway or Albertsons across the river that gets looted on an hourly basis by the endless horde of homeless people and move the staff over. I'm sure being away from Portland chaos would more than make up for the drive for these employees.

[storewanderer]

I don't understand why they closed that store in the first place.

I can imagine Fred Meyer, WinCo and even Walmart nearby were all ramming the store out of business. That part of Vancouver is kind of a working-class area where Albertsons isn't the best fit.
Perhaps Rosauers can take this store.

If Albertsons couldn't make it on the basis of economics, Rosauer's definitely won't.

I think Rosauer's could possibly make it work. It would probably be a medium volume store at best.

[storewanderer]

It's a totally different place now versus when that store was in operation. That northern part of Vancouver had what I believe to be the first Best Buy to close as well. There was a ton of retail built for new housing that never got finished. Now those homes are being built and prices in the area are crazy expensive. For years I wanted to move to the Vancouver-Camas area but the pricing has exploded to the point we were priced out of the market and had to settle for the CA Inland Empire. I've watched the same developments increase their prices over 300K per house from early 2022 until now. Nice new homes I looked at 9 months ago for $700K wound up being built and sold at $1M and up. Prices are still rising there. I'm sure there is plenty to go around if they were to reopen this store. The Costco on Padden Pkwy was a ghost town when it opened and now it is bursting at the seams with another store soon to open closer to I-5. Vancouver, Washington and Camas are the escape valve for frustrated Portland residents who are done with the rampant crime, car break ins, and homeless encampments lining every major roadway. Labor is tight but maybe they can close a Safeway or Albertsons across the river that gets looted on an hourly basis by the endless horde of homeless people and move the staff over. I'm sure being away from Portland chaos would more than make up for the drive for these employees.

I find when going to Portland the best areas to stay are either Vancouver or Hillsboro. Forget about the other areas at this point.

I talk to quite a few people who work in the business core of Portland but live out in that Vancouver or Camas area as you describe now.