New Ralphs/Kroger Interior

[ClownLoach]

The only thing Kroger did well was getting balanced lighting into their stores. The rest is cheap, cheap, and cheaper.

The reality is that, with very rare exceptions, Kroger and Albertsons companies have done very few true remodels over the past couple decades. It took observations of several recent Stater Bros projects to recognize this. Kroger and Albertsons don't remove and replace sheetrock anymore, don't really change the physical building at all anymore.

Kroger also seems to like to switch out displays frequently. I can't even count how many different sets of produce fixtures I've seen in Smiths. I like some of their fixtures better than others. As I mentioned previously they just replaced the bakery self serve bulk cases in all of the Smiths in my area.

Safeway did pretty heavy work with the Lifestyle remodels to their better stores (the rural and not better stores got cheaper jobs) and I think Albertsons is trying to get by on the guts of those remodels.

When Save Mart started its remodel program in 2017 it did these heavy Stater type remodels you are talking about the first couple of times. The two stores they did were Oakdale and Ceres. I think Ceres they took an old Rite Aid space over next to their store and used part of their old store and the entire Rite Aid to build out a very nice new in every way store. Oakdale I am not sure what they did but again it is an as good as new store in every way. Then when they did more remodels it got cheaper- turned into a wall repaint and cheap refloor (cover old floor with those hard wood looking strips) project BUT they do replace all refrigeration that is visible to the customer (sometimes they do that some months before the remodel). They don't replace much of any equipment, don't even re-tile behind the service counters, and don't touch the bathrooms.

I wonder if Kroger uses Smith's as a fixture test store. I haven't seen produce, bakery, or really any cases of any kind changed at Ralphs in years. They did get rid of open seafood cases but that's about it.

[brendenmoney]

The only thing Kroger did well was getting balanced lighting into their stores. The rest is cheap, cheap, and cheaper.

The reality is that, with very rare exceptions, Kroger and Albertsons companies have done very few true remodels over the past couple decades. It took observations of several recent Stater Bros projects to recognize this. Kroger and Albertsons don't remove and replace sheetrock anymore, don't really change the physical building at all anymore.

Kroger also seems to like to switch out displays frequently. I can't even count how many different sets of produce fixtures I've seen in Smiths. I like some of their fixtures better than others. As I mentioned previously they just replaced the bakery self serve bulk cases in all of the Smiths in my area.

Safeway did pretty heavy work with the Lifestyle remodels to their better stores (the rural and not better stores got cheaper jobs) and I think Albertsons is trying to get by on the guts of those remodels.

When Save Mart started its remodel program in 2017 it did these heavy Stater type remodels you are talking about the first couple of times. The two stores they did were Oakdale and Ceres. I think Ceres they took an old Rite Aid space over next to their store and used part of their old store and the entire Rite Aid to build out a very nice new in every way store. Oakdale I am not sure what they did but again it is an as good as new store in every way. Then when they did more remodels it got cheaper- turned into a wall repaint and cheap refloor (cover old floor with those hard wood looking strips) project BUT they do replace all refrigeration that is visible to the customer (sometimes they do that some months before the remodel). They don't replace much of any equipment, don't even re-tile behind the service counters, and don't touch the bathrooms.

In terms of Save Mart, when they first started their new remodel program, I thought because they at first stepped up the game, with essentially new stores from the ground up in Oakdale, Ceres, Los Banos, and eventually the Pleasanton Lucky. They also built new stores in Redding, Modesto, and a new Lucky in Livermore. Fast forward to now in 2024, the Livermore Lucky has closed, their remodel program turned into the traditional cheap remodels many other larger grocery companies do. To be fair, not much competition in the traditional supermarket sector exists for them in the Central Valley, which is their core market, which leaves little incentives for them to do anything big there. Obviously the Bay Area and further north in Sacramento and Modesto, Safeway and Raleys have a presence there, so they have more incentive to put investment there. Now hypothetically if Albertsons decided to do a thorough renovation of their 4 remaining Vons in Fresno/Clovis, that might incentivize Save Mart to make more investments there, but if their main competition is also doing cheap remodels, there is no incentive to go above and beyond if they don't have to.

