Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

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Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

I'd like to know... What supermarket interior do you consider your favorite (1995-present)? It could be mostly from the Big Three (anything related to Albertsons, Safeway, or Kroger).
Personally, my favorite is the Jewel interior used from 1999-2005. To me, those interiors look very upscale, and never age. I also like this very rare Albertsons interior:
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by rwsandiego »

I agree with you about the Jewel interior. Albertsons could use it in remodels starting tomorrow and it would look fresh and modern. Hard to believe it is 23 years old.

PS: Jewel started using it in 1997 at the Howard and McCormick Street store in Evanston, IL. The store is huge and has warehouse-style ceilings in part of the store, which were painted a pale olive green. The store was really quite stunning.
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by klkla »

I would have to go back a little further to the late 1980's and Safeway's interior at the time.

The walls were painted black and then then they placed photo murals of food shot against a black background inbetween and it created a cool effect. They used red neon lighting and had employee uniforms to match. The ceilings in produce were also painted black with an awning around the department to give it a unique feel. They used track lighting in produce, as well.

This ad shows a little of it but the employee is not wearing the matching uniform (probably because it's a Canadian version):

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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by storewanderer »

I agree on the Jewel interior, specifically the late 90's version of it which was really, really nicely done floor, ceiling, and walls (and the signs in between). It is too bad Supervalu took so many of those remodels down and put up the bland white walled premium fresh and healthy decor. While the Supervalu decor certainly looked clean enough, it did not look nearly as good as this decor.

https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1



The version Albertsons used on some remodels in 2003, etc. was cheapened. It was still nice... but not as nice.
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by storewanderer »

klkla wrote: June 19th, 2020, 9:13 pm I would have to go back a little further to the late 1980's and Safeway's interior at the time.

The walls were painted black and then then they placed photo murals of food shot against a black background inbetween and it created a cool effect. They used red neon lighting and had employee uniforms to match. The ceilings in produce were also painted black with an awning around the department to give it a unique feel. They used track lighting in produce, as well.

This ad shows a little of it but the employee is not wearing the matching uniform (probably because it's a Canadian version):

This may have been one of the last living versions of that interior with the black added:

https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1

This version of it also had a long life: this store opened in 1978 and I think it may have been remodeled into this interior, I don't think this was the original interior; it closed (roof collapsed in and they didn't reopen despite owning the building) with it after years of rumors of a remodel/expansion never materialized.

https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1

Another version of this interior was in Tahoe City, CA and it was there for quite a while, but it had no wall signage, just pictures and then the red/orange stripe between the pictures like Sparks. It was one of the last stores around here that was remodeled into the mid 90's interior (didn't happen until the late 90's) and then it was one of the last stores around here that got a Lifestyle remodel, then a couple years ago when expanded it kept that drab Lifestyle interior. Perhaps it will be one of the last Lifestyle stores after they get through remodeling the rest of NorCal into that "Modern" interior which seems to be the current plan (I'm ready for a new interior already).
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by Alpha8472 »

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.
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 19th, 2020, 11:06 pm The Pleasant Hill store was originally planned to be a Lucky Supermarket by the original Lucky company.
In the SoCal division, a few Albertsons stores were planned by Lucky but opened as Albertsons with Jewel interior: Costa Mesa, Ladera Ranch, Las Vegas (Silverado Ranch), Irvine (a mile east of I-5), and possibly Marina Del Rey.
On second thought, did Marina Del Rey open as a Lucky?
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

[quote=storewanderer post_id=25195 time=1592631637 user_id=56
The version Albertsons used on some remodels in 2003, etc. was cheapened. It was still nice... but not as nice.
[/quote]
They did high-end Jewel remodels around that time to stores in Laguna Beach, Del Mar and Palm Desert. There is also an Albertsons in far north Dallas with a high-end Jewel remodel.
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by cjd »

The only Albertson's decor I was familiar with here was the 90s blue and gray decor. The store here opened in 1999 and even as a kid I thought the interior looked dull and outdated for some reason. I guess the reason was that interior was already 10 years old when that store was built. When Publix moved in around 2009, they didn't even do a "real" remodel! They just took the lettering down, painted over the squares and lines, and put up their own lettering and aisle signs. Other than replacing the round checkout lanes, they did practiacally nothing else. I remember being so disappointed after they moved in, since I expected it to be all updated. They did eventually do a more major redo a few years later with new refrigeration, flooring, etc and have since done another minor remodel.

I do remember visiting one other Albertson's once when we were on vacation. I had to have been only a few years old, but I remember getting some little toys there, I can't remember anything about the interior though or even where that store would have been.

As for favorite interiors of local stores, I always liked the decor Publix used in the late 90s/early 2000s with the gray, teal and salmon colors and wavy banners, and the green "tin roofs" over the departments. It was very Florida-esque at the time. Apart from that I'd say classy market 2.0 or 3.0. There is a brand new Publix interior with mostly grays and bright greens that I think would be my absolute favorite, but I cannot say because I've yet to visit in person. All the Publix stores here were moved or rebuilt in 2016-2017 timeframe so all have 3.0

For Winn-Dixie, I'd have to say the Transformational decor from the late 2000s-early 2010s. But there are similarities to the post bankruptcy 2008+ decor and the short lived "green" 2014 decor that it shares, so trying to pinpoint is difficult. The current red decor is nice too, but looks best in stores with open ceilings, which most of those remodels don't entail. I'd also have liked if they had more color variation than just red, although some of the nicer remodels have more light wood in some departments instead of just red everywhere.
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Re: Favorite supermarket interior? (1995-present)

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote: June 19th, 2020, 10:49 pm This may have been one of the last living versions of that interior with the black added:

https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1

This version of it also had a long life: this store opened in 1978 and I think it may have been remodeled into this interior, I don't think this was the original interior; it closed (roof collapsed in and they didn't reopen despite owning the building) with it after years of rumors of a remodel/expansion never materialized.

https://s196.photobucket.com/user/Store ... t=3&page=1
Yes, that is the look although the roof was too low on the first one to give the full effect (and it was terribly maintained).

The second one used some of the photo murals but not the entire package.
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