Retail Watchers

With the former Albertsons executives now at the helm at Stater Brothers and with the chain-wide upgrades, it looks to me that they are working to position the chain for a potential M&A deal in the future. Since the passing of Jack Brown (RIP) , the new team has closed or relocated several older...

I believe the Vons in La Mesa (old Gemco) would be a good candidate for conversion to a Pavilions. It’s a larger footprint and at one time this Vons had a hot foods area and a Panda Express similar to the earlier Pavilions in Los Angeles County. Although I haven’t been to this store or the area for ...

Marathon is now running commercials on SoCal cable operator channels for the Marathon brand.

Perhaps they will start doing brand flips in some areas in this market from Arco to Marathon.

I’m still not clear what will happen to the AM/PM brand here.

The Vons in La Mesa used to be a Gemco and once had a Panda Express inside. This store in the late 90s looked similar to the layout of a Pavilions of the day.

I think the area would be good for a conversation of this store to a Pavilions.

I just checked the weekly store ads for several banners (Frys, Smith’s, King Soopers, Pick ‘n Save, Kroger, Fred Meyer) each had the new tag line “Fresh for Everyone”. Interesting QFC in the Pierce County market didn’t have it on their weekly ad but the Fred Meyer stores in that market did. Another ...