🛒 Kroger-Albertsons Merger: California Impact

[submariner]

A place to discuss the impact of the Kroger-Albertsons merger, specifically on the California region.

[HCal]

This week's mailer only says "VONS" at the top instead of both Vons and Albertsons. Haven't seen this since they launched joint ads not too long after merging. I wonder if this means anything...

[retailfanmitchell019]

This week's mailer only says "VONS" at the top instead of both Vons and Albertsons. Haven't seen this since they launched joint ads not too long after merging. I wonder if this means anything...

Looking on the Albertsons and Vons websites, SoCal ads are still Albertsons/Vons, with the Albertsons name put first. The Albertsons brand in SoCal isn’t going away anytime soon, I expect the Vons name to disappear here someday and get converted to Albertsons as the Vons banner is lower volume than Albertsons. I don’t think it will make a difference at this point.

Ads for Bishop/Mammoth are just Vons. Albertsons and Vons have separate Big Book of Savings. Perhaps you were mailed one of those?

[ClownLoach]

This week's mailer only says "VONS" at the top instead of both Vons and Albertsons. Haven't seen this since they launched joint ads not too long after merging. I wonder if this means anything...

Weekly ad here is Albertsons-Vons. Same in the app.

[storewanderer]

This week's mailer only says "VONS" at the top instead of both Vons and Albertsons. Haven't seen this since they launched joint ads not too long after merging. I wonder if this means anything...

Looking on the Albertsons and Vons websites, SoCal ads are still Albertsons/Vons, with the Albertsons name put first. The Albertsons brand in SoCal isn’t going away anytime soon, I expect the Vons name to disappear here someday and get converted to Albertsons as the Vons banner is lower volume than Albertsons. I don’t think it will make a difference at this point.

Ads for Bishop/Mammoth are just Vons. Albertsons and Vons have separate Big Book of Savings. Perhaps you were mailed one of those?

I suspect the biggest reason Vons exists is due to the club card. The Albertsons banner is club card free and that seems to be a thorny point for Safeway who is fascinated with the club card and hasn't budged on that policy despite Albertsons/Jewel/Acme/Shaws/United/Market Street being club card free.

I would not put the Albertsons name on many of the Vons Stores (complete junk stores). Albertsons name sat on junk stores for far too long; the stores that name sits on now are for the most part above average large nice stores (I know there are still a few not nice ones out there but nothing like before).

Similar to why BP kept the Arco brand- it kept that brand due to the no credit card policy. If they made it BP they would have had to accept credit cards, which the station operators revolted against at the time, so BP kept that Arco brand and the no credit card policy, until it became such a competitive disadvantage that some station operators started to demand a way to accept credit cards.

[storewanderer]

This week's mailer only says "VONS" at the top instead of both Vons and Albertsons. Haven't seen this since they launched joint ads not too long after merging. I wonder if this means anything...

See if that continues in the coming weeks. They run a Vons-only ad for Bishop and Mammoth Lakes but it is a single page flyer. Someone may have made a mistake with the copy/paste between ad versions.

In Las Vegas the Vons/Albertsons co branded ad continues. There are a lot of things like carts from both banners in the same stores, stuff like employees in hats or uniforms with the other store's name from the store they are in (maybe shared between stores), etc. They still have newly designed sincerely bags specific to Vons only or Albertsons only. This is interesting since the SoCal bags now say Vons/Albertsons. Also in Texas the newly designed sincerely bags have the 3 logos Albertsons/Tom Thumb/Randalls.

[Romr123]

For whatever reason didn't get any flyer from Vonsbertsons this week. All others (Ralphs/Stater/Vallarta/Aldi/Cardenas were in the overwrap as normal). Palm Springs/Coachella Valley

[retailfanmitchell019]

I suspect the biggest reason Vons exists is due to the club card. The Albertsons banner is club card free and that seems to be a thorny point for Safeway who is fascinated with the club card and hasn't budged on that policy despite Albertsons/Jewel/Acme/Shaws/United/Market Street being club card free.

I would not put the Albertsons name on many of the Vons Stores (complete junk stores). Albertsons name sat on junk stores for far too long; the stores that name sits on now are for the most part above average large nice stores (I know there are still a few not nice ones out there but nothing like before).

The only “not nice” Albertsons I can think of is the store in Ridgecrest on Norma Ave. This store has a blue/gray repaint with aisle hangers from the Jewel interior. It is a former Fazio’s that Albertsons bought in 1978. Albertsons has another store in Ridgecrest on China Lake (1992 build, with a nice LLC remodel).
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alber ... &entry=ttu
I wonder when this one will be in the path of a bulldozer. This is a store Vons or Ralphs would’ve closed 20 years ago. Vons was in Ridgecrest at one point, I think they closed in 2006 or so.

The Vons in Oceanside on College Blvd/Highway 76 would be a great Albertsons conversion, it is a 1995 build that’s about 50000 sqft. It was recently remodeled to Colorful Lifestyle, all they’d have to change is the exterior sign and bakery/deli programs.
That Vons has held up strong against the Walmart in the same shopping center (in the 90s, there were a LOT of shopping centers built in SoCal with a Vons next to a Walmart for some reason).

Another good Vons to Albertsons conversion would be Carlsbad- El Camino (across from Carlsbad Mall). Late 70’s build with a nice Colorful Lifestyle remodel.

[submariner]

I visited @ClownLoach's favorite Vons yesterday, the tiny Chapman & Easter store. I remember posting about the 'lifestyle on the cheap' interior when I moved here 11 years ago, and I agree the most recent remodel is an improvement (even including some historical photos of the area on the walls). They also reworked the entrances, formalizing their covid-era protocol of entry only on the right, and the left doors for exit only.

