New Albertsons Interior Southern California

[ClownLoach]

I do know that Albertsons is now also using a new decor for ACME somewhere in South New Jersey that I saw online somewhere, but I can't quite pinpoint what store is now using it. Albertsons is also introducing new decor for Balducci's as well even though I can't imagine they want much to do with the chain, which makes me think they are testing something there as well.

There's a South Jersey store that's being remodeled to that decor right now, and I was trying to track it down (unsuccessfully) just earlier today. So far I know that decor has shown up in stores in Philadelphia (University City and Society Hill), Haddonfield, and the one other South Jersey store. Oddly, the new ACME in East Norriton doesn't have that decor. The decor for Balducci's looks like it'll be very bland but it looks like there's some serious renovation going on. I'm still shocked the Pavilions decor hasn't made its way into Kings or Balducci's -- it would be a perfect fit for many of the Kings, which still have not yet been renovated. And I'm excited to see more ACMEs with new decor... the "Quality Built" decor is perfectly adequate but nothing special at all.

That new Acme decor reminds me of old Alpha-Beta signage. Very retro and perfect colors for the East Coast.

"Farm To Market" decor.

The "Ultra-Premium" (Pavilions) is almost a decade old now and has been put in some stores that are not good fits either from a building perspective (Mission Viejo, yuck) or correct class of store (North Las Vegas Albertsons which has already had anything premium removed from it and would be better off reviving Max Foods or a Food4Less). It's time for something new as it isn't aging well.

[ClownLoach]

Assuming the merger with Kroger goes through, it would be interesting if Kroger adopts this decor package for all their stores instead of their own current decor package. But I can also see this store going to C&S since it's an Albertsons branded store.

They would not have invested in this level of a remodel for a store planned to be divested. The stores that seem to be the most obvious divests have been receiving cheap and minimal refreshes. They especially would not invest in a new decor package that likely cost a pretty penny to develop with the knowledge it would be sold.

The vast majority of the SoCal divests are going to be Vons branded stores because there are more Vons that are immediate overlaps with Ralphs than Albertsons. Many Albertsons are in suburbs and lower population areas where Ralphs has either nearly disappeared or never was present (Inland Empire, Central Coast). Since they're planning around 60 divests in California I estimated 40 would be Vons and the rest Albertsons just playing with Google Maps, which is going to mean about 100 Albertsons will have to change names to either Ralphs, Vons or Pavilions, while 40 or so Vons will become Albertsons. It's a mess.

Which makes it even more interesting if this store is kept under Kroger. Since Kroger will have to rebrand this store to either Vons or Ralphs, which would make the blue accents look more out of place, since the Ralphs and Vons logos are primarily red. Plus I believe I saw some Albertsons logos throughout some of the signage in this decor package.

One clover on a hanging plastic sign that can be easily replaced with a Ralphs decal. Or more likely, a fruit cart.

In fact it seems intentionally designed as a post merger package because there is absolutely no branding whatsoever. It just makes me question why all the blue?

But remember that Ralphs inherited teal green and Terra cotta color decor with metal and used it for about a decade after they were acquired by Fred Meyer. There wasn't anything red about that decor and it was systematically installed in a manner that removed the "Ralphs" feeling from those stores.

Also, aside from the light fixtures and squares on an aisle hanger that are not really significant, the Albertsons blue paint is only on three wall segments that I see with zero branding whatsoever. Like they deliberately left something out. I could easily see a large panel sign hung in front of all 3 that matches other areas of the store and says something like "Thanks for shopping Ralphs" and looking just fine. Plus the blue, as much as it looks Walmart-esque in the picture, is an attention-grabber which makes the fact these three wall segments are blank that much more obvious that the paint is just going to be trim around a future sign.

Also, there is no Ralphs in Upland, so no need to divest an Albertsons. Probably why the site was chosen.

[kr.abs.swy]

Yes, agree 100%. I was going through those pictures and saw lots of pictures in the wrong places.
* 2650 NE Highway 20 - modern store in a strip mall, near Whole Foods, Costco, Barnes & Noble. This is the one where the tragedy happened. The remodel was after that tragedy, last year.
* South Highway 97 - this was originally a local of some sort, became Albertsons, became Haggen, reverted to Albertsons, and was converted to Safeway last year. Easy to pick out in the pictures because it's the only Bend Safeway that never was Lifestyle. It also doesn't "feel" like either a Safeway or Albertsons because it started as an independent.
* 3rd Street - A false-fronted Marina with Lifestyle (no drop ceiling inside).
* Century Blvd - Modern store on the fancy side of Bend that I believe has the "Colorful Oregon" decor. Was across from Ray's. It has some flourishes on the exterior (and interior) that a typical Safeway doesn't have.

