Retail Watchers

I am surprised they are just now presenting the plans. The old store closed two years ago. I would have thought they would have had a better idea of what they wanted to do before closing the old store.

Albertsons is questioning whether building a new Pavilions would even bring about a good return on their investment. Would a Pavilions bring in more money or would a Vons? Would customers even notice the difference?

The Ralphs down the road is one of the nicer Ralphs. This store will have to be something very special to compete well with it. If they can execute this new store the way they can execute the two new Albertsons in Boise area, they certainly have a good chance.

Not sure which of the two stores has an edge on location if either.

The old Pavilions was terrible (was not a Lifestyle store) and would have been more fitting with branding of Pak N Save than Pavilions. It is odd they have sat on the lot this long without moving forward. Maybe they wanted to wait for people in the area to move out/forget how terrible the old Pavilions Store was.

The project was initially approved by city planning before Albertsons came into the picture. It sounds like Albertsons changed the interior layout. Either way, it looks like construction is well underway and it will open this year.

I drove past this project today. It's getting close to completion and crews were working on it today.

It's an interesting design. The store is a pedestal design but from Ventura Blvd. it appears to be at street level. This is because the lot is sloped. From the back of the property you enter the parking lot at just below street level. The parking lot encompasses the entire lot. The store is above that and is about half the size of the parking lot and is on the Ventura Blvd. side of the property.

The front of the store appears to face Kester Ave., not Ventura (although there are large windows along Ventura). There is a driveway on Ventura that goes down to parking. From what I can see most of the fixtures have been installed and the sign package is installed. It looks like the Starbucks was finished, too. I couldn't tell whether they have stocked any merchandise, yet.
I also stopped by the Gelson's on Van Nuys Blvd., which is six blocks from the site. They recently completed a major remodel of the store, probably in anticipation of the new Pavilions. It was fairly busy and well stocked except for paper products, of course, and oddly no frozen pizzas for some reason. Also the Service Deli did not have as many items as usual. What they had looked fresh but there is noticeably less selection than normal.

What is interesting is that there is a new Whole Foods less than a mile away to the east that look's like it will be opening around the same time. About a mile to the west is the Encino Ralph's that closed that is rumored to be turning into a new Amazon grocery store.

Considering that some Vons have converted to Pavilions (Laguna Niguel and San Diego-Carmel Valley) and some stores have done the opposite (Simi Valley and Arcadia) here are some Vons that I think should convert to Pavilions:
Studio City
Santa Monica (both stores)
Pacific Palisades (former Safeway Marina!)
La Jolla
These Vons are located in upper-middle income/wealthy areas. These stores haven't been remodeled in a long time, and they compete with either a Gelson's or Ralphs Fresh Fare.

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: ↑April 23rd, 2020, 1:13 pm Considering that some Vons have converted to Pavilions (Laguna Niguel and San Diego-Carmel Valley) and some stores have done the opposite (Simi Valley and Arcadia) here are some Vons that I think should convert to Pavilions:
Studio City
Santa Monica (both stores)
Pacific Palisades (former Safeway Marina!)
La Jolla
These Vons are located in upper-middle income/wealthy areas. These stores haven't been remodeled in a long time, and they compete with either a Gelson's or Ralphs Fresh Fare.

I would agree with you about Studio City but only if they closed it and built a larger store with rooftop parking in its place.

La Jolla is a no-brainer, I'm amazed they haven't done that yet.

I think Rancho Bernardo could support a Pavilions, as well.

I'm on the fence about the two Vons stores in Santa Monica. While the area has gentrified in recent years it still appeals to a lot of people living in rent controlled apartments that are more value-oriented shoppers. I think both stores would still do better as Vons. The average income and net worth of the residents living in the area north of Montana Ave. is much higher than the rest of Santa Monica and the current Pavilions is well situated to capture that traffic.

I disagree with Pacific Palisades. While that store is technically on the very edge of Pacific Palisades, it's far from the where the real shopping is done in downtown PS. ,That store is basically a glorified convenience store that appeals to people going to the beach or people from Malibu or Palisades that just need to pick up one or two things on their to or from work . The residents in the immediate area are not wealthy. The real residents in Pacific Palisades would rather shop in town (Gelson's, Ralphs Fresh Fare and Erewhon). The residents of Malibu also would rather shop in their area (Ralphs Fresh Fare, Whole Foods, Pavilions and Vintage Grocers)

klkla wrote: ↑April 24th, 2020, 10:30 am...
La Jolla is a no-brainer, I'm amazed they haven't done that yet.

I think Rancho Bernardo could support a Pavilions, as well..

With its close proximity to Rancho Santa Fe, the Solana Beach Vons would make sense. I think Mission Hills San Diego would also work well.