Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

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storewanderer
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Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

Post by storewanderer »

Safeway is doing some somewhat major remodeling work to its Reno, NV Store. This store was built in 1989 and got all of the interiors (opened as Marketplace, then got a mid 90's wall repaint, then got a full remodel into the early 00's interior which replaced floors, tiles, and such but kept a lot of the original refrigeration, then got a Lifestyle remodel which was rather thorough but still kept some old refrigeration. The store was generally run down feeling.

This is getting the "Modern" interior.

So far they have installed new produce refrigeration against the wall, kept the old refrigeration that is freestanding, and kept the old produce cases in the middle of the produce... maybe there is more they are doing there. The new produce case seems to be "slimmer" and it has opened a couple feet of space up in front of the new case that previously was taken up by the old "fatter" wall case. This "slimmer" case also is more shallow which will help them rotate produce better. They also have moved the service seafood area to be with the meat area and it is now service meat and seafood (previously the self serve lunchmeat/bacon case separated the meat department from the service seafood area-which had no meat, only seafood).

They have also re-configured the self checkout and put a couple more in so now they have 6 self checkouts.

This remodel looks like it will help improve the store by adding additional self checkouts, adding the service meat offering, and moving the service seafood/meat case to be within the meat department and not detached from it.

Definitely nice to see some actual improvements, vs. the wall repaint remodels that change nothing about the store that Albertsons seems to like doing.
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Re: Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

Post by Alpha8472 »

I would rather they have the colorful decor. The Modern decor looks okay, but I prefer the font of the new colorful decor. It looks vastly different than the old Lifestyle decor.
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Re: Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

Post by storewanderer »

I too would prefer the colorful lifestyle decor. The colorful lifestyle decor is nice looking as I have seen in Southwest Division, Portland Division, and Denver Division. The colorful lifestyle decor looks lively and upbeat. The modern decor looks okay, but is kind of boring. It gives the store a bit of a dead vibe. I think both decor packages will age well. Both decor packages look far better than a number of competitor decor packages.

But I'll take the other improvements they are making to the store- these are solid improvements that will improve the experience.
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Re: Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

Post by bryceleinan »

I wonder if they’re remodeling in preparation for the new South Reno store and to give folks a better perception of Safeway? I do like some of the remodels they’ve done in Oregon.
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Re: Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: December 21st, 2020, 8:15 pm I wonder if they’re remodeling in preparation for the new South Reno store and to give folks a better perception of Safeway? I do like some of the remodels they’ve done in Oregon.
I think it is just their general remodel program. They remodeled Sparks (cheaply- just a wall repaint and brighten the lights up) in October and didn't even have a grand reopening unless I missed it (possible). However the Reno one was run down and they have done more work there than usual and are making some improvements to it beyond just cosmetic stuff. They have been doing a lot of remodels lately. They recently remodeled in downtown Grass Valley as well (wall repaint like Sparks-cheaply done, but did have a grand reopening) which is a successful small store with limited competition.

The remodels I've seen in OR were mostly done by Supervalu in the Albertsons locations... (Medford, Klamath Falls, Central Point, Ashland). Grants Pass Albertsons got the LLC interior after being converted from Haggen (Haggen never shut down that store). None of those interiors are in use anymore on current projects.

The Ashland Safeway reopening interior has the interior they are using in Reno.
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Re: Safeway-Reno, NV Remodel

Post by storewanderer »

This store's remodel is done and they did grand reopening this week. The store looks fantastic. They kept the old tan lifestyle floor which kind of brings it down but not too bad as the floor was in decent condition. This store has had multiple remodels in the past but this one made the most changes to the place.

A few interesting efforts on merchandising for their grand reopening. Some nicer looking displays of merchandise in open spaces where some effort was made to arrange the packages, etc. in some presentable manner (angled, rounded, etc.)- Raleys does a lot of this but this is the first I've seen of this at Safeway. Large display of cake slices with various colored frosting on the white cake slices (pink, green, etc.). Have never seen this at Safeway where typically the white cake slice has white frosting period (maybe a flower or some decoration drawn on top). Meat department on prepackaged single steaks had small round perhaps 1 ounce pieces of various flavored butter; garlic herb, etc. on top of the meat. Some interesting changes here to add some personality to the place vs. the usual sterile boring Safeway way of doing things. This NorCal division may finally be coming out of that old Safeway rut. Staffing levels are probably tripled from the Steve Burd days when this place ran with a cashier and a manager after about 7 PM and the store definitely appearance definitely reflects the increased staffing.

Also interesting up at the front end- the merchandisers for candy, tabloids, etc. are gone. The only thing up there now is the small soda coolers. There is still one candy merchandiser next to the self checkouts but that is it. This really opened up and de-cluttered the front end of the store.
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