Albertsons To Consolidate To Signature Select

[Alpha8472]

Albertsons will consolidate its brands such as Signature Farms and Signature Cafe to Signature Select.

https://www.albertsonscompanies.com/new ... fault.aspx

[storewanderer]

I thought they already said they were consolidating Signature Farms into Signature Select, many years ago now. Various canned goods were Signature Farms (canned vegetables for instance) when they first did that weird thing where Signature Select went from being the "premium" line to the "standard private label" line.

Also this part of the article - what?
"The Signature family of brands was introduced to the Albertsons portfolio of stores in 2016 following the merger of Albertsons and Safeway. However, the ‘S’ branding dates back as far as the 1960s when Safeway sold products under the ‘S’ brand including milk, bread, ice cream, coffee, jellies, soft drinks, lunch meat, canned fruits and vegetables, frozen foods and paper products. The ‘S’ brand remained a key private label for Safeway until 2012 when the company retired its namesake brand and merged its products under the Safeway Kitchens, Safeway Farms, Safeway Home and Safeway Care brands, which ultimately became the Signature family of brands. "

Safeway in the 80's, 90's, and through the late 90's had various sub house brands. They did not sell food under the Safeway brand at least in the 80's and 90's until the late 90's. In the 80's and 90's, Town House was the private label for dry grocery, Mrs. Wrights was the private label for bread, Cragmont was the private label for soda, Busy Baker was a private label for budget bread/packaged cookies, Lucerne was dairy, Dairy Glen was the private label for budget dairy/ice milk, they did have the "Safeway" label on drug private label items but that was basically it. Safeway Select came out in the early 90's and it was on "PREMIUM" items only including some soda, ice cream, yogurt, some cookies, etc., and the current Albertsons brand page portrays it as if Safeway Select was their ONLY private label program from the 90's into the 00's which is completely false. No wonder they are so confused about branding if this is what their internal records say.

Also seems like they've forgotten about Signature Reserve. There are still some SKUs but most have been discontinued.

They appear to think this move will somehow save their private label department once Kroger takes over. I don't think it will, and I expect Kroger brands to be rolled out quickly once they take over given their program is so much more effective from a volume perspective.

A more relevant move by Albertsons to save some parts of its private label program after the merger would be to do a full court focus on O Organics and building up that brand/getting the pricing down to realistic levels (quit pricing higher than Whole Foods for the same items) and promote it heavily. While I would not keep O Organics if I were Kroger (given Simple Truth Organic has far more SKUs and runs infinitely higher volume), they may decide it is worth keeping around. I may keep Lucerne if I were Kroger though...

[jamcool]

Like A&P, until the 90s, Safeway had a wide variety of private brands, Edwards coffee, Crown Colony spices, Skylark and Ovenjoy breads, White Magic detergent, even had Blossom Time as a secondary milk brand to Lucerne. Even a no-frills brand called Scotch Buy.

[veteran+]

That O Organics story is so weird!

They were first and then just stopped developing the brand. There are so many gaps in their skus that make no sense.

Was there some Safeway "organic guru" that did not survive after the Safeway/Albertsons merger?

[Super S]

I thought they already said they were consolidating Signature Farms into Signature Select, many years ago now. Various canned goods were Signature Farms (canned vegetables for instance) when they first did that weird thing where Signature Select went from being the "premium" line to the "standard private label" line.

Also this part of the article - what?
"The Signature family of brands was introduced to the Albertsons portfolio of stores in 2016 following the merger of Albertsons and Safeway. However, the ‘S’ branding dates back as far as the 1960s when Safeway sold products under the ‘S’ brand including milk, bread, ice cream, coffee, jellies, soft drinks, lunch meat, canned fruits and vegetables, frozen foods and paper products. The ‘S’ brand remained a key private label for Safeway until 2012 when the company retired its namesake brand and merged its products under the Safeway Kitchens, Safeway Farms, Safeway Home and Safeway Care brands, which ultimately became the Signature family of brands. "

