storewanderer wrote: ↑February 2nd, 2024, 12:38 am
ClownLoach wrote: ↑February 1st, 2024, 2:40 pm
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.