Retail Watchers

storewanderer wrote:I thought these were the fresh fare aisle hangers?

Oops, you're right...

No matter how much I try to convince myself I just cannot like the triangle shaped aisle hangers.

Did that Smiths in Magna used to be something else?

So that Smiths in Magna, a former late 90s Albertsons?

The design with a drop ceiling in center store and exposed around the perimeter was typical for Albertsons about 1997-1999.

http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa11 ... oto050.jpg

I'm not familiar enough with the area to be able to answer that question, but it appeared that the store had moved somewhat recently, as there was a vacant store nearby with clear labelscars of old Smith's signage. Then again, the strip mall the store is in seems to be relatively new, so I'm guessing the store could also have been newly constructed.

Here's a Google Streetview of the store:
Link


And the closed location a few blocks away:
Link

I don't think that is a new build Smiths. Smiths hasn't constructed with a drop ceiling in over 5 years. Plus, that design and the odd lighting used around the perimeter was specific to late 90s Albertsons.

Albertsons position in Utah was more troubled than I thought. They recently closed a 2003 build in South Jordan.

The greenhouse Kroger in the Cumberland Mall/ Vinings area of Atlanta recently received this new decor package. The decor package goes very well with the greenhouse design of the store and in my opinion looks better than the decor of the Fresh Fare in Buckhead. This particular store opened in 1980 and is quite large for the era, 47k, but lacking a pharmacy due to lease restrictions as Eckerd/Rite Aid was in the center until recently. I was somewhat surprised that Kroger did not add a pharmacy since this is one of their few Atlanta area stores without a pharmacy.

I'm somewhat disappointed that I did not ever take pictures of the decor used prior to this remodel, form its late 90's makeover, since it was an Atlanta-only decor used on less than a dozen stores in the late 90's that made heavy use of chrome and art deco elements and was a better successor to the mauve/grid neon decor than the dreaded millenium decor from the same time frame.

I found one. The former Alpha Beta now Ralphs, known as Ralphs Raintree Plaza on Jefferson in Culver City California had their Grand Re-Opening this week. I did not put two and two together until today when I saw the newly remodeled store and this post today from Sept. 2009. They actually renovated this store in two parts. They did the outside about a year ago, then nothing until earlier this year, when they completely redid the interior with this new design as well as adding a pharmacy. For history buffs, this shopping center was built on a former backlot of MGM Studios around the early 1970s.

The decor that was shown at the beginning of this thread has been used in a couple of QFC remodels. One is at the Wallingford store in Seattle, formerly Food Giant. The other is the North Seattle QFC on NE 145th that was a former Olson's.

The Smith's in Magna is indeed a former Albertson's location (I matched address with some old directory information in Google). The building's facade matches the facades of the Albertson's we had in Des Moines for about five minutes.

The former Smith's location up the street was being at least partially demolished when I was out there a few weeks ago.

The Arctic Circle up the street is awesome. Which has nothing to do with anything, except you should know this if you're in the area.

That is all.