Save Mart

[ClownLoach]

Safeway would have to figure out what to do with the Sparks and Carson FoodMaxx locations, and the West Reno Save Mart. Rest of the stores are far enough from a Safeway it wouldn’t matter. That being said, if they were to retreat, serious capex would be required for several locations. I’m not sure they would completely pull out of Reno, at least not yet.

Raley’s wouldn’t be an option for the divests either as several of the stores are fairly close to their existing locations. About the only ones Raley’s could pick up are North Carson, Kietzke / McCarran, Spanish Springs, and possibly Plumb / Arlington.

Only a few of the locations would make sense for Safeway. Also the lack of pharmacy is a HUGE issue if they could not reopen pharmacy. If they could reopen pharmacy it would be great. The locations that MAY make sense for Safeway would be:
Kietzke (but Safeway already failed in that area twice... first with Pak N Save then with the normal Safeway on the next lot over from the Save Mart...),
Plumb (this store does a fraction of the volume it did as Albertsons yet there isn't much competition, Save Mart has just run customers off with bad pricing),
Spanish Springs (or would Safeway be better off building its own store elsewhere out there...),
possibly North Carson (not really sure there is enough volume for Safeway in this store, they already failed nearby, but it would be worth a shot; the new Sprouts is going to impact this store for however long that new Sprouts survives which I suspect won't be long)...

What is interesting there is those 4 stores are the ones Save Mart has remodeled in the area in the past few years... but their remodels are low budget and already don't look very good.

There was a time when I thought the Reno/Sparks Save Marts would make sense for Smiths. But I don't think it is a good fit anymore. Volumes have been allowed to continue too low, pharmacy closures are a problem, and the stores need a lot of work. There is no way to add fuel to most of the locations.

Both Food Maxx locations are a problem. Neither do much volume and both are very poorly run. However I've heard these are actually profitable. With how they run them I can see how. Hardly any employees. Perishables are very "managed." Pricing isn't great. Maintenance is very low.

The other Save Marts- NW Reno, Keystone, and South Carson hardly do any volume. NW Reno could make a good Smiths to get Smiths into that part of town but it is a substandard facility, no room to add fuel, etc. I see NW Reno split between Grocery Outlet/Sprouts and/or a TJ Maxx/Marshalls.

Are these non-remodeled Save Marts their worst performing ones?? https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... e-yet.html.
Or are there ones that are doing worse that Save Mart remodeled?? Why hasn't Save Mart remodeled these locations in the link??

This is kinda getting circuitious. There are thousands of factors that determine if a store gets remodeled that are unique to each store and retailer. In general unless they have a "nationwide remodeling campaign" then it is to be expected that there will be many chain stores that do not get remodeled every time there is a new format. Finances, building codes, landlords, sales performance, heck years ago there was a Vons in Laguna Hills, CA that deliberately had only remodeled the decor but hadn't moved items in years and didn't run on planograms exclusively to better service the local elderly community. It was a kind gesture. Albertsons bought Safeway and couldn't close that place fast enough because they were not going to pay for a one of a kind layout and they didn't want to have senior citizens protesting "who moved my cheese?" True story.

There will be high performing, highly competitive locations that never get remodeled because they don't want the sales disruption of a major remodel to change customers habits and move them to the competition while the store is disrupted by the remodel.

You rarely, if ever, can judge the individual store performance of a chain retail store based on whether or not it has been remodeled. Period. Full stop.

[storewanderer]

The three unremodeled Nevada stores are definitely the bottom 3 performing stores under the Save Mart banner of the Nevada group. I'm not sure where the two NV Food Maxx units fit on the bottom performing list though.

Pretty sure they did remodel Rocklin.

The later cheaper remodels haven't aged particularly well. At this point they don't look much better than they did before the remodels.

The initial remodels they did like Oakdale look fantastic.

[Alpha8472]

The Hayward Lucky is a Jewel decor store. There is probably no other store in the state left with this decor.

[storewanderer]

The Hayward Lucky is a Jewel decor store. There is probably no other store in the state left with this decor.

The former Albertsons in Visalia may still have it. Cheaper version then Hayward, Concord, and Pleasant Hill as it was a 2005 build.

[brendenmoney]

The Hayward Lucky is a Jewel decor store. There is probably no other store in the state left with this decor.

The former Albertsons in Visalia may still have it. Cheaper version then Hayward, Concord, and Pleasant Hill as it was a 2005 build.

The Albertsons stores in Santa Maria, Fountain Valley, and Highland all still have at least most of their elements of Jewel interior (unless these stores started any sort of renovation in the past few months). The store in Santa Maria's essentially a time capsule of Albertsons in 2005 since SuperValu didn't replace aisle markers and aisle signage in that store, like they did with many other stores during their ownership of Albertsons.