Gelsons in former Haggen Stores

[klkla]

Now that the Holiday shopping season is over and things have slowed down we should be getting a better idea of how the former Haggen stores are doing based on whether they receive any remodels this year.

Summary of what's known now:

San Diego County:
Del Mar - Construction permits have been pulled and they are applying for a new on-site restaurant beer/wine license. Would seem to indicate this store is doing well.
Pacific Beach - This store received a major remodel before opening and is doing well.
Carlsbad - Unknown. Rumors are the store is not doing well and I haven't seen any signs of a remodeling. Still has the temporary vinyl banner sign package last I heard.

Orange County:
Laguna Beach - The property where the store is located sold for $19.7 million dollars last month. The sale only included the store which has underground parking and the parking immediately in front of the store. The shopping center itself is owned by a different company. That's a big investment if they are just going to continue to lease the space to Gelson's. I'm curious to see if this store gets remodeled or closed so it can be re-developed for a different use. Gelson's has a successful store two miles away in Dana Point.
Ladera Ranch - This store is obviously not doing well. They took down the temporary vinyl graphics package and installed a permanent décor package but that's about it. The store has almost all the original Pavilions fixtures. The only visible investments since Gelson's took were for new checkstands and a salad & hot foods bar. A brand new 30,000 sq. ft. store is nearing completion a couple miles down the same road in Rancho Mission Viejo so it will be interesting to see how long they keep this one open.

Los Angeles County:
Santa Monica - Construction permits are being pulled and the have applied for a new on-site restaurant beer/wine license so a remodel is likely and this store seems to be doing well.

Ventura County:
Thousand Oaks - This is the only Haggen that has not re-opened. They announced it was being delayed last summer because the owner of the shopping center wants to do a full remodel to the center and they want to open after that is done. Should be the first half of this year.

Riverside County:
Rancho Mirage - Construction permits are being pulled and they have applied for the restaurant beer/wine license so that would seem to indicate this store is doing well enough to get a remodel. I wonder if it would make sense to do it now, though, because by the time they finish the high season will be over. Maybe they will do the construction during the summer so it is ready for next season.

[storewanderer]

Sounding like a bit of a mixed bag.

Any idea how Ladera Ranch did as Pavilions? When I was looking at Haggen Stores, that was one of the healthier (maybe less sickly is a more accurate term but trying to be positive) looking Haggen Stores. It may have actually been the best looking Haggen I saw, in terms of its fresh departments, items were fresh and well assorted and there was at least some customer traffic; I remember the meat department particularly looking great in that store as Haggen.

I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to re-open that store in Thousand Oaks either. I am not really sure why they took it. That store needs A LOT of work. I wonder what happened to the employees, in the mean time.

[veteran+]

Now that the Holiday shopping season is over and things have slowed down we should be getting a better idea of how the former Haggen stores are doing based on whether they receive any remodels this year.

Summary of what's known now:

San Diego County:
Del Mar - Construction permits have been pulled and they are applying for a new on-site restaurant beer/wine license. Would seem to indicate this store is doing well.
Pacific Beach - This store received a major remodel before opening and is doing well.
Carlsbad - Unknown. Rumors are the store is not doing well and I haven't seen any signs of a remodeling. Still has the temporary vinyl banner sign package last I heard.

Orange County:
Laguna Beach - The property where the store is located sold for $19.7 million dollars last month. The sale only included the store which has underground parking and the parking immediately in front of the store. The shopping center itself is owned by a different company. That's a big investment if they are just going to continue to lease the space to Gelson's. I'm curious to see if this store gets remodeled or closed so it can be re-developed for a different use. Gelson's has a successful store two miles away in Dana Point.
Ladera Ranch - This store is obviously not doing well. They took down the temporary vinyl graphics package and installed a permanent décor package but that's about it. The store has almost all the original Pavilions fixtures. The only visible investments since Gelson's took were for new checkstands and a salad & hot foods bar. A brand new 30,000 sq. ft. store is nearing completion a couple miles down the same road in Rancho Mission Viejo so it will be interesting to see how long they keep this one open.

Los Angeles County:
Santa Monica - Construction permits are being pulled and the have applied for a new on-site restaurant beer/wine license so a remodel is likely and this store seems to be doing well.

Ventura County:
Thousand Oaks - This is the only Haggen that has not re-opened. They announced it was being delayed last summer because the owner of the shopping center wants to do a full remodel to the center and they want to open after that is done. Should be the first half of this year.

Riverside County:
Rancho Mirage - Construction permits are being pulled and they have applied for the restaurant beer/wine license so that would seem to indicate this store is doing well enough to get a remodel. I wonder if it would make sense to do it now, though, because by the time they finish the high season will be over. Maybe they will do the construction during the summer so it is ready for next season.

GREAT report! Thank you

Regarding Rancho Mirage:

This neighborhood is a very wealthy, stodgy, conservative and extremely boring demo. These folks are older than average, sedentary and pack it up by 8pm. When they do dine out they go to very high end restaurants, mostly off of HWY 111.

The area around the store is NOT a destination location AND the rest of the commercial properties are health care oriented. I just wonder the wisdom of a restaurant serving beer/wine.

YOUR thoughts?

[klkla]

This neighborhood is a very wealthy, stodgy, conservative and extremely boring demo. These folks are older than average, sedentary and pack it up by 8pm. When they do dine out they go to very high end restaurants, mostly off of HWY 111.