Stater is certainly the leader in supermarket remodels, well in California at least. They are almost starting to resemble what Publix does in the complete rebuilds of their stores they are doing, however Publix does it at a much larger scale. Even if Stater decides not to completely rebuild the store i.e. Oceanside, Whittier, Temecula, etc, their remodels are not cheap, and typically take time to complete. Many of their store remodels hold up well over time as well. Many of the former Albertsons and Lucky units that Stater still has have since undergone multiple remodels, some larger than others. Now there are the two Stater locations in Norwalk and La Habra which still have their "not so Blue and Grey Market interior," which in the 25 years Stater has owned these stores, their remodels have only consisted of occasionally repainting the Albertsons wall signage and designs, or even the Paramount Stater that still has more elements of the Albertsons Awnings interior intact than some Albertsons that still have that interior do now. I do believe Norwalk has gotten new lighting, floors, relocated entry doors, and a second repaint, so at least that location has had a minor refresh. I do wonder if La Habra is on the next batch of stores that essentially will just get rebuilt, as that might be one of the oldest former Albertsons still in their network. It will be interesting to see the finished product of Stater's Temecula store when it is finished.

To be fair to Albertsons and Kroger, they have done some complete rebuilds of stores over the years. Obviously, they have not completed them at the amount Publix has accomplished, but Kroger does demolish old stores and rebuild newer ones (mostly from a traditional supermarket to their Marketplace model) in some of their "core" markets. Albertsons every so often might build a replacement store for an older one nearby. There is just one thing though, none of these investments happen in Southern California, I think the last Ralphs store that was rebuilt from the ground up was the Sherman Oaks Fresh Fare which opened in 2014. The Westwood Ralphs also underwent a significant transformation, but the entire building wasn't completely rebuilt unlike Sherman Oaks and San Clemente. Albertsons has opened several new Safeway's in NorCal, so I'll give them credit for that.

[SoCalShopper1023]

One thing I do wonder is if Safeway never merged with Albertsons, and continued operating as an independent entity in this current decade, would they have continued to use the Lifestyle format in all their newly remodeled stores? Or would they have moved away onto another new prototype?

Because as of this current date and age, the Lifestyle format is now about 20 years old, and a lot of the stores that are still on Lifestyle right now, are looking very worn out.

[storewanderer]

One thing I do wonder is if Safeway never merged with Albertsons, and continued operating as an independent entity in this current decade, would they have continued to use the Lifestyle format in all their newly remodeled stores? Or would they have moved away onto another new prototype?

Because as of this current date and age, the Lifestyle format is now about 20 years old, and a lot of the stores that are still on Lifestyle right now, are looking very worn out.

Even under Albertsons, Safeway did some new stores using the Lifestyle format as those were planned during/right after the merger closed. Some Vons/Safeway units that got divested to Haggen then reclaimed and reopened as Vons/Safeway reverted back to the Lifestyle format (which Haggen removed, sort of). Then there is the Safeway in Oak Harbor, WA that was an Albertsons conversion and it too has a (cheap) Lifestyle interior.

However if it weren't for the Albertsons merger I don't think Safeway would still be around today as a stand alone entity. I expect Safeway would have sold off East to someone else, exited Denver Division and Texas Division, sold off Phoenix to someone else, exited NV entirely, and then the smaller west coast Safeway entity in CA/OR/WA/HI/AK would have been sold off to some other party possibly Ahold or Apollo. At which point a major shake up would have occurred. But would the Lifestyle interior still have been their interior of choice? Given how few new stores/remodels Safeway was doing before it sold to Albertsons I think they would have just kept using Lifestyle until a major branding/management shake up occurred.

I actually think the Lifestyle interior looks better than the "Modern" interior. Lifestyle is drab and depressing but it does look somewhat upscale. That "Modern" interior is just too bland and boring. The colors don't fit together well and the stores feel sterile. It looks more appropriate for a clothing store catering to senior citizens than for a grocery store. Even Wal Mart has a better looking interior package going on.

[retailfanmitchell019]

However if it weren't for the Albertsons merger I don't think Safeway would still be around today as a stand alone entity. I expect Safeway would have sold off East to someone else, exited Denver Division and Texas Division, sold off Phoenix to someone else, exited NV entirely, and then the smaller west coast Safeway entity in CA/OR/WA/HI/AK would have been sold off to some other party possibly Ahold or Apollo.

