Lucky Store Closures- Save Mart- 2023- 4 closures so far in 2023!

[storewanderer]

Lucky only has ~60 stores.

It appears there are actually multiple closures that we did not capture here in these threads. This is according to https://patch.com/california/fremont/lu ... y-november

I believe we covered Larkspur.

Also Milpitas-Park Victoria (small run down store) closed in early 2023. Something is up with that shopping center.

Capitola closed in August 2023. Also a small run down store. Was Alpha Beta, Lucky, Albertsons, Save Mart, then Lucky again. Save Mart also stated that the lease was not renewed by the landlord on this store.

Then there is this Dublin closure of the brand new 2018 store a new concept store for the company and the first new build Lucky Store built since 1999 (and probably the last one to ever be built).

And now there is another closure being reported the store in Fremont at 40055 Mission Blvd. is closing November 3. This they are blaming on poor performance. This was not a very nice store. It did have a pharmacy before, I wonder if that did them in. Whatever the case may be I am sure an Asian or other ethnic chain will take over in short order.

[Alpha8472]

Or they might turn the land into condos.

The property manager of the Mission Blvd. location apparently didn't want to allow this store to be remodeled. Perhaps he had other plans such as attracting a higher paying Asian grocery chain.

If Kroger wants to take over Save Mart, it seems like Save Mart is closing down the bad locations so Kroger will find the chain more appealing.

[ClownLoach]

Or they might turn the land into condos.

The property manager of the Mission Blvd. location apparently didn't want to allow this store to be remodeled. Perhaps he had other plans such as attracting a higher paying Asian grocery chain.

If Kroger wants to take over Save Mart, it seems like Save Mart is closing down the bad locations so Kroger will find the chain more appealing.

It sounds like these developers don't care how long it takes to sell these luxury condos or rent luxury apartments because they're happy to have them on their books as assets that can be leveraged. The state has effectively named the Governor as the Mayor of every town in California and therefore if your specific use is to destroy commercial property and remake it into residential you are free and clear to do so, jobs and sales tax revenues be damned.

Everything in the economy and population in California should say that these developments should be stopping, but the fact is that the developers currently have a deal the likes of which they'll never see again and thus as I've stated before numerous times it is open season on shopping centers and retail stores even if they are highly profitable and productive locations. And since traffic and convenience typically dictate the best retail locations they're the ones that will be chosen for demolition even if the majority of the units sit empty for years or decades. These developers don't care if they make the place look like those high-rise metropolis areas in China that could house millions of people but are completely and totally vacant and empty with farmers walking their herds thru the empty streets out front. And since Jeff Bezos is heavily invested in these same developers who like to take down retail complexes they all see nothing wrong with what they're doing as they're helping to drive the destruction of retail for their buddy who is funding them. They don't understand the concept of food deserts and pharmacy deserts because they think all of those concepts are obsolete and everyone will just order food from Amazon Fresh and they can wait a few days for a mail order prescription to arrive from Amazon Pharmacy when they get sick. Someone has to stop this.

Even the possibility of another chain moving into these spaces is far less profitable than the massive cash grab of selling to a developer.

I do however wonder if Kroger would go after Save Mart as a acquisition once the Albertsons deal gets shot down. It's their only other really viable avenue into Norcal as Raley's acquisition of Bashas ruined that opportunity for Kroger. Maybe they were being pursued by Kroger and bought Bashas to throw a wrench in such a deal?

[HCal]

It sounds like these developers don't care how long it takes to sell these luxury condos or rent luxury apartments because they're happy to have them on their books as assets that can be leveraged. The state has effectively named the Governor as the Mayor of every town in California and therefore if your specific use is to destroy commercial property and remake it into residential you are free and clear to do so, jobs and sales tax revenues be damned.

They are only assets that can be leveraged if the market believes they have value.

While there are two sides to every problem, California has a huge housing shortage, and cities have been dragging their feet on housing construction for far too long. It's far more important to have housing for residents than more retail locations. Physical retail has been declining anyway, and most supermarkets other than Costco are not busy and could easily handle an increase in traffic.

I do however wonder if Kroger would go after Save Mart as a acquisition once the Albertsons deal gets shot down. It's their only other really viable avenue into Norcal as Raley's acquisition of Bashas ruined that opportunity for Kroger. Maybe they were being pursued by Kroger and bought Bashas to throw a wrench in such a deal?

Why would they need to acquire Bashas in order to prevent themselves from being acquired?

[storewanderer]

Or they might turn the land into condos.

The property manager of the Mission Blvd. location apparently didn't want to allow this store to be remodeled. Perhaps he had other plans such as attracting a higher paying Asian grocery chain.

If Kroger wants to take over Save Mart, it seems like Save Mart is closing down the bad locations so Kroger will find the chain more appealing.

