DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

Update on the Grapevine and McKinney former Minyard Sun Fresh locations being reopened as Tom Thumb: Construction at both stores is in progress. At McKinney, equipment and fixtures have been placed in the store's front vestibule temporarily, so I was unable to see most of the construction work through the windows. However, it appeared that paint work was in progress. At Grapevine, Lifestyle signage has mostly been removed from what I could tell, and it appeared that walls are being prepped for Florida decor (at least in the bakery/deli/produce areas visible through the front doors). The dim Lifestyle lighting has yet to be changed out at either store, which is strange considering that it has been replaced at essentially all Tom Thumb locations around DFW. However, this may have been a corporate-level directive when Safeway and Albertsons' operations were first integrated, and may be handled on a division-level basis now, as the dim lighting at the former Fresh Market conversions was also retained. Lastly, at Grapevine, a job fair is scheduled for later this week.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by pseudo3d »

I just can't read about these stores without getting mad. Both of these have Albertsons nearby but the Albertsons on NW Highway they didn't buy back is still being squatted on by H-E-B.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote:I just can't read about these stores without getting mad. Both of these have Albertsons nearby but the Albertsons on NW Highway they didn't buy back is still being squatted on by H-E-B.
More than anything, I think that this says something about the value of the real estate is question. For both the Grapevine and McKinney stores, buildable land is plentiful, therefore there is little incentive for HEB to hold to a store which would be realistically too small for their optimal use. On the other hand, the Lake Highlands store is a goldmine. My guess is that HEB still has possible plans for the Lake Highlands store which are dependent on what they decide to do in the DFW market as a whole. If they decide not to expand further, then the store could be sold off at that point. Regardless, HEB needs to make some type of move at Lake Highlands (whether opening a store or selling), as the neighborhood is in dire need of second high-quality grocer (the Kroger just down the street is always packed since the former Albertsons/Minyard Sun Fresh shut down, and the joke of a Tom Thumb on Skillman doesn't count since it is small, in generally poor shape, and surrounded by sketchy apartments which discourages shopper traffic).

Side note, I am mad that the Grapevine store didn't at least go to Kroger, which has no stores in Grapevine proper (or even in the immediate area really, aside from a location in Southlake which is always packed).
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

Another big Market Street announcement: In addition to the upcoming Mansfield store, Market Street has announced a second upcoming store, to be built in Propser. This store will be located at the Northeast corner of Coit Rd. and Highway 380, and is in relatively close proximity to two other Market Street stores in Frisco and McKinney. From all indications, it appears that the Market Street brand is here to stay in DFW after all. This location is also interesting as it will likely be the second grocer to open in fast-growing Prosper, preceded only by a Kroger Marketplace opened within the last year or two.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/reta ... ps-prosper
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

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Now for an interesting Market Street update: Yesterday afternoon, I visited the Market Street at Park/Preston in Plano, which has traditionally been an extremely high traffic store. When I was driving towards the store, I passed by the newish Kroger across the street, a former Tom Thumb/Minyard Sun Fresh which up until now has had perpetually low traffic since reopening as Kroger. However, yesterday, the parking lot seemed substantially more packed at Kroger, and I could see quite a few shoppers entering/exiting the store, which struck me as odd. When I arrived at Market Street, I immediately understood where they all came from.

At Market Street, the parking lot was noticeably less crowded than usual, particularly for a Saturday afternoon. It has been several months since I last visited this store, and it was obvious that something had changed since then. When I got inside, I quickly noticed that product locations had shifted around quite a bit within the store, and the experience was not nearly as user friendly as it previously was. In the store's previous layout, most higher-end or specialty items would be grouped towards one end of a particular aisle, and then more mainstream products would be grouped together separately, but in close proximity to the higher-end items. This made it much easier to shop by brand or to find a specific item (organic cereals or DeCecco pastas for example). In the new configuration, all similar products were grouped together, and each shelf was roughly dedicated to a particular brand (I have included a photo of the pasta aisle as an example). Many higher-end items had been discontinued, and there was noticeably more low-end items throughout the store which do not fit Market Street's demographics, particularly in wealthy West Plano. Also, most products which are not typically carried in local Albertsons/Tom Thumb stores had been discontinued. Pricing was noticeably higher than my last visit, and there was very little promotional activity going on. Oddly enough, the store was also not participating in the Monopoly promotion, and all references to Albertsons as a whole were nonexistant. Even a banner which has hung in the front of the store with all of the United brands listed (including Albertsons Market) was removed. I know that this is extremely unlikely, but it almost felt like the store was being prepared to be sold. In the process, customers were clearly voicing their displeasure with the changes by spending their grocery dollars elsewhere. Overall, it was a bizarre experience, and I just hope that this was an isolated event and not an indication of Market Street being mismanaged at the hands of Albertsons.

