DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

Over the past couple of weeks, renovation at the Frankford/DNT Tom Thumb in Far North Dallas has finally been completed, and the store definitely feels much cleaner than it was previously. As part of the work, the east entrance was moved to the front wall of the building and made the sole customer entrance, while the west entrance was turned into an access point for Drive Up & Go orders. I definitely feel that Colorful Lifestyle would have fit this store better, but any upgrade is good news at this point. Also as part of the remodel, the store gained a large grab-and-go prepared foods case just inside the entrance.

Photos:
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Also, the Market Street at Park/Preston in Plano completed renovation a month or so ago and features a decor package which I have yet to see in DFW. It has some similarities to Colorful Lifestyle, and works quite well with the upscale Market Street banner.

Photos:
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

architect wrote: November 2nd, 2021, 10:38 am Over the past couple of weeks, renovation at the Frankford/DNT Tom Thumb in Far North Dallas has finally been completed, and the store definitely feels much cleaner than it was previously. As part of the work, the east entrance was moved to the front wall of the building and made the sole customer entrance, while the west entrance was turned into an access point for Drive Up & Go orders. I definitely feel that Colorful Lifestyle would have fit this store better, but any upgrade is good news at this point. Also as part of the remodel, the store gained a large grab-and-go prepared foods case just inside the entrance.

Photos:
Image
Image
Image

Also, the Market Street at Park/Preston in Plano completed renovation a month or so ago and features a decor package which I have yet to see in DFW. It has some similarities to Colorful Lifestyle, and works quite well with the upscale Market Street banner.

Photos:
Image
Image
Image
Nice store... too bad they got rid of the Albertsons sign. Are there any stores in the Metroplex that still have the Jewel interior? This store had it.

That Market Street interior is used at the Broadway Albertsons in Boise.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by architect »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: November 2nd, 2021, 2:19 pm Nice store... too bad they got rid of the Albertsons sign. Are there any stores in the Metroplex that still have the Jewel interior? This store had it.
Unfortunately, I believe that this was the last location which had it. An Albertsons in north Fort Worth with this decor closed a couple of years back, and another store at Forest/Marsh in Dallas was divested to Minyard during the Albertsons/Safeway merger and was later converted to a Fiesta, then closed shortly thereafter.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

I finally went to the old Albertson's on Frankford and DNT the other day for the first time since the renovation and conversion to Tom Thumb.

I noticed they named all of the aisles after the main thoroughfares in Far North Dallas.

Tom Thumb still disgusts me as a grocer, and the renovation felt quite underwhelming overall to me, but I thought that specific touch was cute.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by storewanderer »

DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: May 4th, 2022, 6:32 pm I finally went to the old Albertson's on Frankford and DNT the other day for the first time since the renovation and conversion to Tom Thumb.

I noticed they named all of the aisles after the main thoroughfares in Far North Dallas.

Tom Thumb still disgusts me as a grocer, and the renovation felt quite underwhelming overall to me, but I thought that specific touch was cute.
If you think Tom Thumb is bad go look at some lower volume Colorado Safeways... (that would be any location that has a King Soopers within a mile- many to pick from).
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by marshd1000 »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: November 2nd, 2021, 2:19 pm
architect wrote: November 2nd, 2021, 10:38 am Over the past couple of weeks, renovation at the Frankford/DNT Tom Thumb in Far North Dallas has finally been completed, and the store definitely feels much cleaner than it was previously. As part of the work, the east entrance was moved to the front wall of the building and made the sole customer entrance, while the west entrance was turned into an access point for Drive Up & Go orders. I definitely feel that Colorful Lifestyle would have fit this store better, but any upgrade is good news at this point. Also as part of the remodel, the store gained a large grab-and-go prepared foods case just inside the entrance.

Photos:
Image
Image
Image

Also, the Market Street at Park/Preston in Plano completed renovation a month or so ago and features a decor package which I have yet to see in DFW. It has some similarities to Colorful Lifestyle, and works quite well with the upscale Market Street banner.

Photos:
Image
Image
Image
Nice store... too bad they got rid of the Albertsons sign. Are there any stores in the Metroplex that still have the Jewel interior? This store had it.

