Safeway lighting disaster comes to the northwest

[SamSpade]

Digging up this old thread to add another photo. I went into a Beaverton Safeway that I don't usually patronize. It is in a more middle to lower-middle class neighborhood and smaller store (lots of apartments, fewer homes, etc.) and the shopping center is full of eclectic businesses (a Taco Bell in a strip mall !).

This is how their ceilings were left after the lighting additions. Tiles covered in cardboard to cover the cut outs. Ugh.

[architect]

Digging up this old thread to add another photo. I went into a Beaverton Safeway that I don't usually patronize. It is in a more middle to lower-middle class neighborhood and smaller store (lots of apartments, fewer homes, etc.) and the shopping center is full of eclectic businesses (a Taco Bell in a strip mall !).

This is how their ceilings were left after the lighting additions. Tiles covered in cardboard to cover the cut outs. Ugh.

Wow, this is insane. If you aren't going to replace the tiles, at least leave the existing fixtures in place to fill the holes. Replacement tiles aren't even particularly expensive either, and the ones installed here are just about as bare bones as you can get.

[storewanderer]

For all that I may say negative about NorCal Division, I am really glad they have not done these lighting changes that people are posting photos of here.

[rwsandiego]

I like a nice, bright store, but bright lightning and Lifestyle just don't work well together. Safebertsons needs to remodel the Lifestyle stores into something that works with the new lighting. Lighting aside, Lifestyle looks dated anyway. It is starting to look like a monochromatic PFH.

[architect]

I like a nice, bright store, but bright lightning and Lifestyle just don't work well together. Safebertsons needs to remodel the Lifestyle stores into something that works with the new lighting. Lighting aside, Lifestyle looks dated anyway. It is starting to look like a monochromatic PFH.

Personally, I am a fan of the Colorful Lifestyle redo recently completed at the Las Colinas Tom Thumb in DFW (Photos here: http://www.retailwatchers.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1568). It is cost-effective, yet really injects new life into these stores. The colors used generally also work well with bright lighting. However, this only really answers the question of what to do with Lifestyle 2.0 stores; stores with original Lifestyle decor will likely require far more extensive renovation. Potentially, these could be could candidates for Florida decor, as these is very little lighting for signage or extensive fixture installation to contend with. These original Lifestyle stores seem most prevalent along the West Coast (particularly NorCal). There are probably less than 10 stores in Texas which have this original decor (There are only 5 in DFW, 2 in Houston and 2 in Austin that I know of), and it does not seem to be very common in the DC area either.

For all that I may say negative about NorCal Division, I am really glad they have not done these lighting changes that people are posting photos of here.

Don't use that as an excuse to send the horrible NorCal operations down our way (though ours are not much better at this point).

[storewanderer]

I think you may be on to something with using that Florida decor on the original lifestyle stores. I think it would cost them less to apply that than do the "colorful lifestyle" thing on those. However the floors need to be addressed. The tan flooring in the lifestyle stores needs to go regardless of what remodel is done. Though, some of the later lifestyles done still have white floors in center store...

Those original lifestyle stores were the "best" ones- they were the stores in areas with the best demographics and most suited for lifestyle. That group of stores was selected by design to make it look like this lifestyle format was a home run and should be rolled out chainwide. So that group of stores, still today, is likely better suited for a more "upper end than average" interior. But the later lifestyle stores applied chainwide to a lot of "average" type of locations would not necessarily warrant a more upper end interior.

They really need to do something. If you are in a vacuum like NorCal Division who is continuing to apply lifestyle (a cheapened version of it at that) to stores being opened in the year 2017, then maybe lifestyle doesn't look so bad. But if you are out of the vacuum and looking at other interiors like the colorful lifestyle, next to the old 15 year old lifestyle interior that NorCal can't seem to get off of, then that old lifestyle interior looks pretty tired.

[pseudo3d]

I like a nice, bright store, but bright lightning and Lifestyle just don't work well together. Safebertsons needs to remodel the Lifestyle stores into something that works with the new lighting. Lighting aside, Lifestyle looks dated anyway. It is starting to look like a monochromatic PFH.

Lifestyle was such an extensive remodel process that it will take a while to get rid of it. Repainting it to be more colorful like "Color Lifestyle" will only go so far. Time to pull out one of the other decor sets Albertsons has.

