Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

[klkla]

The Albertson's turned Haggen in San Pedro kept some of the elements of the Jewel design after they took over:

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/haggen- ... CXLzt9U1zg

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/haggen- ... O98mX8_Z7A

It's a Smart & Final now and still has some of the elements:

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/smart-a ... dstYTjLtiQ

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/smart-a ... -0EfPP7SbQ

[Super S]

The Jewel Interior was my favorite. In 2000, Albertsons opened a large new supermarket in Pleasant Hill, California under the Albertsons banner with the Jewel Interior. It was an amazingly beautiful store and was the largest supermarket in the entire county for years. It had a Starbucks inside which was revolutionary at the time and its success caused Safeway to add Starbucks to almost all of their stores a few years later. The Pleasant Hill store was originally planned to be a Lucky Supermarket by the original Lucky company. However, Albertsons took over Lucky in 1999 and the Lucky name was replaced by Albertsons everywhere. A nearly identical twin Jewel Interior Albertsons opened up one city over in Concord, California with the exact same decor and layout. That store in Concord is still open as a Lucky supermarket run by Save Mart. In 2007, Albertsons sold their Northern California stores to Save Mart and Save Mart put the Lucky name on to the San Francisco Bay Area Albertsons stores.

That Pleasant Hill store closed down a few years ago when Orchard Supply Hardware took over the lease. OSH closed down a short time later. I will never forgive Lowe's for causing the Lucky store to close. It was one of the nicest looking supermarkets in the entire region.

Albertsons opened a Lucky-Based design in Vancouver, WA around 2003-2004. It was a nice store, but the layout seemed a bit off and actually felt cramped in some areas. A few years later, when Albertsons removed half of the fluorescent tubes in a cost cutting move, the store became much darker and the store lost any effect the Lucky interior had.

[storewanderer]

Here are photos of that WA Store. Notice the cheaper version. Some secondary departments have "cheaper" wall signage. The prime departments that do have the nicer wall signage, do not have tile work behind the letters. https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1

Still a great looking interior. I was disappointed when I heard this store closed. That was the only Jewel interior I saw in the Pacific Northwest. There was one in Boise too.

[storewanderer]

The Albertson's turned Haggen in San Pedro kept some of the elements of the Jewel design after they took over:

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/haggen- ... CXLzt9U1zg

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/haggen- ... O98mX8_Z7A

It's a Smart & Final now and still has some of the elements:

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/smart-a ... dstYTjLtiQ

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/smart-a ... -0EfPP7SbQ

There was one store in Sacramento with that interior too. It got the Save Mart one over during conversion then got a more thorough remodel after. This was an Albertsons interior... just never used on many stores.

This interior seemed to be intended for "upscale" locations.

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/save-ma ... 9?start=30

Not many photos posted since the Save Mart recent remodel (guess it isn't making people very excited, given lack of photos and still a 3 star rating in Yelp). Some photos of a real beat up looking Lucky interior are of a different store (Kiefer) which Save Mart has also since remodeled.

[Bagels]

Entering this year, three Albertsons in Irvine featured the "Jewel" interior.

* The location at Alton/Culver opened in the mid-1990s as a Lucky. It's a fairly large store, with three separate entrances. It's been regularly updated through the years -- it's the only Albertsons I'm aware of that received doors over the refrigerated sections (as Ralphs and Stater Bros. are doing in their current renovations) -- but beyond the Supervalu-era aisle hangers, the "Jewel" interior was largely in tact. When I last visited the store mid-winter, they were in the process of resetting the merchandise and removing some of the signage, so presumably it has been renovated into "Colorful Lifestyles."

* The location at Jeffrey/the 5 opened in 2003 as an Albertsons. It was recently updated to "Colorful Lifestyles" but they really didn't do much. Basically, they painted and put up new signage (but the fading light green ceiling was not touched), refinished the wood floor in the produce/bakery/deli and polished the titled flooring. Very cheap renovation... there were three giant CRT television screens by the check-out counters, and instead of removing them, they just covered them up.

* The Quail Hill location opened in the mid-2000s and may be the last new build Albertsons in the Greater Los Angeles Area. This location is smaller, and has a unique layout I've never seen at any other location. It's also maintains the original aisle hangers. I suspect sales are poor at this location, and expect it will be shuttered when the lease expires. It's interesting Albertsons went with the Jewel interior at this location, given that some of the stores that were under construction during the acquisition (e.g. Tustin) opened with the then-Albertsons interior.

FWIW, I think the "Colorful Lifestyles" update to the Jewel interior at the Jeffrey Rd. location is welcomed, as the store was beginning to show its age (as if 2003 is old). That said, it amazes me how cheap these remodels are. The VONS at Harbor/Chapman (near Disneyland) had the cheap, 2D "Lifesyles" interior and was recently upgraded to "Colorful Lifestyles." While definitely a major improvement, Albertsons choose not to replace many of the worn, aged furniture/fixtures, which probably date to when the store opened in 1982. Another example: the Lake Forest Albertsons is currently under going renovation. They've removed the signage and ripped up the flooring. But again, the aging furniture/fixtures -- including a produce department in which everything is hosed by hand because the automatic sprinklers no longer work, or the leaky freezer cases which are always having problems (I refuse to buy anything frozen here), or the freezer cases that aren't covered -- aren't being updated. The store is old -- Lucky actually intended on replacing this location, but Albertsons pulled out of the project and Kroger ultimately built instead (ironically, it's one of last Ralphs to feature the 1990s interior package; the store opened in 2007).