That Market Street interior is used at the Broadway Albertsons in Boise.
The Market Street interior is also used at the Lake Tapps Haggen in Auburn, Washington. That’s the only the second Haggen to be remodeled by Albertsons. The Woodinville, WA Haggen has kind of a Florida decor design.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

storewanderer wrote: May 4th, 2022, 6:37 pm
DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: May 4th, 2022, 6:32 pm I finally went to the old Albertson's on Frankford and DNT the other day for the first time since the renovation and conversion to Tom Thumb.

I noticed they named all of the aisles after the main thoroughfares in Far North Dallas.

Tom Thumb still disgusts me as a grocer, and the renovation felt quite underwhelming overall to me, but I thought that specific touch was cute.
If you think Tom Thumb is bad go look at some lower volume Colorado Safeways... (that would be any location that has a King Soopers within a mile- many to pick from).
I took you up on your dare and picked the Safeway in Littleton.

And you're right. It looks just as dingy as the older (mid-2000s and before) Tom Thumbs in DFW. They even share the store layout and decor. 🤢
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by storewanderer »

DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: May 15th, 2022, 11:11 am
I took you up on your dare and picked the Safeway in Littleton.

And you're right. It looks just as dingy as the older (mid-2000s and before) Tom Thumbs in DFW. They even share the store layout and decor. 🤢
Littleton is one of the nicest Safeways in the Denver division. It was their flagship store when it opened... I shouldn't be surprised how it is now with the way that Denver division runs things. That is absolutely the worst division in the entire Albertsons group, without question.

But if you really want to see the good stuff go to Burlington, La Junta, and Walsenburg. You can still find mid 90's interiors in Lamar and Canon City but I wouldn't call those really good stuff.

I'm somewhat surprised the Denver division doesn't follow the same fate as the old Oklahoma division did 35 years ago. Sell off and re-brand and keep the handfull of small town stores that make money, go bankrupt multiple times to get rid of leases, sell warehouses, but otherwise let it die off over time. But it would sure look stupid to throw in the towel in a high growth market like Colorado. AWG could get heavy into Colorado if they were to broker a deal for that block of stores the way they handled Homeland.
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by jamcool »

Safeway’s cash cow in Colorado has always been the mountain towns, other than City Market (which also isn’t that great)there is no real competition as many of them are too small for Walmart (or WM is not wanted in those towns)
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Re: DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: May 15th, 2022, 11:17 am
DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: May 15th, 2022, 11:11 am
I took you up on your dare and picked the Safeway in Littleton.

And you're right. It looks just as dingy as the older (mid-2000s and before) Tom Thumbs in DFW. They even share the store layout and decor. 🤢
Littleton is one of the nicest Safeways in the Denver division. It was their flagship store when it opened... I shouldn't be surprised how it is now with the way that Denver division runs things. That is absolutely the worst division in the entire Albertsons group, without question.

But if you really want to see the good stuff go to Burlington, La Junta, and Walsenburg. You can still find mid 90's interiors in Lamar and Canon City but I wouldn't call those really good stuff.

I'm somewhat surprised the Denver division doesn't follow the same fate as the old Oklahoma division did 35 years ago. Sell off and re-brand and keep the handfull of small town stores that make money, go bankrupt multiple times to get rid of leases, sell warehouses, but otherwise let it die off over time. But it would sure look stupid to throw in the towel in a high growth market like Colorado. AWG could get heavy into Colorado if they were to broker a deal for that block of stores the way they handled Homeland.

Homeland, like other Safeway spinoffs, had major debt problems that led to its downfall. AWG had been involved with Homeland since 1995 when it bought some stores and the DC, then continued to supply the stores until Homeland went bankrupt and bought the stores entirely (in 2002). While Albertsons could probably go back and buy HAC (Homeland Acquisition Group) there would be two major problems, one, its employee-owned, and two, there's just too many small and out of date stores that wouldn't be very competitive.

Texas is also growing but Albertsons hasn't been very responsive in new stores, and while they've made piecemeal updates in DFW and parts north, the Austin and Houston markets are almost completely neglected.
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