Renovated Albertsons in Phoenix

[arizonaguy]

The discussion about Safeway renovations led me to thinking about the fact that Albertsons LLC has renovated a number of stores in the Phoenix area to a much different look than what Albertsons had constructed prior the breakup of the chain.

The "flagship" store, if you will, in the Phoenix area is the 2001 build store at the Desert Ridge Marketplace in North Phoenix. This was one of the last Albertsons to be built with the 2000/2001 store model. Most of the other stores of this design had an attached Lawn and Garden center (that never survived in the LLC era). This particular store never had the Lawn and Garden center and instead has its liquor department in the location where the Lawn and Garden center would be. It has since been renovated from the 2001 Albertsons logo package to the Albertsons LLC style, as pictured below (sorry about the quality of the images, I haven't mastered photo taking while being inconspicuous:

Albertsons has a number of stores in Arizona with a similar interior style, however I believe it looks best at this store (as most of the other stores have drop or partial drop ceilings). One thing Albertsons hasn't done when it renovates the stores is change out the flooring (or lighting). My only complaint about it is that the flooring looks pretty worn (and has patterns / designs that no longer correspond with anything else) in several stores.

Exterior. Note it says "Albertsons" and not "Albertsons Osco" like the other Phoenix area stores as there was a standalone Osco (now CVS) about 90 degrees to the left of the parking lot pictured below:


Produce Area:


Interior Signage:


Deli:


Front of Store:


"Local photos" (A creative touch, some black and white photos of the area - these line the exterior walls of the store):


"Your Albertsons" logo (along the front of the store):


Albertsons Mission (sorry about the blurriness) it reads "Our Mission hasn't changed since 1939 - to provide our customers the products they want, at a fair price, with lots of care along the way:

[Alpha8472]

The decor is nothing new. It came out a few years ago. It is a nice decor. I prefer it to the bland looking decor that Supervalu was putting on their Albertsons stores.


Albertsons, LLC seems to avoid using the Osco or Sav-on name on remodels. I believe that they don't want to confuse customers with too many brands. They want to keep it as Albertsons Pharmacy and not make it seem like another company is running a pharmacy inside of their store.

[arizonaguy]

I didn't recall when it came out because I hadn't been o an Albertsons in a while and the store closest to where I live still has the Albertsons Inc. 2000ish decor package (store opened in 2003).

The labeling of everything "fresh" does work nicely with the new ad campaign "You're in for Something Fresh."

After seeing your photos the only thing I wish that they would do around here is change the flooring to match the flooring of that reopened store in Texas.

[wnetmacman]

Three of the four stores just got this décor package in Lafayette, LA. It's much more modern and less cluttered than what these stores had. My only complaint about it is that they moved the ENTIRE grocery section over by the produce in the three stores they did this remodel in. You go through all the general merchandise now to get to Frozen Foods. But it's a much better store than before.

[Alpha8472]

I've never actually seen this decor in person. I've only found random photos on Flickr.

The reason why they put the most common items in the back of store is that they want people to pass by the general merchandise and buy some of that. The general merchandise probably doesn't sell well at Albertsons stores.

[arizonaguy]

I've never actually seen this decor in person. I've only found random photos on Flickr.

The reason why they put the most common items in the back of store is that they want people to pass by the general merchandise and buy some of that. The general merchandise probably doesn't sell well at Albertsons stores.

I just saw this type of set up at a store in Tempe, AZ. It was a 1990/1991 store which had 2 entrances and now was converted to a single entrance that is off centered to the right quadrant of the exterior. You enter the store, and there is the pharmacy on the left, a Starbucks on the right, and then the produce section behind the Starbucks.

So the store from right to left is Produce, General Merchandise / Health & Beauty (Labeled as Osco), and then Grocery on the left (furthest from the entrance). Then the Pharmacy is next to the registers.

[storewanderer]

That Guadalupe Store in Tempe is basically a 90's store remodeled and I suspect expanded a bit into a "grocery palace" design often used by Albertsons on new stores from 1999-2002 or so. The layout there is of a new build grocery palace store.

It is my understanding Albertsons LLC has actually remodeled some stores of that design by moving pharmacy to the front wall in the old video space. They have also done this to some of the 1990's stores where pharmacy was on the far side wall, in an effort to make pharmacy visible to more customers and also do something with that unused video space.

I will also add in the case of that Guadalupe Store in Tempe I do not think it is a high performer...

[arizonaguy]

I will also add in the case of that Guadalupe Store in Tempe I do not think it is a high performer...

I would think that this store would be a semi-decent performer as it has kept its Starbucks location and has decent hours (5 a.m - 12 a.m.).

If I took an uneducated guess at Albertson's best performing stores in Phoenix, I'd throw the

5 a.m. - 1 a.m. group as the best performers

followed by

6 a.m. - 1 a.m. group

followed by

5 a.m. - 12 a.m. group

followed by

6 a.m. - 12 a.m group being the worst performers.