[CONFIRMED] Albertsons FL converting to Safeway

[rwsandiego]

Do you get the feeling that the Florida stores are being used as a test bed for mixing and matching "best practices" of the various divisions? Obviously, flooring isn't one of them...

It does seem that way. It is also notable that they located one store in metro Tampa, one in metro Miami, and one in metro Orlando. They get to test what works/does not work in three distinct areas. Not sure how much meaningful data they will receive from three stores, but they must be deriving some benefit from it. I just keep hoping to walk up to my local Safeway and see it has magically transformed into a big, gleaming Jewel-Osco. It isn't going to happen, but then again one never knows with Albertsons.

Interestingly, the Tampa (Largo) store did open as a Jewel-Osco with a selection of general merchandise, and other features including a soda fountain, a juice bar, and a selection of out of town newspapers.

"Nonfood is our real specialty," he said. "American Stores grew from the old Skaggs Drug Centers, and that's how we got our start. We've always thought we had the best nonfood presentation of any combination store in the country, and we've found nonfood is critically important in Florida."
The product array in the Jewel Oscos would rival that of a hypermarket with its inclusion of items such as kitchen gadgets, sporting goods, bicycles, lawn mowers, automotives, lawn furniture, seasonal selections and a host of others.
"We've brought in an aggressive nonfood presentation because it just wasn't being done by anyone else," said Skaggs.

It's a shame that they only have one store in a metro area and aren't experimenting more with product mix and services.

I read where Jewel was planning to experiment with hypermarkets but gave it up after their experience with Turn-Style. Also, Albertsons put the old Jewel Companies back together when it bought Shaw's-Star. Buttrey, whose locations I think were sold to Albertsons, was a Jewel company as was Star. All Albertsons has to do is buy CVS and the family will be back together again. Maybe then my dream will come true.

[cathandler]

I read where Jewel was planning to experiment with hypermarkets but gave it up after their experience with Turn-Style. Also, Albertsons put the old Jewel Companies back together when it bought Shaw's-Star. Buttrey, whose locations I think were sold to Albertsons, was a Jewel company as was Star. All Albertsons has to do is buy CVS and the family will be back together again. Maybe then my dream will come true.

Be careful what you wish for - by and large Shaw's/Star suffers from serious underinvestment in renovations under the current regime. For all its many faults, Supervalu put some money into upkeep.

[pseudo3d]

It does seem that way. It is also notable that they located one store in metro Tampa, one in metro Miami, and one in metro Orlando. They get to test what works/does not work in three distinct areas. Not sure how much meaningful data they will receive from three stores, but they must be deriving some benefit from it. I just keep hoping to walk up to my local Safeway and see it has magically transformed into a big, gleaming Jewel-Osco. It isn't going to happen, but then again one never knows with Albertsons.

Interestingly, the Tampa (Largo) store did open as a Jewel-Osco with a selection of general merchandise, and other features including a soda fountain, a juice bar, and a selection of out of town newspapers.

"Nonfood is our real specialty," he said. "American Stores grew from the old Skaggs Drug Centers, and that's how we got our start. We've always thought we had the best nonfood presentation of any combination store in the country, and we've found nonfood is critically important in Florida."
The product array in the Jewel Oscos would rival that of a hypermarket with its inclusion of items such as kitchen gadgets, sporting goods, bicycles, lawn mowers, automotives, lawn furniture, seasonal selections and a host of others.
"We've brought in an aggressive nonfood presentation because it just wasn't being done by anyone else," said Skaggs.

It's a shame that they only have one store in a metro area and aren't experimenting more with product mix and services.

I read where Jewel was planning to experiment with hypermarkets but gave it up after their experience with Turn-Style. Also, Albertsons put the old Jewel Companies back together when it bought Shaw's-Star. Buttrey, whose locations I think were sold to Albertsons, was a Jewel company as was Star. All Albertsons has to do is buy CVS and the family will be back together again. Maybe then my dream will come true.

