Super S wrote: ↑September 13th, 2023, 5:08 pm
Still watching to see what direction the Albertsons in Battle Ground goes now.
This one is a museum piece, still has the Grocery Palace interior: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alber ... ?entry=ttu
The Safeway is across the street from the Fred Meyer there... I expect that one to be divested and the Albertsons converted to Safeway assuming the merger happens.
I might've been to this store at a very young age actually... my father had a cousin living in Battle Ground (my parents were also thinking about moving us to the PNW back then. We were looking at Portland and Olympia).
The Port Orchard, WA rebanner also has little quirks like that. It’s the Uncanny Valley thing - it’s almost but not quite a Safeway, and I’m also absolutely certain it’s not surviving divestiture. It had a decent reset and light-touch remodel a few years ago (integrating natural/organic, some aisle swaps) but nothing they did this time made it look appreciably more Safeway-like aside from aisle labels and graphics package.
Super S wrote: ↑September 13th, 2023, 5:08 pm
Still watching to see what direction the Albertsons in Battle Ground goes now.
This one is a museum piece, still has the Grocery Palace interior: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alber ... ?entry=ttu
The Safeway is across the street from the Fred Meyer there... I expect that one to be divested and the Albertsons converted to Safeway assuming the merger happens.
I might've been to this store at a very young age actually... my father had a cousin living in Battle Ground (my parents were also thinking about moving us to the PNW back then. We were looking at Portland and Olympia).
It is interesting they were not required to divest one of the Battle Ground Stores to Haggen before. The Safeway there does not perform particularly well, it is a small outdated store; the Albertsons does okay but for its size it should do better.
Not sure what the answer is in Battle Ground. Both the Safeway and Albertsons look to be sort of just hanging on. I think there is new development around the area. I wonder if Rosausers or some other operator may open a store out a little further which would basically make the Safeway and Albertsons redundant stores/no longer viable. The Fred Meyer isn't going anywhere; very high volume store. Battle Ground also has an above average Wal Mart Supercenter (very pleasant store).
It is interesting they were not required to divest one of the Battle Ground Stores to Haggen before. The Safeway there does not perform particularly well, it is a small outdated store; the Albertsons does okay but for its size it should do better.
Not sure what the answer is in Battle Ground. Both the Safeway and Albertsons look to be sort of just hanging on. I think there is new development around the area. I wonder if Rosausers or some other operator may open a store out a little further which would basically make the Safeway and Albertsons redundant stores/no longer viable. The Fred Meyer isn't going anywhere; very high volume store. Battle Ground also has an above average Wal Mart Supercenter (very pleasant store).
It's a similar situation in Salmon Creek. The Albertsons-now-Safeway is a mid-1990s era store, while the Safeway is in a 1970s era strip mall. The original grocer was Zupan's Food Pavilion, and I am not sure if Safeway completely rebuilt the store, or if it was just heavily remodeled. I think the former Albertsons is actually the larger of the two.
ABSCO Portland and Seattle Divisions have been converting these stores to Safeway ahead of the merger and divestiture.
C&S Wholesale will retain the license for the Albertsons banner in the its operating region.
“In the four states where C&S will have the license to the Albertsons banner, Kroger will re-banner the retained stores following the close of the merger with Albertsons Cos. Kroger will maintain the Albertsons banner in the remaining states.”
ScottyD0ES wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2023, 1:40 pm
ABSCO Portland and Seattle Divisions have been converting these stores to Safeway ahead of the merger and divestiture.
C&S Wholesale will retain the license for the Albertsons banner in the its operating region.
“In the four states where C&S will have the license to the Albertsons banner, Kroger will re-banner the retained stores following the close of the merger with Albertsons Cos. Kroger will maintain the Albertsons banner in the remaining states.”
ScottyD0ES wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2023, 1:40 pm
ABSCO Portland and Seattle Divisions have been converting these stores to Safeway ahead of the merger and divestiture.
C&S Wholesale will retain the license for the Albertsons banner in the its operating region.
“In the four states where C&S will have the license to the Albertsons banner, Kroger will re-banner the retained stores following the close of the merger with Albertsons Cos. Kroger will maintain the Albertsons banner in the remaining states.”
That’s old news. C&S is getting the QFC banner for use in the Northwest states.
Assuming Kroger manages to get the merger through, which I don’t think is likely at this point…
I think the merger is going to go through.
