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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 6th, 2021, 6:05 pm
by SamSpade
Yeah, remember in Baker City, Oregon, as both stores were going to be Portland division, they were going to open a Safeway across from a Safeway. Only because the community cried, they went ahead and re-bannered the Intermountain Albertsons > Haggen > (Portland) Albertsons.

It also seems like Albertsons Cos. may be giving up the SavOn name, but perhaps that is a region to region decision. It's been removed on a few of the Albertsons stores here.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 6th, 2021, 6:21 pm
by retailfanmitchell019
SamSpade wrote: April 6th, 2021, 6:05 pm
It also seems like Albertsons Cos. may be giving up the SavOn name, but perhaps that is a region to region decision. It's been removed on a few of the Albertsons stores here.
The Sav-on name is now just a trademark used on the exterior of Albertsons stores, sadly. For all intents and purposes, Sav-on Drugs is defunct.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 6th, 2021, 8:05 pm
by storewanderer
SamSpade wrote: April 6th, 2021, 6:05 pm Yeah, remember in Baker City, Oregon, as both stores were going to be Portland division, they were going to open a Safeway across from a Safeway. Only because the community cried, they went ahead and re-bannered the Intermountain Albertsons > Haggen > (Portland) Albertsons.

It also seems like Albertsons Cos. may be giving up the SavOn name, but perhaps that is a region to region decision. It's been removed on a few of the Albertsons stores here.
I was in an Albertsons in Troutdale that I guess went to Haggen and then reopened as Albertsons. Same thing in Grants Pass (far Grants Pass). But they reopened a number of stores in WA as Albertsons too, some of which have since closed (again).

I get the impression the Sav-On branding is going away as stores are remodeled. I was surprised the Sav-On signs showed back up on some of the former Haggen Stores. I do think the Sav-On name had some value at some point in CA/NV (not real sure about it in places like OR or WA) but when they sold the freestanding stores off to CVS, I'm not sure how much value the name really had at that point.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 6th, 2021, 8:12 pm
by klkla
The SavOn name still had a lot of value for the first ten years or so after selling to CVS. The SavOn and Thrifty brands were iconic in Southern California for many many years.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 7th, 2021, 12:10 am
by SamSpade
Troutdale store was never a Haggen. :idea:

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 7th, 2021, 12:15 am
by storewanderer
SamSpade wrote: April 7th, 2021, 12:10 am Troutdale store was never a Haggen. :idea:
I wonder why I thought it was... probably since it had the LLC interior. So they actually remodeled some non-former Haggen units into that interior... I remember they remodeled Bellingham Albertsons into it (before closing it).

Albertsons also should try to get all its gas stations in OR/WA back from "Speedway Express." I don't know who this operator named ARS-Fresno is who is running most of those sites but... really bad. Speedway name is trashed in OR/WA. They should have reflagged these back to USA if they didn't want to keep Mobil branding.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 7th, 2021, 9:35 am
by Super S
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: April 6th, 2021, 1:00 pm 2 more Albertsons in WA converted to Safeway in the past week: Snohomish and Tumwater.
Stop the madness, ACI!!
I have been wondering about Tumwater. That Albertsons never seemed to be that busy. There is a Fred Meyer across the street and a fairly new Walmart down the road. There used to be some local grocer on the site where Walgreens currently sits (Mega Foods?) but that store was demolished quite some time ago. I don't think there was a Safeway close by.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 7th, 2021, 9:45 am
by retailfanmitchell019
storewanderer wrote: April 7th, 2021, 12:15 am I wonder why I thought it was... probably since it had the LLC interior. So they actually remodeled some non-former Haggen units into that interior... I remember they remodeled Bellingham Albertsons into it (before closing it).

Albertsons also should try to get all its gas stations in OR/WA back from "Speedway Express." I don't know who this operator named ARS-Fresno is who is running most of those sites but... really bad. Speedway name is trashed in OR/WA. They should have reflagged these back to USA if they didn't want to keep Mobil branding.
What interior did Bellingham have before LLC?

I think the Spokane area Albertsons gas stations are Tesoro. The ones in SoCal are Shell.
There is still an Albertsons Express in Hillsboro that was never divested.

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 7th, 2021, 4:29 pm
by pseudo3d
klkla wrote: April 6th, 2021, 8:12 pm The SavOn name still had a lot of value for the first ten years or so after selling to CVS. The SavOn and Thrifty brands were iconic in Southern California for many many years.
Putting the Sav-on name on most of their stores, especially in areas that had no Sav-on stores (not for years, at least) was a Larry Johnston idea, and an expense that the stores didn't really need at the time (as signs were re-aligned, etc.). The Dallas-Fort Worth division (which included the Louisiana stores) got it, as did most other locations (I think Southwest and Shaw's got Osco, while ACME got Sav-on). Florida didn't, though.

Post-2006, the Dallas-Fort Worth division removed it from new and remodeled stores. Still, they didn't quite give up on entirely, in 2013 (after purchasing back NAI), they opened up a small Sav-on inside a hospital (Palomar Medical Center in Fullerton) complete with a Starbucks, but I don't think it lasted very long. By 2018, they were ready to give up on Sav-on, given that they wanted the in-store pharmacies to be rebranded as Rite Aid (when they were discussing the merger).

Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Posted: April 7th, 2021, 7:36 pm
by rwsandiego
pseudo3d wrote: April 7th, 2021, 4:29 pm...
Putting the Sav-on name on most of their stores, especially in areas that had no Sav-on stores (not for years, at least) was a Larry Johnston idea, and an expense that the stores didn't really need at the time (as signs were re-aligned, etc.). The Dallas-Fort Worth division (which included the Louisiana stores) got it, as did most other locations (I think Southwest and Shaw's got Osco, while ACME got Sav-on)...
It sort of made sense to brand the Phoenix Albertsons with "Osco" because Osco actually had drug stores in the market. It is funny that they re-branded the Shaw's and Star stores with "Osco" three years after selling the New England Osco stores.