Safeway East would’ve probably been broken up piecemeal, Dominick’s-style (to buyers such as Acme, Weis, Giant-MD, Supervalu, Harris Teeter etc.).
Denver Division- some stores sold to Albertsons and King Soopers. That, or AWG would’ve bought the division and Homeland-ed it.
Texas Division- sold to multiple buyers: Albertsons, HEB, Kroger, Brookshire, etc.
IDK who would’ve bought Phoenix Division. Fry’s would’ve bought the small town stores.

Safeway Inc. would still be on its own had they not sold Canada though…

As for Albertsons, had the Safeway acquisition not happened, they’d be more like the mid to late 90s Albertsons, with decent quality and competitive pricing.

[storewanderer]

However if it weren't for the Albertsons merger I don't think Safeway would still be around today as a stand alone entity. I expect Safeway would have sold off East to someone else, exited Denver Division and Texas Division, sold off Phoenix to someone else, exited NV entirely, and then the smaller west coast Safeway entity in CA/OR/WA/HI/AK would have been sold off to some other party possibly Ahold or Apollo.

Safeway East would’ve probably been broken up piecemeal, Dominick’s-style (to buyers such as Acme, Weis, Giant-MD, Supervalu, Harris Teeter etc.).
Denver Division- some stores sold to Albertsons and King Soopers. That, or AWG would’ve bought the division and Homeland-ed it.
Texas Division- sold to multiple buyers: Albertsons, HEB, Kroger, Brookshire, etc.
IDK who would’ve bought Phoenix Division. Fry’s would’ve bought the small town stores.

Safeway Inc. would still be on its own had they not sold Canada though…

Canada was Safeway's best, most profitable asset so it was clear they were at a stage where they were just going to sell assets and if they could get the price they wanted it didn't matter what asset.

I think Safeway East would have had a successful sale rate selling a large percentage of its stores to other operators.

This is an interesting theory had Albertsons LLC just taken the TX/AZ/CO chunks of Safeway and not the entire thing... how would that have gone...

[SoCalShopper1023]

One thing I do wonder is if Safeway never merged with Albertsons, and continued operating as an independent entity in this current decade, would they have continued to use the Lifestyle format in all their newly remodeled stores? Or would they have moved away onto another new prototype?

Because as of this current date and age, the Lifestyle format is now about 20 years old, and a lot of the stores that are still on Lifestyle right now, are looking very worn out.

Even under Albertsons, Safeway did some new stores using the Lifestyle format as those were planned during/right after the merger closed. Some Vons/Safeway units that got divested to Haggen then reclaimed and reopened as Vons/Safeway reverted back to the Lifestyle format (which Haggen removed, sort of). Then there is the Safeway in Oak Harbor, WA that was an Albertsons conversion and it too has a (cheap) Lifestyle interior.

However if it weren't for the Albertsons merger I don't think Safeway would still be around today as a stand alone entity. I expect Safeway would have sold off East to someone else, exited Denver Division and Texas Division, sold off Phoenix to someone else, exited NV entirely, and then the smaller west coast Safeway entity in CA/OR/WA/HI/AK would have been sold off to some other party possibly Ahold or Apollo. At which point a major shake up would have occurred. But would the Lifestyle interior still have been their interior of choice? Given how few new stores/remodels Safeway was doing before it sold to Albertsons I think they would have just kept using Lifestyle until a major branding/management shake up occurred.

I actually think the Lifestyle interior looks better than the "Modern" interior. Lifestyle is drab and depressing but it does look somewhat upscale. That "Modern" interior is just too bland and boring. The colors don't fit together well and the stores feel sterile. It looks more appropriate for a clothing store catering to senior citizens than for a grocery store. Even Wal Mart has a better looking interior package going on.

I feel the same way about the Modern/Florida interior. The decor just feels so bland and generic. My local Vons recently got remodeled into that decor package, and even after a couple months since they completed the remodel, the store somehow looks and feels unfinished.

I have sensitivity to lighting, so I’ve been shopping less and less there since the remodel due to all the bright lighting.

[Alpha8472]

The former Safeway Flagship store in Dublin, California received the Modern Decor, however it really looks unfinished. They did not replace the flooring. The fake wood is in terrible condition and the brown tiles are all scratched and scraped.

The Safeway in nearby San Ramon got the Pavilions decor only a short time later along with the Alamo, California store. The Alamo store is by far the nicest remodel done in by Safeway in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. It is more of a Flagship store now since so many former Safeway executives live nearby. The store is almost like a true Pavilions.