The area around the store is NOT a destination location AND the rest of the commercial properties are health care oriented. I just wonder the wisdom of a restaurant serving beer/wine.

YOUR thoughts?

They pretty much have to call it a restaurant due to the liquor license designation for onsite sales. In reality it will be a Wine & Craft Beer bar that also sales a few food items. They will have cheese platters, spa-type salads and some other 'light bites'. The signature item in the stores that already have this feature is the lobster roll which I can attest to that it's very good. At this particular store the bar will go in the space once occupied by Panda Express.

[CalItalian]

Marina del Rey, already a Gelsons that doesn't get a lot of traffic due to its underground parking garage entrance, sales have dropped off per two "employees" I know there since the opening of the Santa Monica former Haggen/Albertsons location. I don't know how this location was surviving before. The two Ralphs Fresh Fare locations, both within blocks of this location, must have 10X or more the business. The Pavilions across the street also does decent business despite being nothing more than a boring Vons complete rebuild...with a smelly fish department.

[klkla]

Marina del Rey, already a Gelsons that doesn't get a lot of traffic due to its underground parking garage entrance, sales have dropped off per two "employees" I know there since the opening of the Santa Monica former Haggen/Albertsons location. I don't know how this location was surviving before. The two Ralphs Fresh Fare locations, both within blocks of this location, must have 10X or more the business. The Pavilions across the street also does decent business despite being nothing more than a boring Vons complete rebuild...with a smelly fish department.

Marina del Rey was already the lowest volume store in the chain from what I understand but profitable. It was built around 1988 and typical lease terms are for an initial 20 year lease plus two 5 year extensions meaning that the lease could probably be coming up again in 2018 so it will be interesting to see what they do. I think the Santa Monica location is far enough away from Marina del Rey that both stores could survive but as you mention they have a really strange parking situation and not very good visibility for drive by traffic on Maxella.

[klkla]

The recent additional expansion of Gelsons is a little bit curious as the chain was rather sleepy for quite a few years. But they were a much larger chain in the distant past as Mayfair so it is not like they are going from 18 stores to 160 stores all at once.

Mayfair and Gelson's were under the same ownership since the mid-1960's but were managed separately. They didn't even share distribution. By the time Gelson's management took over operation of Mayfair in the early 1990's there were only five stores left. The company had a total of 13 stores at that time.

In retrospect, I bet they regret selling the Mayfair Markets in Hillcrest (San Diego), La Jolla and Malibu as they probably would have been successful if they had been remodeled into full line Gelson's. The Hillcrest and La Jolla locations were sold to RiteAid and the Malibu location is now a Pavilions.

[veteran+]

The recent additional expansion of Gelsons is a little bit curious as the chain was rather sleepy for quite a few years. But they were a much larger chain in the distant past as Mayfair so it is not like they are going from 18 stores to 160 stores all at once.

Mayfair and Gelson's were under the same ownership since the mid-1960's but were managed separately. They didn't even share distribution. By the time Gelson's management took over operation of Mayfair in the early 1990's there were only five stores left. The company had a total of 13 stores at that time.

In retrospect, I bet they regret selling the Mayfair Markets in Hillcrest (San Diego), La Jolla and Malibu as they probably would have been successful if they had been remodeled into full line Gelson's. The Hillcrest and La Jolla locations were sold to RiteAid and the Malibu location is now a Pavilions.

Is the Malibu location the one on (I think) Heathercliff Road? If so, that must be a small store for a Pavilions (no?).

I used to shop there and had friends who worked there.

[klkla]

Is the Malibu location the one on (I think) Heathercliff Road? If so, that must be a small store for a Pavilions (no?).

I used to shop there and had friends who worked there.

Yes, it is the one on Heathercliff Road. It is definitely small for a Pavilions but bigger than some of the existing stores like Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Pavilions did an interesting expansion. They left the exterior almost identical as when it was Mayfair but they added some additional space to the right of store that used to belong to a stationery store and did two small cut-outs in the wall that now lead to a floral area and liquor department. It was a cheap way to expand but has a cool vibe to it because of the dark mood lighting and low ceiling.

I was in my local Gelson's yesterday and noticed a lot more aggressive promotional pricing. I was shocked to see USDA Prime New York Steaks for $14.99 a lb. They normally charge $29.99. Gelson's never advertised until the Great Recession in the 2007-2008 period and even then just a four page monthly circular. This week they have a twelve page ad which is definitely a huge change for them (Prices are valid for 20 days). They have also introduced zone pricing and have some lower advertised prices for the stores that are in more family-oriented suburban areas of Orange and San Diego counties (Valid only at Dana Point, La Costa/Carlsbad, Del Mar, Ladera Ranch and Laguna Beach). My guess is that the new distribution center must be up and running and they're passing along vendor allowances and deals they probably were not getting before.

This is the regular version:
http://gelsons.mywebgrocer.com/Circular ... c=3230D101

This is the suburban version
http://gelsons.mywebgrocer.com/Circular ... c=3230D101

[SamSpade]

Gelson's circulars were quite lovely, nice separation from the usual dreck - lots of white space, a variety of elements. . . anyway,
they remind me a little bit of the Pacific Northwest's regional "2/3 organic - specialty - local, 1/3 traditional" mix that you see in New Seasons Markets.
Their circular can be found here - as far as I know at this time, all 3 regions (Seattle area, Oregon, N. California) have the same pricing & ad but I haven't dug around like klkla's great post about Gelson's.
Weekly flyer - New Seasons