Safeway in the 80's, 90's, and through the late 90's had various sub house brands. They did not sell food under the Safeway brand at least in the 80's and 90's until the late 90's. In the 80's and 90's, Town House was the private label for dry grocery, Mrs. Wrights was the private label for bread, Cragmont was the private label for soda, Busy Baker was a private label for budget bread/packaged cookies, Lucerne was dairy, Dairy Glen was the private label for budget dairy/ice milk, they did have the "Safeway" label on drug private label items but that was basically it. Safeway Select came out in the early 90's and it was on "PREMIUM" items only including some soda, ice cream, yogurt, some cookies, etc., and the current Albertsons brand page portrays it as if Safeway Select was their ONLY private label program from the 90's into the 00's which is completely false. No wonder they are so confused about branding if this is what their internal records say.

Also seems like they've forgotten about Signature Reserve. There are still some SKUs but most have been discontinued.

They appear to think this move will somehow save their private label department once Kroger takes over. I don't think it will, and I expect Kroger brands to be rolled out quickly once they take over given their program is so much more effective from a volume perspective.

A more relevant move by Albertsons to save some parts of its private label program after the merger would be to do a full court focus on O Organics and building up that brand/getting the pricing down to realistic levels (quit pricing higher than Whole Foods for the same items) and promote it heavily. While I would not keep O Organics if I were Kroger (given Simple Truth Organic has far more SKUs and runs infinitely higher volume), they may decide it is worth keeping around. I may keep Lucerne if I were Kroger though...

What I always found interesting is that they went to the trouble of redesigning the Cragmont logo and labels maybe a year or two before they rolled out Safeway Select soda. I have to wonder if Shasta didn't like the fact that the new labels had a mountain on them, as they vanished after a very short time.

[storewanderer]

99 Cents Only has Cragmont Clear Soda and Nature's Cupboard bread.

It has also in the past had Jerseymaid dairy (old Vons dairy brand).

[Bagels]

They appear to think this move will somehow save their private label department once Kroger takes over. I don't think it will, and I expect Kroger brands to be rolled out quickly once they take over given their program is so much more effective from a volume perspective.

A more relevant move by Albertsons to save some parts of its private label program after the merger would be to do a full court focus on O Organics and building up that brand/getting the pricing down to realistic levels (quit pricing higher than Whole Foods for the same items) and promote it heavily. While I would not keep O Organics if I were Kroger (given Simple Truth Organic has far more SKUs and runs infinitely higher volume), they may decide it is worth keeping around. I may keep Lucerne if I were Kroger though...

Until the merger is complete, it's going to be business as usual at Albertsons.

[storewanderer]

Until the merger is complete, it's going to be business as usual at Albertsons.

It already isn't business as usual. They have gone through multiple storewide SKU optimization projects where they have cut out variety rather significantly. It feels like they are trying to get their center store mix down closer to Kroger's lesser type of mix. Their moves to continue to centralize buying (after Miller decentralized a lot of it) also fall right into the Kroger playbook.

But you're right, these ongoing changes to their perpetually confused and improperly run private label program are business as usual. And Kroger will put that entire unit out of its misery if they are smart because their entire private label program is so far superior, higher volume, and lower cost to the consumer, unless whoever buys stores decides to keep that private label program going in some form.

[veteran+]

I have not noticed any reduction of variety at Pavilions.

I do know that Albertsons (pre merger, in the desert) had superior variety than any other retailer in the area.

I believe that Albertsons' has been reducing variety as a result of the merger for a while, to better match Safeway-Vons-Pavilions.

[ClownLoach]

I have not noticed any reduction of variety at Pavilions.

I do know that Albertsons (pre merger, in the desert) had superior variety than any other retailer in the area.

I believe that Albertsons' has been reducing variety as a result of the merger for a while, to better match Safeway-Vons-Pavilions.

The only Albertsons stores I'm noticing SKU reductions in are the oversized converted Lucky-SavOn locations like HB, Corona, Temecula etc. where a few aisles get removed to create some wide valleys for soda pallet stacks. These stores have way too much GM and that is what goes away (bicycle parts and other such nonsense that isn't productive).