The next closest Safeway in Walnut Creek received the cheap Modern Decor, but with a new concrete floor. Another Safeway in Walnut Creek received the Pavilions decor along with the nearby Lafayette, California store. So this area has the best looking Safeway stores in probably the entire Safeway fleet.

If Kroger takes over these stores with Kroger remodel these stores? Kroger would have to spend a ton if money removing the huge wine department with walk-in wine rooms with sliding glass doors.

[storewanderer]

The former Safeway Flagship store in Dublin, California received the Modern Decor, however it really looks unfinished. They did not replace the flooring. The fake wood is in terrible condition and the brown tiles are all scratched and scraped.

That is how most of these Modern remodels look; tiles are still in bad shape, old checkstands are still there and bashed up, countertops need to be refinished but aren't, bathrooms may be touched but you'd never know it... this is the same way Kroger does remodels (cheaply... and not great attention to detail).

The Safeway in nearby San Ramon got the Pavilions decor only a short time later along with the Alamo, California store. The Alamo store is by far the nicest remodel done in by Safeway in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. It is more of a Flagship store now since so many former Safeway executives live nearby. The store is almost like a true Pavilions.

The next closest Safeway in Walnut Creek received the cheap Modern Decor, but with a new concrete floor. Another Safeway in Walnut Creek received the Pavilions decor along with the nearby Lafayette, California store. So this area has the best looking Safeway stores in probably the entire Safeway fleet.

If Kroger takes over these stores with Kroger remodel these stores? Kroger would have to spend a ton if money removing the huge wine department with walk-in wine rooms with sliding glass doors.

It will be interesting to see how long those remain pet stores if the merger goes through. I don't see many pet stores with Kroger. For instance the Smiths nearest the Smiths headquarters is one of the lousiest Smiths... The QFC near QFC headquarters is definitely a flagship store though.

[ClownLoach]

The former Safeway Flagship store in Dublin, California received the Modern Decor, however it really looks unfinished. They did not replace the flooring. The fake wood is in terrible condition and the brown tiles are all scratched and scraped.

The Safeway in nearby San Ramon got the Pavilions decor only a short time later along with the Alamo, California store. The Alamo store is by far the nicest remodel done in by Safeway in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. It is more of a Flagship store now since so many former Safeway executives live nearby. The store is almost like a true Pavilions.

The next closest Safeway in Walnut Creek received the cheap Modern Decor, but with a new concrete floor. Another Safeway in Walnut Creek received the Pavilions decor along with the nearby Lafayette, California store. So this area has the best looking Safeway stores in probably the entire Safeway fleet.

If Kroger takes over these stores with Kroger remodel these stores? Kroger would have to spend a ton if money removing the huge wine department with walk-in wine rooms with sliding glass doors.

Why would they remove the wine rooms? They have them at their flagship stores, like Frys at Shea and Tatum in Phoenix. The only problem is that Kroger doesn't have access to the assortment Safeway does. Buying the company solves that problem.

The Pavilions relaunch was focused entirely on stores with massive liquor sales. Pavilions stores that were downgraded to a Vons all are in "family intensive" areas where liquor doesn't sell as well. The fact these stores were remodeled to this Pavilions format means their liquor sales were in the top 10% of the company. The Safeway liquor programs are award-winning and I would expect to see them rolled out to as many eligible Kroger buildings as possible. They receive far more limited allocation, expensive products than Kroger. Reducing this business could potentially kill all those stores; any store that got this format has many customers purchasing hundreds if not thousands of dollars at a time in the liquor dept. and carrying the entire store (with one notable exception in Las Vegas that obviously was a mistake). If it has Pavilions decor, then assume at least 20% of their revenue is from liquor. Obviously they can't give up 20% of the store sales. Any store in any chain that has negative 20% sales is closed instantly these days.

They're not going to remodel anything in Norcal if this merger goes through. No reason to. Albertsons runs a better 60,000 Sq ft and below format than Kroger, and I would expect to see more Ralphs and other smaller formats remodeled to an Albertsons-like format. The rumors are that they heavily favored divesting older, smaller Ralphs in SoCal vs Albertsons facilities. If this merger goes through, which is doubtful, expect to see the Vons or Albertsons kept vs the Ralphs in nearly every case.