Coming from WAY out of left field, Wylie Albertsons converting to Tom Thumb (complete with Florida decor)

[recklace]

Wylie Albertsons name will change to Tom Thumb effective Wednesday 9/14. Murphy Albertsons will be closing mid-October. Pharmacy files from the Murphy store have already been transferred to the Wylie store.

[architect]

Wylie Albertsons name will change to Tom Thumb effective Wednesday 9/14. Murphy Albertsons will be closing mid-October. Pharmacy files from the Murphy store have already been transferred to the Wylie store.

Banner change is official, the Wylie Albertsons closed early tonight at 8 PM and will reopen tomorrow as a Tom Thumb. I visited the store earlier today, and construction was clearly still in progress. On the interior, the new pharmacy was in operation and the existing pharmacy had been demolished, which really opens up the front of the store. The customer service area was also still under construction. On the exterior, signage was being installed, and a pylon sign along 78 had already been changed out to Tom Thumb signage.

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Also, I am not surprised that the Murphy Albertsons is closing. That store has been low-volume for some time, and with both a new Kroger Marketplace and a potential HEB in the area, the two Albertsons locations were simply redundant, being in such close proximity to one-another. Also, Wylie is still actively growing, while Murphy is mostly built out at this point.

[pseudo3d]

I don't think the two locations really were redundant, sure, they were in close proximity to each other, but that's the thing that grocery stores strive for. On one hand, it seems that it was forced out by the new Walmart Supercenter and the Sprouts, and on the other hand, maybe it was just overbuilt. Why didn't it close in the LLC closures, though?

[architect]

I don't think the two locations really were redundant, sure, they were in close proximity to each other, but that's the thing that grocery stores strive for. On one hand, it seems that it was forced out by the new Walmart Supercenter and the Sprouts, and on the other hand, maybe it was just overbuilt. Why didn't it close in the LLC closures, though?

When these two ALbertsons were first built, the competitive landscape in both cities was dramatically different than it is today. Back then, Kroger Marketplace, Sprouts, SuperTarget, and both the Murphy and Wylie (Woodbridge) Walmart Supercenters did not exist. Albertsons was the lone ranger in Murphy, and their only competition in Wylie was an undersized Brookshires and potentially a Walmart Supercenter on the east side of the city (I am unsure of when it was constructed). In addition, when the LLC closures were in full swing, Murphy was rapidly growing and Wylie was just beginning to take off, giving both stores the opportunity for future growth. Fast forward to today, Murphy is almost entirely built out, and Wylie's growth is largely moving away from Murphy, leaving little opportunity to increase traffic to this store except by drawing customers away from competitors, which likely would not be enough of a draw to support two stores.

[pseudo3d]

I don't think the two locations really were redundant, sure, they were in close proximity to each other, but that's the thing that grocery stores strive for. On one hand, it seems that it was forced out by the new Walmart Supercenter and the Sprouts, and on the other hand, maybe it was just overbuilt. Why didn't it close in the LLC closures, though?

When these two ALbertsons were first built, the competitive landscape in both cities was dramatically different than it is today. Back then, Kroger Marketplace, Sprouts, SuperTarget, and both the Murphy and Wylie (Woodbridge) Walmart Supercenters did not exist. Albertsons was the lone ranger in Murphy, and their only competition in Wylie was an undersized Brookshires and potentially a Walmart Supercenter on the east side of the city (I am unsure of when it was constructed). In addition, when the LLC closures were in full swing, Murphy was rapidly growing and Wylie was just beginning to take off, giving both stores the opportunity for future growth. Fast forward to today, Murphy is almost entirely built out, and Wylie's growth is largely moving away from Murphy, leaving little opportunity to increase traffic to this store except by drawing customers away from competitors, which likely would not be enough of a draw to support two stores.

It just sets a bad precedent, because it gives the impression that Albertsons will not compete and flee when the going gets tough. It's fun to be the lone ranger but when competition heats up, that's when you should shine. Then again, Murphy had this weird "HVAC below the ceiling tiles" arrangement and I'm not sure how they could've fixed that easily. The store's three and a half miles away, for crying out loud! It's not just 1 or 2. I wonder who owns the Murphy store, if it's leased (and how close was that lease to ending) or owned by Albertsons.