Re: Safeway closures
Posted: September 12th, 2020, 12:40 am
Monte Mart was a discount format (self bagging). The Safeway in Del Rey Oaks (which was divested to Ralphs and may have briefly ran as FoodsCo or closed immediately for a remodel to Ralphs in 1999) was that "big" Monte Mart but I don't think it was 100k square feet. Also the FoodsCo in Salinas was a Monte Mart, divested to Ralphs in 1999, and has operated under that format since then. I guess these two stores would have been in Albertsons old NorCal division pre-1999. There was a Monte Mart in West Sacramento in the 70's or 80's as well.pseudo3d wrote: ↑September 12th, 2020, 12:02 am
Well, the Market Street concept was born under the Miller administration. I was thinking of a format that would introduce more general merchandise options, like hardware or apparel (the latter being experimented by Hy-Vee). It's doubtful that they'll go anywhere close to the "Kroger Marketplace" model but they could always play around with concepts (on that note, Albertsons did keep Monte Mart, a mid-1970s acquisition, as a full-service operation for several years after acquisition, and by the time it was divested in '99, one of the old Monte Mart stores was their biggest stores at 100k+ square feet).
Or just focus on improving the weaker markets, like Colorado or Texas.
Albertsons SoCal Division still had some Monte Marts including one in Hanford (this store opened around 1992- it was a big giant warehouse store) well into the 00's. They had Monte Mart, Max, and Super Saver all under a single ad format/program but over time closed most of the stores before ultimately converting the few that stayed open to the Lucky name.