19 More Albertsons/Save-a-Lot/Lucky Stores Closing

[storewanderer]

I was in the Tumwater Albertsons about 4 months ago. The store was filthy dirty, poorly stocked, had a bad odor, poorly staffed, perimeter areas looked terrible, and 2 of the 3 items I purchased scanned incorrectly. It definitely had nothing to do but improve. During that same week I went to the Lacey and Olympia Albertsons and did not observe any such conditions. But I observed even worse conditions in a Tacoma Albertsons.

Fred Meyer was undergoing a remodel. Based on my traffic observations in Tumwater, the Fred Meyer is quite a bit busier than the new Wal Mart. They do have a superior location.

[Super S]

I was in the Tumwater Albertsons about 4 months ago. The store was filthy dirty, poorly stocked, had a bad odor, poorly staffed, perimeter areas looked terrible, and 2 of the 3 items I purchased scanned incorrectly. It definitely had nothing to do but improve. During that same week I went to the Lacey and Olympia Albertsons and did not observe any such conditions. But I observed even worse conditions in a Tacoma Albertsons.

Fred Meyer was undergoing a remodel. Based on my traffic observations in Tumwater, the Fred Meyer is quite a bit busier than the new Wal Mart. They do have a superior location.

That Fred Meyer is a relatively new store. It always has been busy when I have stopped in there. Under Kroger ownership, Fred Meyer has been remodeling their stores more frequently. Based on the way Albertsons has been operating their Portland stores, I don't think Albertsons will have much of an impact.

[Brian Lutz]

I was in the Tumwater Albertsons about 4 months ago. The store was filthy dirty, poorly stocked, had a bad odor, poorly staffed, perimeter areas looked terrible, and 2 of the 3 items I purchased scanned incorrectly. It definitely had nothing to do but improve. During that same week I went to the Lacey and Olympia Albertsons and did not observe any such conditions. But I observed even worse conditions in a Tacoma Albertsons.

Fred Meyer was undergoing a remodel. Based on my traffic observations in Tumwater, the Fred Meyer is quite a bit busier than the new Wal Mart. They do have a superior location.

That Fred Meyer is a relatively new store. It always has been busy when I have stopped in there. Under Kroger ownership, Fred Meyer has been remodeling their stores more frequently. Based on the way Albertsons has been operating their Portland stores, I don't think Albertsons will have much of an impact.

I believe that based on a local news article I read when the Kirkland Fred Meyer got remodeled recently, they generally plan on remodeling their stores roughly every ten years or so. Based on this I believe the Bellevue store closest to where I live would be just about due within the next year or so.

[kr.abs.swy]

The Corvallis Albertsons closed for good a week ago.

They have taken down the Albertsons signs. I was surprised to see that they boarded up the doors and the windows. It makes for an awful eyesore in a strip mall that, despite its age, has remained relatively full with decent tenants (Dollar Tree, Little Ceasar's, Sally Beauty Supply, and a couple of local restaurants, and a newer Chase bank and a Chevron station in the parking lot). Losing the grocery store could, of course, send the strip mall into a death spiral.

The store closed for good at least a week earlier than the originally scheduled closing date.

The markdown strategy left me scratching my head. Initially, they had different levels of markdowns throughout the store. Canned goods, for example, were 10% off, some frozen goods were 30% off, and -some of the organics were 50% off (why would a relatively small selection of organics be 50% off, while canned goods are only 10% off, which is probably 30% more than they were at the WinCo up the street?). Then, all of a sudden, everything was 75% off. I didn't see anything to indicate that a third-party had been brought in to manage the going-out-of-business sale. As I recall, the butcher block and pharmacy closed at roughly the same time. The deli held on for longer.

Prescriptions were transferred to Safeway.

As I went into the store in the months prior to the closing, I couldn't believe that things could be this bad for Albertsons. Granted, there is a WinCo a quarter mile up the street, there are lots of competitors within a couple of miles, and this Albertsons was showing its age. However, this store was in a very dense residential area with lots of potential customers. But sales were so slow -- it has to have been one of the lowest volume supermarkets I've ever seen. And the prices were horrible. The Fred Meyer here seems to do very well and the Safeway stores seem to do fine. But this store always seemed to be deserted.

[kr.abs.swy]

Signs are posted in the windows of the shuttered Corvallis Albertsons advertising an auction in about two weeks.

I remember reading that SuperValu hoped to raise funds from closing these stores by, in cases in which they owned the real estate, liquidating the asset. Given the age of the Corvallis store, I suspect that is the case here. This is probably a store that was a chronic underperformer that still managed to make a little money for SuperValu because there was no lease payment. But when push comes to shove, they'd rather have whatever cash they can get from liquidating the real estate. (This is all just my theory.)