Pasta aisle: Image
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

architect wrote:Update on the Grapevine and McKinney former Minyard Sun Fresh locations being reopened as Tom Thumb: Construction at both stores is in progress. At McKinney, equipment and fixtures have been placed in the store's front vestibule temporarily, so I was unable to see most of the construction work through the windows. However, it appeared that paint work was in progress. At Grapevine, Lifestyle signage has mostly been removed from what I could tell, and it appeared that walls are being prepped for Florida decor (at least in the bakery/deli/produce areas visible through the front doors). The dim Lifestyle lighting has yet to be changed out at either store, which is strange considering that it has been replaced at essentially all Tom Thumb locations around DFW. However, this may have been a corporate-level directive when Safeway and Albertsons' operations were first integrated, and may be handled on a division-level basis now, as the dim lighting at the former Fresh Market conversions was also retained. Lastly, at Grapevine, a job fair is scheduled for later this week.
Another update on the former McKinney Minyard Sun Fresh/future Tom Thumb: I drove by the store earlier this afternoon and construction has progressed along greatly. Although stocking has not begun yet, many of fixtures which had been haphazardly moved into the entranceway of the store had been relocated to their permanent locations, allowing me to see inside. Lighting has been replaced throughout the perimeter areas of the stores in a similar manner to the other Tom Thumb locations in the area, making the store substantially brighter. Now here's the exciting part: I was wrong on the decor (the white walls I saw previously threw me off). The decor is actually Colorful Lifestyle, its first appearance in the DFW area! Obviously, I will be making a visit once the store opens. It will also be interesting to see what decor is used at the other future Tom Thumb store in McKinney (an Albertsons conversion at Virginia/Stonebridge). If it is Florida decor as all indicators were pointing towards during my last visit, then we will have two new decor packages within just a few miles of one-another!
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

More info on both future McKinney Tom Thumbs:

At the Hardin/Eldorado store (former Minyard Sun Fresh/previous Tom Thumb), I was able to get a couple of photos of the interior work. The only one which you can really make out the Colorful Lifestyle decor in is ironically towards the far side wall of the store. I was able to get photos from both of the vestibule entrance doors, but not through the front window of the store due to bad glare. This front window gives the most detail, so unfortunately my photos aren't too exciting, but they do give a sneak preview of the decor. Also, while I was there, I did notice that the adjacent fuel station is already back in operation.

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Also, at the Virginia/Stonebridge location, the conversion from Albertsons to Tom Thumb is finally moving along. The store is receiving Florida decor, portions of which had already been installed. The new pharmacy was in operation (along with a new drive through lane on the side of the store), and the old pharmacy had been cleared out. Products were being shifted around in a similar manner to what happened at Wylie, with the dry grocery and the home/personal care/drug items essentially swapping sides of the store.

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Also, apparently the official name for Florida decor is the "Modern" decor package, as evidenced by labels on the pile of shipping boxes/decor to be installed sitting in the location of the old pharmacy.

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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by klkla »

I wonder if KRS is the one designing the new Albertson's graphic packages or just installing them.

From their website they say "KRS has been Safeway’s go-to firm for design, consultation, manufacturing, and install for over 20 years ... We are proud to work with Safeway’s corporate offices and all 11 divisions throughout the United States and Canada." Obviously that quote goes back a couple years but they're clearly involved in the new projects in Dallas.

http://www.kingrs.com/portfolio
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote:I wonder if KRS is the one designing the new Albertson's graphic packages or just installing them.

From their website they say "KRS has been Safeway’s go-to firm for design, consultation, manufacturing, and install for over 20 years ... We are proud to work with Safeway’s corporate offices and all 11 divisions throughout the United States and Canada." Obviously that quote goes back a couple years but they're clearly involved in the new projects in Dallas.

http://www.kingrs.com/portfolio
Observation: so far, the "Florida" decor has not been seen in ABS-originated brands (Albertsons, ACME, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's/Star Market) and has only been seen in Safeway originated brands (Safeway, Tom Thumb, Randalls), wonder if there's still some contractual thing going on that prevents decor packages from being used in other stores (also note that there's no LLC variant for SWY stores at all, nor Lifestyle for ABS)
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by klkla »

pseudo3d wrote:Observation: so far, the "Florida" decor has not been seen in ABS-originated brands (Albertsons, ACME, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's/Star Market) and has only been seen in Safeway originated brands (Safeway, Tom Thumb, Randalls), wonder if there's still some contractual thing going on that prevents decor packages from being used in other stores (also note that there's no LLC variant for SWY stores at all, nor Lifestyle for ABS)
That would make sense. I don't know if that's the case for sure, though.
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