Here are my pics from the Highway 20 store. These were in March last year, while the remodel was in progress.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... VOH9VCfD6w
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... -Ow5TmxUGA

 

What's not helping the matter is that it is obvious that all these Bend stores are cross posted with pictures of the wrong stores. All of them have some pictures of a marina ceiling for example somewhere. Saw a picture of a Grocery Outlet and what I think is a Walgreens interior in some too. Very hard to discern what I'm looking at without knowing the stores.

[brendenmoney]

Yes, agree 100%. I was going through those pictures and saw lots of pictures in the wrong places.
* 2650 NE Highway 20 - modern store in a strip mall, near Whole Foods, Costco, Barnes & Noble. This is the one where the tragedy happened. The remodel was after that tragedy, last year.
* South Highway 97 - this was originally a local of some sort, became Albertsons, became Haggen, reverted to Albertsons, and was converted to Safeway last year. Easy to pick out in the pictures because it's the only Bend Safeway that never was Lifestyle. It also doesn't "feel" like either a Safeway or Albertsons because it started as an independent.
* 3rd Street - A false-fronted Marina with Lifestyle (no drop ceiling inside).
* Century Blvd - Modern store on the fancy side of Bend that I believe has the "Colorful Oregon" decor. Was across from Ray's. It has some flourishes on the exterior (and interior) that a typical Safeway doesn't have.

Here are my pics from the Highway 20 store. These were in March last year, while the remodel was in progress.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... VOH9VCfD6w
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... -Ow5TmxUGA

 

What's not helping the matter is that it is obvious that all these Bend stores are cross posted with pictures of the wrong stores. All of them have some pictures of a marina ceiling for example somewhere. Saw a picture of a Grocery Outlet and what I think is a Walgreens interior in some too. Very hard to discern what I'm looking at without knowing the stores.

Looking at these photos, I wonder what color they painted the front end of this Safeway. In comparison to the Upland Albertsons, I wonder if they chose to paint it the Walmart blue we find at that Albertsons, or something else more in line with the other Safeway mentioned with the "Colorful Oregon." While at least Albertsons branded stores can get away with the blue, it's not much of a fit for Safeway.

[ClownLoach]

Yes, agree 100%. I was going through those pictures and saw lots of pictures in the wrong places.
* 2650 NE Highway 20 - modern store in a strip mall, near Whole Foods, Costco, Barnes & Noble. This is the one where the tragedy happened. The remodel was after that tragedy, last year.
* South Highway 97 - this was originally a local of some sort, became Albertsons, became Haggen, reverted to Albertsons, and was converted to Safeway last year. Easy to pick out in the pictures because it's the only Bend Safeway that never was Lifestyle. It also doesn't "feel" like either a Safeway or Albertsons because it started as an independent.
* 3rd Street - A false-fronted Marina with Lifestyle (no drop ceiling inside).
* Century Blvd - Modern store on the fancy side of Bend that I believe has the "Colorful Oregon" decor. Was across from Ray's. It has some flourishes on the exterior (and interior) that a typical Safeway doesn't have.

Here are my pics from the Highway 20 store. These were in March last year, while the remodel was in progress.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... VOH9VCfD6w
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... -Ow5TmxUGA

 

What's not helping the matter is that it is obvious that all these Bend stores are cross posted with pictures of the wrong stores. All of them have some pictures of a marina ceiling for example somewhere. Saw a picture of a Grocery Outlet and what I think is a Walgreens interior in some too. Very hard to discern what I'm looking at without knowing the stores.

Looking at these photos, I wonder what color they painted the front end of this Safeway. In comparison to the Upland Albertsons, I wonder if they chose to paint it the Walmart blue we find at that Albertsons, or something else more in line with the other Safeway mentioned with the "Colorful Oregon." While at least Albertsons branded stores can get away with the blue, it's not much of a fit for Safeway.

It's still obvious that those blue panels are intended to have signs in front of them. They're the only undecorated wall sections in the store. I think we are overthinking this. All the colorful lifestyle front walls at Safeway and Vons are periwinkle blue. Meanwhile this one is actually pistachio green with a handful of blue accents. If it was a different blue I don't think we would notice, but it is so strikingly similar to Walmart...

