San Clemente Albertsons converting to Pavilions

[storewanderer]

There is a modified interior floating in NorCal.
https://patch.com/california/lamorinda/ ... ette-store

Also there is the Market Street interior as used in TX and Boise which has similarities. Still remodels occurring under that interior

[Alpha8472]

Wow. I never knew the tiny crowded downtown Walnut Creek was going to be remodeled. That tiny old store was supposed to be bulldozed and rebuilt with a parking garage years ago. Apparently, Albertsons thinks that a tiny crowded store is fine. The original Safeway company said a tiny store would never survive and they needed a total rebuild and expansion.

I still think that area is claustrophobic and crowded.

Back around 2004 Safeway was competing with Albertsons and Andronico's. Now Safeway is the only full service supermarket left in downtown Walnut Creek. Albertsons and Andronico's closed down due to customers hating them both... high prices and dislike of the brand...

That Lafayette Safeway used to have a Lucky Supermarket right next to it. Lucky and Safeway coexistence for decades. Then Lucky was converted to Albertsons and closed down a short time later due to lack of business. The locals hated Albertsons but loved the locally owned Safeway.

[ClownLoach]

There is a modified interior floating in NorCal.
https://patch.com/california/lamorinda/ ... ette-store

Also there is the Market Street interior as used in TX and Boise which has similarities. Still remodels occurring under that interior

From what I've seen of the Albertsons Market Street store in Boise, it has much larger fresh and full service perimeter departments than the relaunched Pavilions. It is probably more like the original Pavilions concept of a "gourmet superstore".

Pavilions today still is really just a large Albertsons or Vons with a grossly expanded wine and liquor category, usually a special vendor for meat and seafood (like Harris Ranch and Santa Monica Seafood) and in the newer remodeled stores the other center store SKUs sometimes get reduced to make the larger liquor set happen. That liquor department is still the key differentiator which is why many stores that seem like they're upscale don't make the cut anymore like Anaheim Hills - because they might be more "family stores" that don't have countless customers who will buy expensive wines and spirits by the cart load.

These Safeway stores in Norcal with the decor sound like they're basically just a nicer Safeway, and if they were to try to rebrand like "Safeway Pavilions" or something like that it would dilute the Pavilions nameplate again.

What we really need is to see what the Market Street format would do in the right location in SoCal. They could also use the Pavilions name to test it out. It would need a high profile location with money and volume. Calabasas?

[storewanderer]

Market Street is getting an absolute slaughter from HEB around Dallas. I don't expect them to make it and I can't wait to see what fool buys these likely divests. Tough location luck. I am not sure this is what I'd call a working expandable format at this point.

Market Street isn't integrated into Albertsons at all. Separate IT, separate perimeter, different loyalty program, their gas pumps are different and still swipe card no chip card, NCR self checkouts... I assume all of United still isn't integrated. Very interesting. They have a few sincerely signs hanging and the receipt advertising signature health.

[veteran+]

So no one knows what the interior style is for the West Hollywood Pavilions Marketplace store?

STEPS....................are you around to answer?

[Bagels]

Gotta admire Albertsons for trying to stay in the game and be competitive. There’s what, three nearby Ralph’s - one that’s relatively new and one that was completely rebuilt - and they dwarf Albertsons in business. Frankly I’m surprised Albertsons was able to keep both stores open for so long… probably had more to do with shutting out a competitor than anything else.

[rwsandiego]

So no one knows what the interior style is for the West Hollywood Pavilions Marketplace store?

STEPS....................are you around to answer?

According to this photo from five days ago(thanks, Google Maps), it has the upscale Safeway/Pavilions interior.

[veteran+]

So no one knows what the interior style is for the West Hollywood Pavilions Marketplace store?

STEPS....................are you around to answer?

According to this photo from five days ago(thanks, Google Maps), it has the upscale Safeway/Pavilions interior.

Thanks!

[ClownLoach]

Market Street is getting an absolute slaughter from HEB around Dallas. I don't expect them to make it and I can't wait to see what fool buys these likely divests. Tough location luck. I am not sure this is what I'd call a working expandable format at this point.

