The free-standing Ralphs was one of those old "24 hour Superstore" model stores which was probably modern in the late 80's. I was in that store multiple times for some reason over the years in San Diego from the early 90's on. The last time I was in it, shortly before it was replaced, it had the late 90's/early 00's interior (green wall signs/white backgrounds) and flooring was coming up, lighting seemed dirty/dingy, and it was just in awful shape yet had a full perimeter so I got the impression it was doing pretty good volume. I actually didn't know the store was being replaced at that time, as I was there at night and could not see any construction; based on the condition of the store I was expecting it to close.rwsandiego wrote: ↑September 20th, 2020, 8:06 pm
The free-standing Ralphs was a dive from the time I moved to San Diego until they tore it down. The replacement Ralphs was built with the then-current decor package (which is quite nice, IMO) but I never liked that store, either. Could never put my finger on why, though.
The problem with the replacement store is the layout is a little strange for the shape of the building. The aisles seem too long and kind of narrow. There are no good lines of sight to anywhere in the store once you move away from produce/bakery/deli (and it could be argued line of sight over there isn't great either). The store is too deep. As I recall there was only one way in and one way out. That store is a pretty similar floorplan to the two Reno Smiths which I think are similar in size (one is 57k sq ft and the other is about 65k sq ft) but the two Reno Smiths are not so deep and the layout works in those, and I've seen that layout in many larger Kroger Stores where it also works fine.