another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

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Alpha8472
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

The lighting of the North Bend, Oregon Safeway does not seem so bad. The new decor looks nice. For some reason the spotlights at this store were not removed. However, they appear to be turned off.

www.keymechanical.com/project/safeway-north-bend-or/
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by Super S »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 30th, 2021, 11:37 pm The lighting of the North Bend, Oregon Safeway does not seem so bad. The new decor looks nice. For some reason the spotlights at this store were not removed. However, they appear to be turned off.

www.keymechanical.com/project/safeway-north-bend-or/
That isn't as bad as some remodels I have seen pictures of where they have put the strip lights right below other fixtures that are still lit up.

But still...even in those pictures I see at least three types of fixtures being used. And all those spotlights that are not on. It still looks like a hodgepodge of a store that can't figure out its identity...does it want to look upscale and modern? Or do they want to be a bargain basement warehouse type store? Things like this should not be present in a store with a higher price point. At a very minimum, at least remove the spotlights if they won't be used any more and put some plain tiles up there. I have visited some 1980s era Safeway locations which originally opened with recessed 8 foot fluorescent fixtures, and during the first Lifestyle remodels, received the lights with the covers. They at least removed the recessed fixtures and put tiles in their place. While you can still see the narrower grid that those fixtures sat in, it doesn't jump out at you like the spotlights and other non functioning fixtures do.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by Super S »

I drove through Wilsonville today and made a quick stop for something to drink at the Safeway there, which used to be Lamb's. I noticed that the store has the latest interior wall package, which by itself doesn't look too bad. But looking down, I saw ugly polished concrete. And looking up I saw three different types of fixtures hanging from the open warehouse ceiling. There were rows of wider 4' three tube fixtures extending the length of some of the aisles, which I believe are original to the store, and had the silver reflector covers all removed. There were some random spots with rows of two tube warehouse type reflector fixtures. (All fluorescent tubes were converted to LED) And there were some newer looking 2' by 4' fixtures which look like they were designed for a suspended ceiling, and had a single LED row in the center of the fixtures. The overall effect is inconsistent lighting depending on where you were in the store.

This is another example of Safeway trying to figure out what they want to be. The store deserves credit for being clean. But overall it looks like a mish-mash of different concepts here. At the very least, bring some consistency to the lighting.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: July 16th, 2021, 9:38 pm I drove through Wilsonville today and made a quick stop for something to drink at the Safeway there, which used to be Lamb's. I noticed that the store has the latest interior wall package, which by itself doesn't look too bad. But looking down, I saw ugly polished concrete. And looking up I saw three different types of fixtures hanging from the open warehouse ceiling. There were rows of wider 4' three tube fixtures extending the length of some of the aisles, which I believe are original to the store, and had the silver reflector covers all removed. There were some random spots with rows of two tube warehouse type reflector fixtures. (All fluorescent tubes were converted to LED) And there were some newer looking 2' by 4' fixtures which look like they were designed for a suspended ceiling, and had a single LED row in the center of the fixtures. The overall effect is inconsistent lighting depending on where you were in the store.

This is another example of Safeway trying to figure out what they want to be. The store deserves credit for being clean. But overall it looks like a mish-mash of different concepts here. At the very least, bring some consistency to the lighting.
To be fair that store is a mismash for a reason. They took over that store from Lamb's and did a quick remodel to covert it over to a Safeway. They painted the walls, replaced the registers, replaced cases in the deli and bakery but a lot of things didn't change such as most of the coolers and the overall layout of the store. It looks a lot better than the goofy Thriftway decor Lamb's used but Safeway never did a full gut on the store.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: July 18th, 2021, 4:05 pm
To be fair that store is a mismash for a reason. They took over that store from Lamb's and did a quick remodel to covert it over to a Safeway. They painted the walls, replaced the registers, replaced cases in the deli and bakery but a lot of things didn't change such as most of the coolers and the overall layout of the store. It looks a lot better than the goofy Thriftway decor Lamb's used but Safeway never did a full gut on the store.
Actually wasn't a bad store, didn't need a full gut. Compared to how the other Thriftways I've been in looked... this must have been by far the nicest...
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by babs »

storewanderer wrote: July 18th, 2021, 9:49 pm
babs wrote: July 18th, 2021, 4:05 pm
To be fair that store is a mismash for a reason. They took over that store from Lamb's and did a quick remodel to covert it over to a Safeway. They painted the walls, replaced the registers, replaced cases in the deli and bakery but a lot of things didn't change such as most of the coolers and the overall layout of the store. It looks a lot better than the goofy Thriftway decor Lamb's used but Safeway never did a full gut on the store.
Actually wasn't a bad store, didn't need a full gut. Compared to how the other Thriftways I've been in looked... this must have been by far the nicest...
I believe this was the last new build Thirftway. Was never a fan of the corrugated metal look they used. It was nicer than the rest since it was much newer.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by Super S »

Moving to the Albertsons side of things...

