Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

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Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by lake52 »

Saw in the Sac Business Journal today that a new grocer is coming to Citrus Heights. It is pretty obvious this grocer is Amazon Fresh with the renderings.

I think this is a pretty strong location. Not an extremely wealthy area, but densely populated and convenient for deliveries to wealthier areas. There also is not a strong traditional grocer presence in the area. There are a few Raleys a couple of miles out and 1 Safeway within a reasonable distance. Competition from other grocers is heavy. Within 2 miles or so you have a Sprouts, Trader Joes (across the street), Smart & Final (across the street), Walmart Neighborhood Market, Foodmaxx, and a local health store called Sunrise Natural Foods.

Article - https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/ ... store.html
Renderings - https://merlonegeier.propertycapsule.co ... 16addf0e14
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by storewanderer »

Long ago this shopping center had an Alpha Beta. This is a really good spot for the store based on being a central location with access to a lot of roads.

This is a rather downtrodden shopping center. The Rite Aid doesn't do much business and I'm surprised it is still open but they closed the other location nearby at Sunrise/Arcadia after the robbery issues, which was ironic as that was a late 90's build Rite Aid. Sunrise/Madison is a unique Rite Aid as it was a Thrifty then rebranded to Payless in a test back before Rite Aid bought the chain out to see if rebranding to Payless in Northern California made any difference in store performance.

Definitely not the demographics for a Whole Foods (area is so solidly middle class), so this is an example of where Amazon is expanding its reach with this Amazon Fresh format.

Target has quite a bit of food there at Sunrise too in its store.

Maybe they can get some of these "fitness centers" that took grocery spaces over to flip back to grocery via these Amazon Fresh Stores. Kind of funny this center gets the fitness center and the Amazon Fresh... The Foothills Blvd. Ralphs/Albertsons in Roseville seems like it may be a prime candidate to flip to Amazon Fresh, though Roseville still has enough open space that Amazon may find something satisfactory to build from scratch on there.

Why doesn't Amazon just directly disclose who they are for these sites? It is so obvious- this one in the leasing materials even says "Grocery Fresh" on the store front.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by arizonaguy »

storewanderer wrote: February 10th, 2021, 10:02 pm Long ago this shopping center had an Alpha Beta. This is a really good spot for the store based on being a central location with access to a lot of roads.

This is a rather downtrodden shopping center. The Rite Aid doesn't do much business and I'm surprised it is still open but they closed the other location nearby at Sunrise/Arcadia after the robbery issues, which was ironic as that was a late 90's build Rite Aid. Sunrise/Madison is a unique Rite Aid as it was a Thrifty then rebranded to Payless in a test back before Rite Aid bought the chain out to see if rebranding to Payless in Northern California made any difference in store performance.

Definitely not the demographics for a Whole Foods (area is so solidly middle class), so this is an example of where Amazon is expanding its reach with this Amazon Fresh format.

Target has quite a bit of food there at Sunrise too in its store.

Maybe they can get some of these "fitness centers" that took grocery spaces over to flip back to grocery via these Amazon Fresh Stores. Kind of funny this center gets the fitness center and the Amazon Fresh... The Foothills Blvd. Ralphs/Albertsons in Roseville seems like it may be a prime candidate to flip to Amazon Fresh, though Roseville still has enough open space that Amazon may find something satisfactory to build from scratch on there.

Why doesn't Amazon just directly disclose who they are for these sites? It is so obvious- this one in the leasing materials even says "Grocery Fresh" on the store front.
Has Amazon built one of its "Fresh" stores from scratch? It seems that they, like Sprouts, seems to like to repurpose other sites in the 40 - 50K square foot range.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by J-Man »

Has Amazon built one of its "Fresh" stores from scratch? It seems that they, like Sprouts, seems to like to repurpose other sites in the 40 - 50K square foot range
I'm not sure if this counts, but the North Hollywood Amazon Fresh was built from scratch on the ground floor of an apartment building. But it was originally intended to be a Whole Foods 365.