Strangely enough, the "Exit Only" door decals are the Vons white-on-red collars, but the "Enter Only" labels are in Albertsons' blue-on-white.

Overall, the store is still very well maintained, IMO, but it issue very small compared to nearby stores. I almost think the Coronado store (before its most recent remodel) was bigger!

Size aside, I do think this store will remain in the portfolio after the merger. It still does good business, enough to warrant the nicer remodel compared to the last and the overall condition of the store.

[ClownLoach]

I went to the La Jolla Ralphs and new Pavilions yesterday. I mentioned before they're way too far apart to be considered overlaps, and now they're totally a tale of two cities.

The La Jolla Ralphs Fresh Fare I believe is 2nd to the store by UCLA in volume, a very large old Smiths conversion if I recall correctly, probably a 70,000 Sq ft store with a full Kosher dept. Including separate service bakery, deli and meat with a Rabbi supervising.

The store has gone straight to Hell for reasons both external and internal. The external reason is the new train station in the center. The store had multiple angry and disturbed looking individuals walking around, some who you could smell aisles away. One bumped into me rudely as he couldn't keep his balance walking the aisles. The store has now installed alarming gates around the front end like Walmart but with large panic bars as you would expect on a fire exit. They removed the test for the self-scan groceries, closed all but one bank of self checkouts which is closely supervised now. The liquor department has been slashed from the fresh fare assortment although there's still a ridiculous amount of beer (it's next to UC San Diego). I don't recall seeing the bar that they had installed in the middle of the store so I'm assuming it's been removed although I didn't remember it until now. The liquor has been remerchandised onto a short gondola with limited selection of lower end brands and a 3rd party security guard was marching around the department. I think the high sales volume of alcohol prevents them from putting everything in a glass case otherwise they probably would have. This store always felt upscale and delightful, now it feels like something in a rough neighborhood. The Fresh Fare signage needs to be removed as it is anything but. The Starbucks next door has been changed to a "inhospitable" version where all furniture has been removed, restrooms are closed, and more amusingly all the electrical outlets have been covered. The frozen yogurt shop inside Ralphs left over all these years from Smiths apparently closed and the space is being converted to a replacement for the kiosk Starbucks inside the Ralphs, which will place two Starbucks all of 30 ft apart. I'm expecting the company store is going to close, used to be packed with college students but the homeless express train line killed it in no time. Somehow Westfield is keeping the problems out at UTC but the owner of this Plaza isn't. Maybe Ralphs could build a new store on that site.

All that pales to the store conditions which are inexcusable and the worst I've seen yet with Kroger. This store was remodeled not long ago to the newest decor being used in Fred Meyer and other Kroger formats, with some additional "local" art from a design school if I recall correctly. The floor is peeling up everywhere and only half of the areas are held down with black duct tape. Others are loose and bubbling everywhere, capturing dirt and filth under and around fresh food displays. The roof leaks I noticed last winter have not been fixed and even more alarming the drop ceiling has large patches of visible green blue fuzzy mold everywhere, the entire depth of the store in the frozen area. This is an incredible health hazard and the entire store should be closed until all leaks are addressed and more importantly the site can be remediated for this obvious excess of mold. I was so disgusted that I put the few items I had selected back and walked out empty handed.

Later I hadn't planned it but I visited the newly converted Pavilions on the opposite side of town. Although the entrances are odd and seem to open up into nothing on the left side, and the ceiling is very low which forced a reduced size decor package, the store is very nice. They have what I would say is hands down the finest meat department I've seen at any of these chains. They had 4 different seafood vendors featured, each with their own case. They have a huge section of Wagyu, Snake River Farms, and Harris Ranch prime meats including whole sections in cryovac available, and the butcher was out in front of the counter greeting every customer and constantly facing and straightening the self serve cases. The seafood and beef were absolutely beautiful and the cases had the old fashioned decorations cut out of peppers and kale and such. Obviously a real professional running this department. Mind you this isn't a grand opening, it's just a regular Saturday night and it's relatively slow because it's dinner time. Produce was impeccable, and Bakery was outstanding - they have a different type of oven I have never seen at a Pavilions or Vons which is enabling them to have a large selection of actual scratch made breads, it's a 4 level oven with different temps for each. Plus three rotary ones next to it for a total of 7 ovens all brand new. I got some sourdough rolls and aside from inconsistent length (two are like three inches shorter than the rest) they are fabulous, with a bubbly crackling crust and delightful sourness. The store also has a large Kosher section obviously to compete with the Ralphs although no separate bakery or meat or deli. The lighting is nice and they actually maintained the louvers on the lifestyle era fixtures to reduce glare, the LED strips elsewhere plus a new high spectrum intensity specialty LED rail to light all of the perimeter signage so it really pops. Where the two different types of LED are near each other it's obvious that the signage lights are a specialty type with far more color spectrum. The only flaw was the concrete floor conversion which shows decades of trenches and patches all different colors of cement, really takes away from the upscale expectation. But it was a delightful store with many specialty brands and items I'm not familiar with all interspersed on the shelves. Easily the best Pavilions in the chain from a merchandise perspective even if the building shows it's age as a old Vons with new shelves and fixtures.

Anyway a tale of two cities in La Jolla. I wouldn't be surprised if they were forced to divest a store if they didn't let the big Ralphs box go because it's clearly on a horrible downward trajectory and looks like it's going to get shoplifted out of business thanks to the new multi billion dollar train line that has also ruined the parking situation despite adding a 4 story deck. Looks like a very dark day there at Ralphs while you see a bright future at the Pavilions.