The Jewel Cos. will never be complete since they also spun off White Hen Pantry, which survived for years as a regional independent but was absorbed into 7-Eleven (not to mention Brigham's Ice Cream). Jewel may have given up on hypermarkets (and discount stores altogether) with Turn Style, but Skaggs/ASC always had an eye into non-food (the Skaggs Albertsons, and later Skaggs Alpha Beta, had an expanded selection of general merchandise). It's probably one of the reasons (the other being the divestment of Alpha Beta) why ASC had rebranded the entire Skaggs Alpha Beta chain (except the California stores) to Jewel-Osco (which only ultimately lasted about a year before the chain was sold off to Albertsons--except the NM stores).

But I digress. I wonder if their focus on non-food was so much of a disaster that stunted the growth of Jewel-Osco Florida and contributed to the division being sold to Albertsons.

[storewanderer]

I believe the problems that hurt Jewel Osco's expansions into places like FL, TX, etc. were the lack of a dense population there. In Chicagoland, Jewel Osco historically has enjoyed very high volumes due to the more dense populations. You just don't get that in these other places where people tend to be more spread out. I am suspicious Jewel Osco was not poorly performing per se in the far away markets, it was likely more just that it was so much better performing in Chicagoland that they were better off focusing their resources there. And it appears to have paid off well for them.

[pseudo3d]

I believe the problems that hurt Jewel Osco's expansions into places like FL, TX, etc. were the lack of a dense population there. In Chicagoland, Jewel Osco historically has enjoyed very high volumes due to the more dense populations. You just don't get that in these other places where people tend to be more spread out. I am suspicious Jewel Osco was not poorly performing per se in the far away markets, it was likely more just that it was so much better performing in Chicagoland that they were better off focusing their resources there. And it appears to have paid off well for them.

The Skaggs Alpha Beta chain (the non-Florida stores were rebranded as J/O in 1991, the chain was sold in 1992) did quite well...at the time of the Jewel-Osco sale to Albertsons in Dallas, ASC had twice as many stores as Albertsons did (Albertsons entered the market in the mid-1980s). I don't think high volumes were the problem (J-O in Chicago I don't believe didn't have the same merchandise mix, and J-O in the South did not have separate management for food and drug sides--it was mostly brand equity than anything else). I think that Jewel-Osco Florida was more a victim of the sell-offs American Stores did in the early 1990s (they had acquired Lucky Stores for $2.5B but had to deal with a lengthy court battle). During the same era, they also spun off the Buttrey chain (which was bought by Albertsons in the late 1990s) and put ACME up for sale (though they did not sell it).

Bringing it back to the current stores, ASC had branded their stores as Jewel-Osco not as the same format or division but because they thought the brand would do better there, much like Albertsons branding it as Safeway (not quite the same thing, as it appears to be in the Eastern Division after all, but along the same lines). Speaking of which, they really should just make the Florida stores a separate subsidiary (as opposed to division) to give it some more freedom, like Jewel-Osco Florida Inc. (and have it pick suppliers and products--and already it is different, for whatever reason, Florida stores don't participate in Albertsons Monopoly). It might work...wouldn't be surprised if they had a mini-office itself already.

[rwsandiego]

Bringing it back to the current stores, ASC had branded their stores as Jewel-Osco not as the same format or division but because they thought the brand would do better there, much like Albertsons branding it as Safeway (not quite the same thing, as it appears to be in the Eastern Division after all, but along the same lines). Speaking of which, they really should just make the Florida stores a separate subsidiary (as opposed to division) to give it some more freedom, like Jewel-Osco Florida Inc. (and have it pick suppliers and products--and already it is different, for whatever reason, Florida stores don't participate in Albertsons Monopoly). It might work...wouldn't be surprised if they had a mini-office itself already.

I was just about to say the same thing. However, Jewel-Osco in Chicago traditionally was a full-line Osco drugstore and a full-line Jewel supermarket under one roof. It was not simply a supermarket with a pharmacy. So, when Osco sold patio furniture, Jewel-Osco stores sold it too, unless the store was too small to stock it. When Osco sold five types of motor oil and other auto accessories, Jewel-Osco stores did too. Osco had a full-service cosmetics counter and so did Jewel-Osco. In more recent years the Osco side has diminished a bit, but the stores are still better stocked with general merchandise than, say, a Safeway or an Albertsons.

Apologies for taking us on this detour.