Another interesting Amazon Fresh reuse of an existing building: in La Verne (CA), they're planning on putting the store in a portion of an existing Kohl's store. They will be using 37,000 sq. ft. of the existing 88,000 sq. ft. building.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by mbz321 »

storewanderer wrote: February 10th, 2021, 10:02 pm
Why doesn't Amazon just directly disclose who they are for these sites? It is so obvious- this one in the leasing materials even says "Grocery Fresh" on the store front.
Funny you mention this, as Amazon is constructing a 'Fresh' store in my neck of the woods (Warrington, PA to be specific) and I spent such a long time trying to figure out what was going in that space. It was a former Genuardi's (and a short-lived Giant supermarket). The building is about 48,000 sq. ft give or take, with Amazon taking a hair over 35k of that space. It was listed on the shopping center website as just 'Leased space'. I wouldn't even have known if it wasn't for some random article from a regional radio station of all things that spilled the beans. Even today, the shopping center's website no longer states 'Leased Space, but 'Mendel', whatever that is supposed to mean.

I'm actually surprised they haven't opened already as they've been working on it for quite a long time. I have no idea how it will do given two former grocery tenants have 'failed' (Safeway dumped this store on Giant in a 'package deal' to acquire another much better store in much more desirable location), and the store is surrounded by a Target (same shopping center), a neighboring Walmart, BJ's, Aldi, Wegmans (which was the kiss of death for Genuardi's/Giant) and a few other nearby options (ShopRite, two other Giant locations, Grocery Outlet).
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by J-Man »

The article at this link, although five months old, has a list of all planned Amazon Fresh stores at that time. It includes a number that have yet to open. And it shows the original tenant in each location. The only one that was a new build is the North Hollywood store I mentioned above.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by BreakingThrough »

Their Los Angeles store at 6855 S La Cienega is a new-build. It's not on the list in the article linked above, but I believe the location opened last week. According photos on the Yelp page for the location, it's branded "Amazon Fresh Ladera Heights," which is not technically true but close enough I suppose.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by Bagels »

BreakingThrough wrote: February 12th, 2021, 2:53 pm Their Los Angeles store at 6855 S La Cienega is a new-build. It's not on the list in the article linked above, but I believe the location opened last week. According photos on the Yelp page for the location, it's branded "Amazon Fresh Ladera Heights," which is not technically true but close enough I suppose.
It’s a new store, yes, but the shell was designed by and built for Smart & Final.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote: February 10th, 2021, 10:02 pm Long ago this shopping center had an Alpha Beta. This is a really good spot for the store based on being a central location with access to a lot of roads.

This is a rather downtrodden shopping center. The Rite Aid doesn't do much business and I'm surprised it is still open but they closed the other location nearby at Sunrise/Arcadia after the robbery issues, which was ironic as that was a late 90's build Rite Aid. Sunrise/Madison is a unique Rite Aid as it was a Thrifty then rebranded to Payless in a test back before Rite Aid bought the chain out to see if rebranding to Payless in Northern California made any difference in store performance.

Definitely not the demographics for a Whole Foods (area is so solidly middle class), so this is an example of where Amazon is expanding its reach with this Amazon Fresh format.

Target has quite a bit of food there at Sunrise too in its store.

Maybe they can get some of these "fitness centers" that took grocery spaces over to flip back to grocery via these Amazon Fresh Stores. Kind of funny this center gets the fitness center and the Amazon Fresh... The Foothills Blvd. Ralphs/Albertsons in Roseville seems like it may be a prime candidate to flip to Amazon Fresh, though Roseville still has enough open space that Amazon may find something satisfactory to build from scratch on there.