The politicians have moved on from this merger. Elizabeth Warren is now busy saying the Subway merger is going to cause a "sandwich monopoly" since Roark who is trying to buy Subway also owns Arbys, Jimmy Johns, Sonic, Dunkin, etc. who all serve some form of sandwiches. So does every dang restaurant out there serve some form of sandwiches. Come on. Forget that these actual units are operated by a bunch of franchisees.
For this merger to not go through we need politicians who are razor focused on supporting the unions in fighting this merger.
We are not seeing that. We are seeing AGs who were at first looking aggressive to have moved on, now this, really at this point I think the longer this draws out with the opposition basically in silence mode or impulsive in their behavior and moving on to attacking "the latest mergers of other entities" the more likely it is the merger goes through. I really think that Cigna Humana thing is going to get a lot of the attention this merger should have gotten- I hope- that's another merger I am strongly opposed to.
ScottyD0ES wrote: ↑December 2nd, 2023, 1:40 pm
ABSCO Portland and Seattle Divisions have been converting these stores to Safeway ahead of the merger and divestiture.
C&S Wholesale will retain the license for the Albertsons banner in the its operating region.
“In the four states where C&S will have the license to the Albertsons banner, Kroger will re-banner the retained stores following the close of the merger with Albertsons Cos. Kroger will maintain the Albertsons banner in the remaining states.”
That’s old news. C&S is getting the QFC banner for use in the Northwest states.
Assuming Kroger manages to get the merger through, which I don’t think is likely at this point…
I think the merger is going to go through.
The politicians have moved on from this merger. Elizabeth Warren is now busy saying the Subway merger is going to cause a "sandwich monopoly" since Roark who is trying to buy Subway also owns Arbys, Jimmy Johns, Sonic, Dunkin, etc. who all serve some form of sandwiches. So does every dang restaurant out there serve some form of sandwiches. Come on. Forget that these actual units are operated by a bunch of franchisees.
For this merger to not go through we need politicians who are razor focused on supporting the unions in fighting this merger.
We are not seeing that. We are seeing AGs who were at first looking aggressive to have moved on, now this, really at this point I think the longer this draws out with the opposition basically in silence mode or impulsive in their behavior and moving on to attacking "the latest mergers of other entities" the more likely it is the merger goes through. I really think that Cigna Humana thing is going to get a lot of the attention this merger should have gotten- I hope- that's another merger I am strongly opposed to.
Super S wrote: ↑September 13th, 2023, 5:08 pm
I finally had a chance to stop in the Salmon Creek Safeway today that was recently rebannered from Albertsons. I got a mixed signal from the remodel.
What I noticed was that they replaced all of the old Albertsons blue-gray tile flooring with new tile, and in perimeter a woodgrain-type of flooring which I have seen in the past Lifestyle stores. The tile actually looked good, much better than polished concrete.
The interior decor...I'm not sure what it is....looks modern enough but doesn't really give off any type of "upscale" vibe. It does look better than the cheap Supervalu remodel though.
One noteworthy thing is that they did not reposition the lights over the GM side of the store which once had aisles going in a different direction. The lighting is pretty much carryover from Albertsons, but they did update to LED some time back. However, the different rows look out of place, with one row directly above one of the rows of freezers (not above the aisle)
I am wondering if this remodel/rebranding had more to do with a potential divest than anything, so the store at least looks up to date. I really don't understand what other reason there would be to rebrand to Safeway when there is an existing longtime Safeway about a mile south.
Still watching to see what direction the Albertsons in Battle Ground goes now.
Late reply to this - only one photo on Google Maps that has the current decor. I forget what our current nickname is for it, but it's a slight modification of the installed "Florida" decor. This is also what the Albertsons > Safeway at Rock Creek area of the Hillsboro, Ore. area received in its rebanner. Salmon Creek (Vancouver), WA interior shot
Late reply to this - only one photo on Google Maps that has the current decor. I forget what our current nickname is for it, but it's a slight modification of the installed "Florida" decor. This is also what the Albertsons > Safeway at Rock Creek area of the Hillsboro, Ore. area received in its rebanner. Salmon Creek (Vancouver), WA interior shot
OR was doing some fairly nice colorful lifestyle remodels over the years. Disappointing they have downgraded to a cheap version of this Florida interior.
