Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

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Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by pseudo3d »

...this time with a store in Richland-Kennewick-Pasco area becoming a Safeway (far from the Seattle/Taucoma/Olympia sprawl). It didn't even make the news beyond a local website for a radio station.

https://97rockonline.com/the-albertsons ... a-safeway/

There appears to be one more Albertsons in the area but surely it won't last long...
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

Albertsons should keep their name in Kitsap County and Spokane. They have done much better in those areas, investing heavily there in the early 2000's.
ACI only seems to want to convert Albertsons stores to Safeway in towns where there are no Safeways... like Mountlake Terrace and Millcreek. Yet they have done nothing to the Albertsons name in Oregon.

Thanks a lot Supervalu!!! This is what damaging a supermarket chain with a long history in Washington gets you!!!
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

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retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 26th, 2021, 11:21 am Albertsons should keep their name in Kitsap County and Spokane. They have done much better in those areas, investing heavily there in the early 2000's.
ACI only seems to want to convert Albertsons stores to Safeway in towns where there are no Safeways... like Mountlake Terrace and Millcreek. Yet they have done nothing to the Albertsons name in Oregon.

Thanks a lot Supervalu!!! This is what damaging a supermarket chain with a long history in Washington gets you!!!
I went into a handfull of Albertsons Stores around Portland last week and while they definitely look better in every possible way (cleanliness, in stock, freshness, pricing, staffing, lighting, mix, promotions) than they did under Supervalu and they all have received upgrades to offer self checkout and in some cases Drive Up and Go, there is still something lacking about these stores. They seem to not do much business and have a lot of smaller transactions. Produce department is noticeably less than a Safeway, very noticeably less, not only in variety but also in freshness. It might just be time to convert these to Safeway. At least two stores I visited were re-claimed Haggen Stores. One I went into had added the Safeway China Express program (run by store employees) to its deli which was interesting, first time I've seen an Albertsons do Chinese aside from a few former Lucky units that leased space to a tenant Rice Garden.

I would add Southern Oregon as a location to keep the Albertsons banner however.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: March 26th, 2021, 6:07 pm They seem to not do much business and have a lot of smaller transactions. Produce department is noticeably less than a Safeway, very noticeably less, not only in variety but also in freshness. It might just be time to convert these to Safeway.
I would add Southern Oregon as a location to keep the Albertsons banner however.
Yet, over the past few years, they have closed more Safeways than Albertsons in Oregon...
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by storewanderer »

I sometimes wonder if the conversions from Albertsons to Safeway in Colorado (weak markets for both chains) did not go as well as expected and it caused them to put the brakes on the idea elsewhere on a wide scale so that is why we just see a store convert every now and then in the Northwest. But there are some banner consolidations that really should take place, like eliminating Vons from Las Vegas and flipping that to Albertsons.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by Super S »

What puzzles me a little is the fact that SW Washington still has two Albertsons stores that are open that are about a mile each from an open Safeway. One is in Vancouver at Salmon Creek, the other is in Battle Ground. I honestly don't understand how these two locations are still open, although it is worth noting that the Albertsons buildings are the newer ones in both instances.

As you head north, there are no Albertsons banner stores after Clark County until you get to Tumwater. There are plenty of Safeways though.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: March 27th, 2021, 8:14 am What puzzles me a little is the fact that SW Washington still has two Albertsons stores that are open that are about a mile each from an open Safeway. One is in Vancouver at Salmon Creek, the other is in Battle Ground. I honestly don't understand how these two locations are still open, although it is worth noting that the Albertsons buildings are the newer ones in both instances.

As you head north, there are no Albertsons banner stores after Clark County until you get to Tumwater. There are plenty of Safeways though.
That Salmon Creek Store isn't great and needs some work. It got a cheap remodel by Supervalu, it needs to be remodeled again. Based on how its produce and bakery looked I am not sure how much business it does. I was actually surprised when I got up front to purchase something that it had newly added self checkouts. I wonder if the Rosauers impacted its business somehow? Seemed like less than 10 minutes between the two.