Why doesn't Amazon just directly disclose who they are for these sites? It is so obvious- this one in the leasing materials even says "Grocery Fresh" on the store front.
Having lived and/or worked in the area for the majority of my life(save for 2 years living in Rancho when I was still in diapers),I can confirm that the original grocer was indeed an Alpha Beta.After its withdrawal from the Sac Valley,it was a short lived Big T-affiliated/Fleming supplied independent under the name Times Supermarket which had poor relations with both its suplliers and the community(it may have operated non-union).By the the 1980's,the Alpha Beta building and some adjacent storefronts were torn down for a Home Express store(similar merchandise mix to Bed Bath and Beyond or long-gone Linens'n'Things)which lasted until the chain's demise in the mid-1990's.The Home Express building was then converted to an Orchard Supply Hardware which operated at that location for a few years before relocating to the former Albertsons/Ralphs on San Juan(currently subdivided between a Crunch Fitness and 99 Cents Only).The Home Express/OSH building was eventually subdivided between a JO~ANN Fabrics(relocation of an former Fabric Land at NEC Greenback/San Juan but not visible from Greenback)and two smaller vacant spaces the larger which was initially occupied by a short-lived Office Depot and most recently reoccupied by a since-relocated Tuesday Morning that replaced a fire-destroyed location in Citrus Town Center(a new build Party City was built on the site).So far,no news sources are confirming Amazon Fresh as a new tenant yet.
Off Topic
As a 22+-year Rite Aid veteran who worked at the 7900 Arcadia Drive location for the entire time RA operated out of the building(I actually began at the Copperwood Square Thrifty that it was a relocation of,now occupied by a Dollar Tree)and now works at Sunrise Village legacy Thrifty,I can confirm that my previous home store was among 8 in greater Sacramento that closed in 3 rounds during and/or in the wake of both attempted/failed mergers late in the John Standley era.The first set of closures in February 2018 involved some of the roughest locations in Sactown(the unremodeled 1978-era Payless on the SWC Florin/Franklin that was a relocation of a late-1950's/1960's unit whose former site is now a Home Depot,as well as legacy Super S/Pay-n-Save/Payless Drug NWC Del Paso/El Camino).The second wave was what impacted me as 7900 Arcadia along with a legacy Thrifty on the SEC El Camino/Howe were closed just before Independence Day 2018(neither location was an an area that was considered that affluent)which is how I'm now working at Sunrise/Madison(Sunrise Village).The third round in early 2019 involved a limited selection Midtown Sac location(NEC S/21st)that lasted just over a decade as well as 3 in the Elk Grove/Vineyard area:While SWC Florin/Power Inn(one of the last new Thriftys to open locally)made sense(itself in a shady area on top of the still open later Payless unit on SWC Power Inn/Gerber being Wellness remodeled and among the first local locations with new logo signage),east Elk Grove(SWC Elk Grove/Waterman,maybe lasted a decade)and Vintage Park(NWC Elk Grove Florin/Calvine,2000-ish build that was wellness remodeled but had competing pharmacies at every corner according to an old 7900 Arcadia colleague that moved to that store and upon its closure was obviously reassigned to another location)were surprising since the surrounding areas still aren't quite built out yet.

As for my store and its parent center,there have been plans to remake Sunrise Village for years.The Tuesday Morning relocated last year to a storefront near the Greenback Sam's Club.Benihana lost its lease despite being a lucrative location.The pandemic has obviously played no small part in why the renovations are on hold.Interesting that City Sports Club is still planning to open in the center.There are plans for a replacement Jo~Ann at the north end of the center where the old Benihana and other vacant storefronts stand.There were rumors that HomeGoods was trying to open here.

As for my current store/workplace we've had to battle speculation about our store's future.The windfall that my store saw from my old store's closure was already leveling off even before the pandemic.The departure of neighboring tenants was further exacerbated by some non-core general merchandise being discontinued chainwide,resulting in a couple aisles that are disused though not blocked off like ill-fated 4020 Florin.Concerned customers have occasionally asked us whether we're closing(hopefully not the case in spite of years-old rumors of Merlone Geier attempting to cancel RA's lease).The interior has not been remodeled since a Rite Choice repaint in 2003.My store now suffers from theft/shrinkage issues that played no small part in the demise of my old store,partly due to loitering by homeless people and/or drug users that was already an issue even before the center has emptying out(it's gotten to the point that we started locking our restrooms roughly a year ago as my old store did for much of the time it operated at 7900 Arcadia).However,as the Heyward Donigan regime has not been nearly as closure happy as that of her predecessor(maybe a dozen closures chainwide at the most under her watch),I'm hopeful as a new store format is being rolled out(Etters,PA Moscow,PA and Littleton,NH have all been converted)that my store will turn a corner and stick around for the foreseeable future.Not to mention that new logo signage was put on both the facade and roadside center sign towers during the holiday season and conventional wisdom states that they wouldn't close a store as soon as they update the exterior signage.
For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.
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Re: Amazon Fresh coming to Sacramento (Citrus Heights)

Post by veteran+ »

Visited their store in Los Angeles on South La Cienega Bl. near the airport.

Nice size, about 35,000 square feet. Clean, organized, pretty black shelves, nice fresh departments and more. Several areas are set up for fresh food and probably cooked food self serve options once pandemic is gone.

Awesome amount of cheery, helpful and knowledgeable employees.

Prices were generally below Ralphs, Vons, Staters and other mainstream supermarkets.

Many categories are not typical supermarket located.........weird. Huge compromises in Variety in all categories.

This is not a neighborhood I would go to shop for anything.

Over all I am impressed but this is not my cup of tea. Ya'll know by now I am a lazy dude that prefers a One Stop Shop experience.

;)
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