[bryceleinan]

The Safeway in The Forum in Bend (2650 NE US Highway 20) was remodeled to that interior last year.

That Safeway still has a false ceiling. That interior felt quite a bit different with the false ceiling. I thought it looked really good in the Bend store. (Sort of how the stores that were remodeled into Grocery Palace back in the day had a different feeling from the ones that were new builds - didn't feel quite as over-the-top).

BTW, off topic, does anyone know what that Bend store started as? The front doesn't look like any other Safeway I've ever seen.

The pictures of that Safeway are not at all the same decor. That decor is the Oregon offshoot of Colorful Lifestyle that has shown up in downtown Portland and elsewhere in the state. They just apply some mountain-scape wallpaper to the blank colored walls, affix what looks like trimmed LVP flooring behind the existing lettering. Then for some odd reason they install the numberless checkout lights from Pavilions that look like an industrial lamp. It is really like a repaint of the already colorful lifestyle store. This Upland store is a totally new package with new lettering and graphics.

This is Bend with their new remodel (which I am naming "Colorful Oregon")

SmartSelect_20240507_102509_Google.jpg


SmartSelect_20240507_102343_Google.jpg

SmartSelect_20240507_102404_Google.jpg

That is the same design the North Bend (Oregon) store received:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Safew ... ?entry=ttu#

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Safew ... ?entry=ttu#

Coos Bay (former Ray's, across from Fred Meyer) had a similar remodel.

[bryceleinan]

The Safeway in The Forum in Bend (2650 NE US Highway 20) was remodeled to that interior last year.

That Safeway still has a false ceiling. That interior felt quite a bit different with the false ceiling. I thought it looked really good in the Bend store. (Sort of how the stores that were remodeled into Grocery Palace back in the day had a different feeling from the ones that were new builds - didn't feel quite as over-the-top).

BTW, off topic, does anyone know what that Bend store started as? The front doesn't look like any other Safeway I've ever seen.

I know the 1800 NE 3rd Street store was Wagner's before Albertsons / Haggen.

https://www.bendbulletin.com/business/b ... 25b5c.html

[storewanderer]

That blue paint is a thing they do in random spots of stores with the Florida interior too, on new builds. In the case of the new Safeway builds in NorCal instead of blue paint they go with a bright red paint.

[ClownLoach]

That blue paint is a thing they do in random spots of stores with the Florida interior too, on new builds. In the case of the new Safeway builds in NorCal instead of blue paint they go with a bright red paint.

There we go. Mystery solved. When the store is rebranded they'll just repaint those blank panels. I've noticed some garish white panels at some remodeled Florida/Modern stores too that are a different color more like a primer white with no signs. They can probably add branding at that point too. Looks easy enough to do in one night. As many have said they can't exactly act like the merger is a guaranteed thing, but at the same time they can and should make sensible and appropriate adjustments to plans that easily facilitate changes if it happens. This is an example of those minds of adjustments; they know they wanted to remodel the store, obviously they were looking for locations to test out this new decor package in, they selected a store where Kroger isn't present so divestiture is not going to be called for, and the design allows flexibility if they were to need to rebrand in the future.

It seems that a lot of the "cheap" looking Florida/Modern decor remodels were slapped onto stores with the Premium Fresh and Healthy decor with giant 3D clovers everywhere. The only stores I've seen lately with PFH and LLC decor were really obvious merger retention locations again without a Kroger owned store nearby. So that is another example of sensible adjustments, those stores futures are unknown whether they change banner or divest completely but they needed to be refreshed so they scraped the 3D clovers, applied fresh paint and adhered the prefab Florida/Modern. In some cases that decor took only a week to get installed and they didn't do much to the rest of the store.

[ClownLoach]

Studied this some more and it is absolutely a modern take on the "Jewel" decor from the early to mid 2000s. The symbols printed on the walls as if they are Tiffany glass are just like that Jewel decor. As much as I think that decor is timeless and very high quality, this does ring familiar and might have been designed to retrofit those stores. Look at the cow to the left of the meat sign, the rose by floral, etc. It is just like those hanging metal frames in the Jewel decor.

I give them a lot of credit as this is much more creative than anything I've seen them do in the last decade plus. Even Colorful Lifestyle was really just different colors and fonts from original lifestyle and PFH. This is the first one that is all new but pays homage to their best designs. I'll have to go see it in person.