Market Street isn't integrated into Albertsons at all. Separate IT, separate perimeter, different loyalty program, their gas pumps are different and still swipe card no chip card, NCR self checkouts... I assume all of United still isn't integrated. Very interesting. They have a few sincerely signs hanging and the receipt advertising signature health.

I'm not talking about the Texas version. I'm talking about their attempt in Boise to make an Albertsons version which looked pretty nice. Seemed like they stole a lot of the Provigo format and even lighting (Montréal upscale version of Loblaws).

[ClownLoach]

Gotta admire Albertsons for trying to stay in the game and be competitive. There’s what, three nearby Ralph’s - one that’s relatively new and one that was completely rebuilt - and they dwarf Albertsons in business. Frankly I’m surprised Albertsons was able to keep both stores open for so long… probably had more to do with shutting out a competitor than anything else.

That Camino de Las Mares location was probably the first Ralphs to convert to concrete floors because of all the problems with the building. The entire center was rumored to be on the chopping block to be redeveloped into a mega condominium complex last I heard; at one point Trader Joe's was warning their customers that their year to year lease hadn't been renewed and they expected to close. (The unusual leases are to enable a future redevelopment). I have never seen it busy and the parking lot was seemingly designed by someone intent on making a public destruction derby; the spaces change direction three times in that lot and mix between angled and straight in parking. It's probably the most hated parking lot in South OC aside from the Aliso Target.

Talega Ralphs is odd because of the attitude of the residents; they are living on a site next to the largest garbage dump in Orange County which spews toxic methane and other fumes into their homes yet they act like it's the most exclusive upscale community in SoCal. If that Ralphs was a Food4Less they'd still shop it exclusively and frown upon anyone who walks in that appears to be an outsider. I thought it was weird that they remodeled it to Fred Meyer decor; it's different from the Fresh Fare in La Jolla. I doubt it does any business at all from customers outside of the Talega bridge as the rest of SC doesn't go that way unless their life depends on it. The Pavilions branding is probably intended to entice them to come out. I do find it amusing that they have adopted the nearby Target as the "Talega store" When it isn't part of Talega at all.

And the last one is still a small store with limited parking that reduces it's overall capacity in the southern end of town. The residents made such a stink when Ralphs wanted to make it a modern store that they made them provide free shuttle bus service to the Las Mares location the entire time it was closed.

Ralphs had at least one more store including at I-5 and Avenida Pico that closed, and I'm almost sure they closed a second store but I can't recall the location. Ralphs also lost their lease just up the freeway in SJC and their store is now a mini Target which I'm sure does no volume whatsoever. Albertsons has been able to do just fine in the center of town competing directly with Walmart with two stores next door to each other despite the area being notorious for both high rents and near impossible hiring situations; Avenida Pico 5 years ago was a parade of "Now Hiring" banners at fast food places offering $20 an hour and I'm sure they have to pay more now. Nobody who lives in the area can afford to work a retail job, so nearly all the workforce drives in from other lower cost of living areas like San Juan Capistrano (really - there are many lower end apartments along miles of Camino Capistrano) and Lake Forest. It was my experience that we had to start people at least $4/hour higher there than anywhere else in OC and within a couple months they'd be begging to transfer to another OC store closer to home (and expecting to keep the premium pay too).

San Clemente has a strange attitude. My favorite criticism was the toll road debate where they said it would destroy their city if it was divided up the middle by a highway. One proposal was to extend the current 241 toll road to cut over the mountain and instead of meeting up with I-5 (which they wouldn't allow) instead it would connect in Murrieta or Temecula which would be a godsend for the entire OC and Riverside county areas as it would reduce many residents commute by 80+ miles a day round-trip, a dramatic reduction in air pollution for all of SoCal as it removed idling cars crawling along the 91 and 15 freeways, but then a whole bunch of nutcases showed up to meetings claiming pollution and environmental causes are fraudulent ideas and that it's really all a conspiracy to bulldoze their town later and divide it up with highways. (As if they have the money to buy up multi million dollar homes for roadways, and what roadways would they be building since they already have I-5? And then they'd change the direction and go to I-5 anyway which is complete nonsense) I guess nobody in town has notified I-5 already divides the whole city and the fact that it's really the only north-south arterial in the whole city? Weird place and I don't miss it.