Ralphs Fresh Fare Santa Barbara remodel

[ClownLoach]

Santa Barbara is beginning a full remodel project. It is in the earliest phase, but they are stripping all the decor off the walls. It was the most recent Fresh Fare decor before the new gawd-awful reclaimed barnwood and cardboard cut outs. The store also has custom Mission style faux wood beam trusses around the front end. Hopefully they restore this location to a first class store, as it currently is in rough shape and attracting a problematic crowd. The store needs to be more aggressive about panhandlers and homeless, and the city needs to help. The store is across the street from the main bus depot with large public toilet facilities and next to a Marijuana dispensary.

[storewanderer]

Is it staying a Fresh Fare?

I'm not sure how well this store actually does.

[ClownLoach]

Is it staying a Fresh Fare?

I'm not sure how well this store actually does.

I was joking they need to turn it into a Food4Less based on the clientele in the evening and the panhandlers.

I assume it's staying Fresh Fare, because the store in Costa Mesa that was downgraded did not get a remodel like this. The store needs to be remodeled as it is physically worn out from high traffic, but I am unsure that Kroger will make the proper investment to replace every shelf, bin, fixture etc. as this store needs. They also need to change the layout to enable an expansion of produce which is shockingly small for the area, it should be doubled in size.

Really though it is a busy store especially at night. I think when Ralphs first opened this store it won awards for it's architecture and was praised as one of their nicest stores. But Santa Barbara has changed and the fun, trendy area is no longer State St and the Paseo Nuevo mall area where this store lies. Now everyone wants to be on the other side of the 101 closer to the beach in the "funk zone" which has been almost completely rebuilt over the last decade or so. This has pushed the homeless up State St. and caused the area to deteriorate into mediocre little shops, bars and nightclubs while the more upscale customers are down closer to the water. Complete flip of the town over a decade.

The other thing is that Whole Foods has remodeled their store at the other end of town. So has Gelsons. Both expanded their stores and the Ralphs is no longer the largest store in town. I went to the Whole Foods because I was looking for a specific bread that is apparently no longer sold at Albertsons/Vons in the area and it was a completely different store. It got a small expansion of the sales floor which allowed for a coffee bar to be added, but they have really worked over the fixtures and such so that there was no wasted space. I felt like the SKU count was probably the same as a store double the size, and the store was very busy. Maybe the busiest WFM I've visited outside of crazy stores in LA. And I couldn't help but notice it WFM has lowered prices everywhere... Much of their produce is lower than Ralphs or Albertsons and the quality was good due to the small fixtures and high turnover. I didn't visit the Gelsons but read somewhere it expanded to over 50,000 Sq ft? It looked absolutely massive, probably the largest Gelsons in the chain. Looked like they knocked down all the strip mall stores to the left and right then expanded the main box. Oddly it has two main facades now, two signs. Also don't forget Bristol Farms is by the old mall and must be hanging on, I am unsure of how they're doing but it was busy last time I went there.

Ralphs can find a niche and do well because the area is still very much underserved. Real estate is too expensive, the area really needs two or three more grocery stores but won't ever get them.

[storewanderer]

Gelson's in Santa Barbara is a divested Albertsons from 1999, it was a smaller late 70's/early 80's style store. Department placement sort of gave it away years ago but at this point you'd never know.

I was never too impressed with the perimeter execution at that Ralphs in Santa Barbara. While it was a very nice looking store the departments never seemed to be anything special in their mix or offer. I think that store opened in the late 90's, at which point there was noticeably less "upscale" competition than there is now. Plus there was a second Ralphs, a small old Alpha Beta, which was a very middle range store. Now I think if they had the ability to take that downtown store and make it into a Mariano's format they may have something real good there. But I'm not sure they can execute that.

[ClownLoach]

Gelson's in Santa Barbara is a divested Albertsons from 1999, it was a smaller late 70's/early 80's style store. Department placement sort of gave it away years ago but at this point you'd never know.

I was never too impressed with the perimeter execution at that Ralphs in Santa Barbara. While it was a very nice looking store the departments never seemed to be anything special in their mix or offer. I think that store opened in the late 90's, at which point there was noticeably less "upscale" competition than there is now. Plus there was a second Ralphs, a small old Alpha Beta, which was a very middle range store. Now I think if they had the ability to take that downtown store and make it into a Mariano's format they may have something real good there. But I'm not sure they can execute that.