Today I stopped at the Salmon Creek Albertsons in Vancouver, WA, a 1990s store whose future I have questioned because this one is less than a mile from a Safeway, and due to the fact that this one basically has received nothing but a cheap Supervalu remodel and retains the blue-gray package floor tiles. It basically was a repaint and rearranging all of the aisles to point the same direction.

I immediately noticed that they replaced all of the existing light fixtures with new LED units. The strip lights overhead, which had exposed 4 foot tubes, have been replaced by new LED fixtures with covers, and the recessed fixtures over produce, deli, and the front end, which were silver reflector units, have been replaced by new recessed fixtures. It is worth noting that they did not take the time to rearrange the rows of lights over where they redid the aisle layout. But I find it interesting how they took the time to install new fixtures here while Safeway branded stores have been removing covers and making the stores look cheap and unfinished. This does however make me question what the plans are for this store or the Safeway a mile south.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: September 7th, 2022, 11:59 pm Moving to the Albertsons side of things...

Today I stopped at the Salmon Creek Albertsons in Vancouver, WA, a 1990s store whose future I have questioned because this one is less than a mile from a Safeway, and due to the fact that this one basically has received nothing but a cheap Supervalu remodel and retains the blue-gray package floor tiles. It basically was a repaint and rearranging all of the aisles to point the same direction.

I immediately noticed that they replaced all of the existing light fixtures with new LED units. The strip lights overhead, which had exposed 4 foot tubes, have been replaced by new LED fixtures with covers, and the recessed fixtures over produce, deli, and the front end, which were silver reflector units, have been replaced by new recessed fixtures. It is worth noting that they did not take the time to rearrange the rows of lights over where they redid the aisle layout. But I find it interesting how they took the time to install new fixtures here while Safeway branded stores have been removing covers and making the stores look cheap and unfinished. This does however make me question what the plans are for this store or the Safeway a mile south.
That store desperately needs a remodel and some re-spacing allocations to departments. Bakery and produce are awkwardly small. There are 3 still open stores in Reno area with that same layout and somehow those departments are not awkward the way this Vancouver store is.

Self checkout was installed there in 2021 also.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

Safeway must be getting some kind of incentive to replace the lighting with energy saving fixtures. The run down Pak N Save in San Leandro received new LED tubes, but everything else was the same.

I have seen several Safeway parking lots with LED lights that dim when they sense no motion. When you walk by, they brighten up. If the parking lot is not busy, the lot is very dark. It makes it look like Safeway is closed. In some cases it makes the parking lot look very dangerous. I sat in my car and all the lights dimmed. There could be criminals just waiting in their cars for the perfect robbery.
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Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: September 8th, 2022, 12:10 am

That store desperately needs a remodel and some re-spacing allocations to departments. Bakery and produce are awkwardly small. There are 3 still open stores in Reno area with that same layout and somehow those departments are not awkward the way this Vancouver store is.

Self checkout was installed there in 2021 also.
I saw the new self checkouts, but very little else has changed. I don't quite understand why this one still exists with the close proximity to Safeway, but also because this store never has been busy any time I have been in there. It doesn't seem to be very high volume. It is one of two Albertsons branded stores remaining in Southwest Washington.
Alpha8472 wrote: September 8th, 2022, 9:33 pm Safeway must be getting some kind of incentive to replace the lighting with energy saving fixtures. The run down Pak N Save in San Leandro received new LED tubes, but everything else was the same.

I have seen several Safeway parking lots with LED lights that dim when they sense no motion. When you walk by, they brighten up. If the parking lot is not busy, the lot is very dark. It makes it look like Safeway is closed. In some cases it makes the parking lot look very dangerous. I sat in my car and all the lights dimmed. There could be criminals just waiting in their cars for the perfect robbery.
One business I used to work at got some kind of incentive from the local electric utility to update to T8 fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescents. This was before LED lighting started taking off. The utility covered a huge portion of the cost but not all of it.

I don't know that I would shop at a store that had lights that dim with no motion. That seems like an invitation for many types of crime. It's one thing to do that after hours but not while the store is open.
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