I do however wonder if Kroger would go after Save Mart as a acquisition once the Albertsons deal gets shot down. It's their only other really viable avenue into Norcal as Raley's acquisition of Bashas ruined that opportunity for Kroger. Maybe they were being pursued by Kroger and bought Bashas to throw a wrench in such a deal?

I think the ship has sailed on Kroger going after Save Mart. Save Mart has made systematic errors that prevent it from being a productive "member" of the Kroger operation. Closing down pharmacies, converting stores Kroger could have made work (many being large combo type stores such as Carmichael, Vallejo, and one or two in that Santa Cruz-Salinas-Marina area) to Food Maxx, and a very odd/pointless loyalty card program.

Kroger could buy both Raleys and Save Mart without much problem. Save Mart has become such a non-factor in Sacramento/Bay Area, they are practically not even present. Reno would be a problem but any Raleys or Save Mart unit that competes in close proximity to Smiths which are all larger stores with high volume pharmacies and gas stations which these Save Mart units all lack and the Raleys mostly lack.

[bryceleinan]

Or they might turn the land into condos.

The property manager of the Mission Blvd. location apparently didn't want to allow this store to be remodeled. Perhaps he had other plans such as attracting a higher paying Asian grocery chain.

If Kroger wants to take over Save Mart, it seems like Save Mart is closing down the bad locations so Kroger will find the chain more appealing.

I do however wonder if Kroger would go after Save Mart as a acquisition once the Albertsons deal gets shot down. It's their only other really viable avenue into Norcal as Raley's acquisition of Bashas ruined that opportunity for Kroger. Maybe they were being pursued by Kroger and bought Bashas to throw a wrench in such a deal?

I think the ship has sailed on Kroger going after Save Mart. Save Mart has made systematic errors that prevent it from being a productive "member" of the Kroger operation. Closing down pharmacies, converting stores Kroger could have made work (many being large combo type stores such as Carmichael, Vallejo, and one or two in that Santa Cruz-Salinas-Marina area) to Food Maxx, and a very odd/pointless loyalty card program.

Kroger could buy both Raleys and Save Mart without much problem. Save Mart has become such a non-factor in Sacramento/Bay Area, they are practically not even present. Reno would be a problem but any Raleys or Save Mart unit that competes in close proximity to Smiths which are all larger stores with high volume pharmacies and gas stations which these Save Mart units all lack and the Raleys mostly lack.

I always wondered why Kroger didn't go down this exact path if they want NorCal so badly after the Ralph's debacle. As @storewanderer mentioned, Reno/Carson City would be the only real problem area, and then maybe a couple of other areas with stores across from one another.

[reymann]

i feel like the save mart closures may ramp up under this ownership and maybe raley's takes over the remaining stores with some overlaps getting divested to safeway but, foodmaxx would suffer under raley's ownership knowing their track record with food source.

[storewanderer]

I always wondered why Kroger didn't go down this exact path if they want NorCal so badly after the Ralph's debacle. As @storewanderer mentioned, Reno/Carson City would be the only real problem area, and then maybe a couple of other areas with stores across from one another.

I don't think they "want NorCal so badly." If they did, they wouldn't have closed Ralphs/Cala/Bell. Or divested Fry's. Their tract record is very bad in NorCal and questionable in SoCal at best.

The Ralphs/Cala/Bell operation could have easily complimented Raleys and/or Save Mart.

[storewanderer]

i feel like the save mart closures may ramp up under this ownership and maybe raley's takes over the remaining stores with some overlaps getting divested to safeway but, foodmaxx would suffer under raley's ownership knowing their track record with food source.

I'm not sure what Save Mart is doing lately.

I don't think Save Mart has much that is a good fit for Raleys. I can think of a small handfull of stores that are in solid upper middle class type areas that would be good fits for Raleys. Other than that Raleys should not take anything over, especially in lower middle class/lower class areas as Raleys just does not run stores well in those types of neighborhoods and the way they run those (so mismerchandised, not well maintained, feel like true "unwanted" stores) is not consistent with the image they try to give off.

Save Mart needs to figure out what it wants to be/what it wants to do. I don't see anyone buying it in its current form. And after the pharmacy closures the concept of parceling a few stores out to stronger operators like Kroger went out the window.

[bryceleinan]

I always wondered why Kroger didn't go down this exact path if they want NorCal so badly after the Ralph's debacle. As @storewanderer mentioned, Reno/Carson City would be the only real problem area, and then maybe a couple of other areas with stores across from one another.

I don't think they "want NorCal so badly." If they did, they wouldn't have closed Ralphs/Cala/Bell. Or divested Fry's. Their tract record is very bad in NorCal and questionable in SoCal at best.

The Ralphs/Cala/Bell operation could have easily complimented Raleys and/or Save Mart.

I thought one of the reasons Kroger was merging with Safebertsons was for NorCal. They already had a pretty good chunk of the Northwest with Freddy's. I still think they would be better off with Raley's and Save Mart than trying to make Safebertsons work, but that's for the merger threads.