I don't think it should be a Fresh Fare branded store. The high end customer is shopping Gelsons, WFM and Bristol. It should be a regular Ralphs. I agree execution has been very inconsistent. Produce is shockingly small for the size of the store. And they get some very rough clientele that make a mess of the place.

[storewanderer]

Gelson's in Santa Barbara is a divested Albertsons from 1999, it was a smaller late 70's/early 80's style store. Department placement sort of gave it away years ago but at this point you'd never know.

I was never too impressed with the perimeter execution at that Ralphs in Santa Barbara. While it was a very nice looking store the departments never seemed to be anything special in their mix or offer. I think that store opened in the late 90's, at which point there was noticeably less "upscale" competition than there is now. Plus there was a second Ralphs, a small old Alpha Beta, which was a very middle range store. Now I think if they had the ability to take that downtown store and make it into a Mariano's format they may have something real good there. But I'm not sure they can execute that.

I don't think it should be a Fresh Fare branded store. The high end customer is shopping Gelsons, WFM and Bristol. It should be a regular Ralphs. I agree execution has been very inconsistent. Produce is shockingly small for the size of the store. And they get some very rough clientele that make a mess of the place.

It could just be a nicer than average looking regular Ralphs. Given the situation you describe with the store I don't think many high end customers will go there, and it sounds like there are enough middle and lower income customers to support the store.

I also assume this store is grouped with Los Osos and San Luis Obispo so any efforts for local marketing/high end products that could go over well are probably not happening.

[Retailuser]

Has anyone been in the Fresh Fares in Huntington Beach lately? do they still look fresh fare look?

[ClownLoach]

Has anyone been in the Fresh Fares in Huntington Beach lately? do they still look fresh fare look?

The busier one on Warner looked spectacular a few months ago. That has been one of the best run Ralphs in the entire chain since the day it opened. Had some minor cleaning issues but that was it, and these were specialty jobs that usually get scheduled annually (high HVAC vent scrubbing was needed). I didn't visit the slower one but it serves an even higher end clientele and has somehow survived for about twenty years now.

[ClownLoach]

Gelson's in Santa Barbara is a divested Albertsons from 1999, it was a smaller late 70's/early 80's style store. Department placement sort of gave it away years ago but at this point you'd never know.

I was never too impressed with the perimeter execution at that Ralphs in Santa Barbara. While it was a very nice looking store the departments never seemed to be anything special in their mix or offer. I think that store opened in the late 90's, at which point there was noticeably less "upscale" competition than there is now. Plus there was a second Ralphs, a small old Alpha Beta, which was a very middle range store. Now I think if they had the ability to take that downtown store and make it into a Mariano's format they may have something real good there. But I'm not sure they can execute that.

I don't think it should be a Fresh Fare branded store. The high end customer is shopping Gelsons, WFM and Bristol. It should be a regular Ralphs. I agree execution has been very inconsistent. Produce is shockingly small for the size of the store. And they get some very rough clientele that make a mess of the place.

It could just be a nicer than average looking regular Ralphs. Given the situation you describe with the store I don't think many high end customers will go there, and it sounds like there are enough middle and lower income customers to support the store.

I also assume this store is grouped with Los Osos and San Luis Obispo so any efforts for local marketing/high end products that could go over well are probably not happening.

I did visit a tiny little Fresh Fare in Camarillo, and it had been remodeled to the horrendous barnwood reclaimed decor. No thought went into anything in that store, the aisles are super short and have overstock piled on top almost hitting the ceiling storewide. They have the long "flag" type category signs dangling over the aisles, which are probably 20 feet long if that in some areas, and two aisle hangers as well. Every sign blocks another sign so you can't read anything and makes the store look horrendously cluttered visually. I would thrown every sign except the aisle hangers directly into the dumpster in this store and I'll bet sales would go up because it would be easier to find things. But it was clean, very well stocked, and insanely busy with all checklanes opened and lines. So they can get some business in this central coast area, but they really need some new leadership there who can fix the real problems that all their stores in the market have. Then get the local merchandise sourced and onto the shelves and they could compete with the Albertsons-Vons monster up there. Albertsons has stores that are effectively Pavilions without the decor or branding all over the central coast.

[marketreportblog]

I did visit a tiny little Fresh Fare in Camarillo, and it had been remodeled to the horrendous barnwood reclaimed decor.

I've heard a few people on this forum talking about how awful the reclaimed barnwood decor is, but I haven't been able to find pictures. Can someone post a link or a picture?