[storewanderer]

* The Quail Hill location opened in the mid-2000s and may be the last new build Albertsons in the Greater Los Angeles Area. This location is smaller, and has a unique layout I've never seen at any other location. It's also maintains the original aisle hangers. I suspect sales are poor at this location, and expect it will be shuttered when the lease expires. It's interesting Albertsons went with the Jewel interior at this location, given that some of the stores that were under construction during the acquisition (e.g. Tustin) opened with the then-Albertsons interior.

That Quail Hill layout is more like a real Jewel Store (deli in the middle is like a real Jewel- but bakery too is different; both departments look smaller than average). The liquor license is from 12/2003.

That store looks pretty good. The front is suspicious. The small Albertsons sign looks like it is squeezed to fit where a "Lucky" sign would have been and the odd "Deli Bakery" signs in blue Albertsons font are something I've never seen before. Usually those said "Food Pharmacy."

I wonder if that store was planned as Lucky and severely delayed?

South Lake Tahoe Safeway undergoing remodel (was built around 1998) got a new refrigerated wall case across the long produce wall. Also new case for self service meat. I think the meat department looked better with the old cases (part tall part coffin against the wall) but oh well. Back to produce, it is a bit more shallow than the old case but has more space for product to be displayed on the front by displaying some down lower (looks more ADA-compliant). I don't think Truckee got a new case like that in produce when it remodeled (may be wrong).

[retailfanmitchell019]

Here are photos of that WA Store. Notice the cheaper version. Some secondary departments have "cheaper" wall signage. The prime departments that do have the nicer wall signage, do not have tile work behind the letters. https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1

Still a great looking interior. I was disappointed when I heard this store closed. That was the only Jewel interior I saw in the Pacific Northwest. There was one in Boise too.

There was one similar Albertsons in Wilsonville, OR that was basically a clone of that Vancouver store. It also had Jewel interior. It closed 4 years ago when Safeway moved into a closed Bales store.
There is one early 90's build Albertsons in a Seattle suburb that got a Jewel remodel (I think Lake Stevens). SVU bought that store in 2015, turning it into a Country Market.

[retailfanmitchell019]

[quote="Super S" post_id=25221 time=1592704102 user_id=177
Albertsons opened a Lucky-Based design in Vancouver, WA around 2003-2004. It was a nice store, but the layout seemed a bit off and actually felt cramped in some areas. A few years later, when Albertsons removed half of the fluorescent tubes in a cost cutting move, the store became much darker and the store lost any effect the Lucky interior had.
[/quote]
It was more of a Jewel based layout. That store opened on May 7, 2003. Exterior is similar to an early 2000's Jewel.

[retailfanmitchell019]

* The Quail Hill location opened in the mid-2000s and may be the last new build Albertsons in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

I think the last Albertsons in SoCal to open before SVU was the store in Murrieta at Scott Rd and I-215. It also had Jewel interior.
There is a 2004 build Albertsons off Highway 79 in Murrieta. I'm sure this was the last Grocery Palace to open. Later versions of Grocery Palace didn't have the weird props like the milk barn and spinning Meal Center chef.

[BatteryMill]

While there are many choices I'd consider from what I've seen, my favorite design meeting this criteria easily has to be Harris Teeter's Romanesque (http://www.bciva.com/portfolio-item/har ... inesville/) design, used by the chain for much of the 2000s. There were multiple variations dating to the 90s, however the general variation they used in the mid late 00s onwards (where they became prominent in the D.C. area) are the ones I feel they perfected and are the closest to my heart.
More reasoning for this package being my choice stems from the vast amount of detail included within even the average implementation. Artwork, specialized canopies for service departments, and the inclusion of varied architectural elements, such as canopies over checkouts and the beer & wine department, as well as cool details like that above the takeout counters and the "HT Drug Store" really help to complete the store's look. To note I also enjoy the efforts the chain has shifted towards their current Art Deco theme. Nevertheless, I am hopeful the chain can make a similar design as well; it's a shame market/colonial-style packages in this vein have fallen out of favor in the past decade.

Publix's Classy Market 3.0 (http://myfloridaretail.blogspot.com/sea ... %20%231649), Shoppers' mid 2000s package (https://www.flickr.com/photos/baltimore ... 2313158215) ("Real People. Real Value. Real Smart."/"Smart Shoppers Shop Shoppers"), the Super Stop & Shop concept (https://auroracontractors.com/projects/ ... -and-shop/) (particularily the Giant-Landover adaptation), and Food Lion's "Rutherfordton" prototype (https://activerain.com/blogsview/262236 ... upermarket) are all honorable mentions to my list. There are certainly more designs that I appreciate through these past 25 years, both from my home market and across the country that I've seen. Such statement, is, of course not complete with any packages I may not be enthralled with.