The Battle Ground Store has its original interior (Grocery Palace) but it looks maintained and clean. I wouldn't even say it looks dated and it certainly doesn't look run down. But some may consider it dated. I think they have some problems in Battle Ground. The Safeway is well located at a major intersection. The parking lot is too small, the store is smaller, but it is so well located it would look really stupid to lose that store. Also the Battle Ground Safeway seems quite busy. Then you have the Albertsons which is out the road a few blocks on the way out of town with a much larger store, much larger parking lot, etc. And there may be some new housing developments closer to the Albertsons which if the Albertsons went away the closest store to those would be Fred Meyer. In order to get between the Safeway and the Albertsons you have to drive past Fred Meyer (which runs an excellent store there also). Not sure what will happen there but at this time I can see why they keep both stores.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by tkaye »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 26th, 2021, 11:21 am Albertsons should keep their name in Kitsap County and Spokane. They have done much better in those areas, investing heavily there in the early 2000's.
I wouldn't say that about Kitsap... there are six Safeways but only three Albertsons. The Poulsbo Albertsons (an old blue and gray interior store) was replaced with a new Safeway across the highway. Albertsons stores in Bremerton (built 2003) and Silverdale (built 1999) were divested to Haggen and not taken back. The Bremerton Albertsons was exactly halfway between two much-busier Safeways. Silverdale was right down the street from the Safeway that was kept.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

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storewanderer wrote: March 27th, 2021, 11:05 am

That Salmon Creek Store isn't great and needs some work. It got a cheap remodel by Supervalu, it needs to be remodeled again. Based on how its produce and bakery looked I am not sure how much business it does. I was actually surprised when I got up front to purchase something that it had newly added self checkouts. I wonder if the Rosauers impacted its business somehow? Seemed like less than 10 minutes between the two.

The Battle Ground Store has its original interior (Grocery Palace) but it looks maintained and clean. I wouldn't even say it looks dated and it certainly doesn't look run down. But some may consider it dated. I think they have some problems in Battle Ground. The Safeway is well located at a major intersection. The parking lot is too small, the store is smaller, but it is so well located it would look really stupid to lose that store. Also the Battle Ground Safeway seems quite busy. Then you have the Albertsons which is out the road a few blocks on the way out of town with a much larger store, much larger parking lot, etc. And there may be some new housing developments closer to the Albertsons which if the Albertsons went away the closest store to those would be Fred Meyer. In order to get between the Safeway and the Albertsons you have to drive past Fred Meyer (which runs an excellent store there also). Not sure what will happen there but at this time I can see why they keep both stores.
That Salmon Creek store still needed a remodel after the last cheap remodel was finished. It basically consisted of a wall repaint and rearranging of aisles on the non-food side (but not even rearranging the lighting above the aisles) and still retained the blue-gray floor pattern. One of the most half-baked remodels I have seen in recent years. Albertsons used to do some pretty thorough remodels years ago.

What I never figured out though is how they kept these locations intact through the whole Haggen fiasco.

Like Battle Ground, there is a Fred Meyer in between, although it's on the other side of the freeway. The current Safeway I believe is the same building that was once Zupan's Food Pavilion and I want to say it is late 1970s or early 80s vintage, but it did get a thorough remodel when Safeway took over years ago.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by kr.abs.swy »

It looks like there were three Albertsons and two Safeways in the Tri-Cities.

The Kennewick Safeway (2825 W Kennewick Ave) is along a busy highway. I visited it on Friday; it seems like a good store.

There is an Albertsons (not the one being converted) two miles away from that Safeway at 5204 W Clearwater Ave in Kennewick. I was able to visit this store on Sunday. It has a 1980s Buttrey floor, is on the smaller side, has a (I believe) early 2000s decor package, has an odd layout (for an Albertsons), is in a mature neighborhood, and is down the street from a WinCo. I have no idea if they own this location, but they could just be waiting out a lease expiration. I wouldn't bet money on this store being open in five years.

The other Albertsons is across the river in Pasco, which doesn't seem to have a Safeway. Assuming that they close the Clearwater Ave. Albertsons in Kennewick eventually and they eventually convert the Pasco Albertsons to Safeway, they would have managed to consolidate the two banners and create a chain with decent (but certainly not dense) coverage across the Tri-Cities.
pseudo3d wrote: March 25th, 2021, 9:31 pm ...this time with a store in Richland-Kennewick-Pasco area becoming a Safeway (far from the Seattle/Taucoma/Olympia sprawl). It didn't even make the news beyond a local website for a radio station.

https://97rockonline.com/the-albertsons ... a-safeway/

There appears to be one more Albertsons in the area but surely it won't last long...
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