[rwsandiego]

I like a nice, bright store, but bright lighting and Lifestyle just don't work well together. Safebertsons needs to remodel the Lifestyle stores into something that works with the new lighting. Lighting aside, Lifestyle looks dated anyway. It is starting to look like a monochromatic PFH.

Lifestyle was such an extensive remodel process that it will take a while to get rid of it. Repainting it to be more colorful like "Color Lifestyle" will only go so far. Time to pull out one of the other decor sets Albertsons has.

I should have qualified that to say "Lifestyle 2.0 looks dated." In my opinion, Lifestyle 1.0 was a better-looking decor package. I think it was the font chosen for the lettering.

If I was in charge, I'd do a mix of Colorful Lifestyle, the Florida decor, and the Lifestyle/LLC hybrid described in this thread: http://www.retailwatchers.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1568

EDIT: I'm saying essentially the same thing as architect said, above. I clicked on the link in that post, stepped away, read the linked post and forgot how I arrived at it. Apologies for making it sound like I originated this idea.

[architect]

I think you may be on to something with using that Florida decor on the original lifestyle stores. I think it would cost them less to apply that than do the "colorful lifestyle" thing on those. However the floors need to be addressed. The tan flooring in the lifestyle stores needs to go regardless of what remodel is done. Though, some of the later lifestyles done still have white floors in center store...

Those original lifestyle stores were the "best" ones- they were the stores in areas with the best demographics and most suited for lifestyle. That group of stores was selected by design to make it look like this lifestyle format was a home run and should be rolled out chainwide. So that group of stores, still today, is likely better suited for a more "upper end than average" interior. But the later lifestyle stores applied chainwide to a lot of "average" type of locations would not necessarily warrant a more upper end interior.

They really need to do something. If you are in a vacuum like NorCal Division who is continuing to apply lifestyle (a cheapened version of it at that) to stores being opened in the year 2017, then maybe lifestyle doesn't look so bad. But if you are out of the vacuum and looking at other interiors like the colorful lifestyle, next to the old 15 year old lifestyle interior that NorCal can't seem to get off of, then that old lifestyle interior looks pretty tired.

This really is true, you don't really realize how tired Lifestyle is until you can compare it with another package (either Albertsons/Safeway or a competitor). This is particularly noticeable in areas such as SoCal, AZ, CO and DFW where Lifestyle is being compared side by side with both Colorful Lifestyle/Florida Decor and also Kroger's generally well-executed decor packages, which all have far more color and use of light. On the other hand (somewhat ironically), many of the Lifestyle stores in these regions look even worse than when first rolled out due to Albertsons' hack lighting jobs combined with dark flooring.

I like a nice, bright store, but bright lighting and Lifestyle just don't work well together. Safebertsons needs to remodel the Lifestyle stores into something that works with the new lighting. Lighting aside, Lifestyle looks dated anyway. It is starting to look like a monochromatic PFH.

Lifestyle was such an extensive remodel process that it will take a while to get rid of it. Repainting it to be more colorful like "Color Lifestyle" will only go so far. Time to pull out one of the other decor sets Albertsons has.

I should have qualified that to say "Lifestyle 2.0 looks dated." In my opinion, Lifestyle 1.0 was a better-looking decor package. I think it was the font chosen for the lettering.

Somewhat ironically, although almost all of the Texas Lifestyle 1.0 stores are in upscale areas and are still in operation (one closed in Houston a few years ago due to being in an area which changing demographics), most have not aged well over the last two years due to Albertsons' overall mismanagement and downscaling of product mix. The stores are a shell of the upscale shopping experience which Safeway tried to implement through the Lifestyle remodels, and are definitely a far drop from the high-end and community-oriented environment which existing at Randalls/Tom Thumb pre-Safeway.

[Super S]

That lighting still looks cheap though. Basically the same strip lights but with reflectors. It would not have taken much more effort to install nicer looking fixtures. It does accomplish making things brighter, but now you can't tell if they want to look upscale, look cheap, or simply do not care what the stores look like. They are in an obvious identity crisis now. More so with Safeway.

I do remember when Safeway used to have those "tents" over the produce departments but eventually removed them and installed new lighting for many of the same reasons. Somehow They were able to match fixtures then. Why can't they now?