Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

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Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by ClownLoach »

A rare closure from Stater Bros. in their small group of North San Diego County stores. They confirmed on Twitter that they are closing down the Escondido store after the holidays. I'm going to assume this was picked up from Albertsons back in the Lucky merger. Only conventional store in the central Escondido cluster (there is a Vons on the other side of CA-78 but that is technically outside the central core). The other nearby stores are Food4Less and Vallarta, but also a Sprouts, Jimbo's Natural, and Trader Joe's. The area is a strange melting pot that was deteriorating for years and in my experience a very difficult area to operate in with high theft and homelessness, a very challenging and confrontational customer base. (During the beginning of reopening from the pandemic my store employees were viciously harassed, assaulted, and threatened by very disruptive customers over masks, over customers not wearing them, over customers being asked to wear them, etc. and we had to get law enforcement involved at least twice a day because the customers involved went too far and committed assault, vandalism, etc.) But in the last couple years entire blocks have been leveled all through central Escondido and replaced with the typical massive 5 story luxury apartment complexes. So I would imagine that the worst challenges would be over and the business improving at this store?
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by storewanderer »

This store is a former Albertsons. It had a repainted Albertsons interior until within the past ~5 years and I am surprised they appear to have remodeled it.

The thing I observed about this store was it had less traffic than a typical Stater, but it did have adequate traffic. The other thing I noticed is it had mostly small transactions, whereas in a typical Stater, you see a good number of medium sized baskets going out. It is unusual to see Stater close a location but I think this is an example where they were not the best fit for the area and they did not capture the customers they usually capture... safety issues may have turned some of those customers away, but there is something different in this location.

Also in the cluster with Sprouts, Jimbo's, and Vons is Major Market. Major Market is a very interesting place. I think in the 80's in SoCal there were many grocery stores like it. Don't let the dated/odd interior fool you. I don't think Major Market does a particularly high level of volume in this location (the Fallbrook location seems to do better), but I think that "old time" customer who may often go to Stater in many cases, instead is going to Major Market. Major Market has large service counters (too large for their volume level) and puts out a strong effort. Quite a bit of store prep and work with small suppliers on meat/produce, they get in top quality product, and sell it at lower prices than the other chains. Their center store mix is also larger than Stater as they pull from multiple suppliers/specialty items. I believe this store is what did Stater in.
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: December 6th, 2022, 8:40 pm This store is a former Albertsons. It had a repainted Albertsons interior until within the past ~5 years and I am surprised they appear to have remodeled it.

Also in the cluster with Sprouts, Jimbo's, and Vons is Major Market. Major Market is a very interesting place. I think in the 80's in SoCal there were many grocery stores like it. Don't let the dated/odd interior fool you. I don't think Major Market does a particularly high level of volume in this location (the Fallbrook location seems to do better), but I think that "old time" customer who may often go to Stater in many cases, instead is going to Major Market. Major Market has large service counters (too large for their volume level) and puts out a strong effort. Quite a bit of store prep and work with small suppliers on meat/produce, they get in top quality product, and sell it at lower prices than the other chains. Their center store mix is also larger than Stater as they pull from multiple suppliers/specialty items. I believe this store is what did Stater in.
Yes, this is a 1984 build Albertsons "Superstore". The Albertsons in Northridge is a clone of this store.
This was the second Albertsons to open in the county (first store, if you count the Oceanside Albertsons that opened in 1972 and closed in 1982. Albertsons would return south of Camp Pendleton 2 years later).

The interior in that Major Market looks like an Albertsons Grocery Palace wannabe.

There is a Northgate Market yards away from the Stater Bros. That one is a former Food Basket/Lucky that closed right when Albertsons rebranded every Lucky store in November 1999.

The Vallarta on Valley Pkwy was a Ralphs that closed 15 years ago.
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: December 6th, 2022, 10:25 pm
Yes, this is a 1984 build Albertsons "Superstore". The Albertsons in Northridge is a clone of this store.
This was the second Albertsons to open in the county (first store, if you count the Oceanside Albertsons that opened in 1972 and closed in 1982. Albertsons would return south of Camp Pendleton 2 years later).

The interior in that Major Market looks like an Albertsons Grocery Palace wannabe.

There is a Northgate Market yards away from the Stater Bros. That one is a former Food Basket/Lucky that closed right when Albertsons rebranded every Lucky store in November 1999.

The Vallarta on Valley Pkwy was a Ralphs that closed 15 years ago.
Major Market opened in 1990 and had the original (very outdated) interior until somewhat recently. Recently it has received some renovations inside. Some parts of the renovation look nice enough, others, are, well, a matter of personal opinion. The owners of the 2 Major Markets also own Stubs or something with a former Alpha Beta in San Diego Ocean Beach area, they bought Major Market in 2015 from its founders. But the products in the store at Major Market have not changed and that is outstanding.
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by SamSpade »

Off Topic
Is there really a Walmart neighborhood market across the street from a regular Walmart in Escondido? SoCal is wild.
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

I think the Escondido Major Market is on the other side of the core in the south side (CCP/felicita)in a center with the lone remaining RAD in town(a former Thrifty).I don't know if the Major Market opened as one or was something else prior.

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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by magowan »

Trader Joe’s, Jimbos, and Vons all within a block of that Major…pretty impressive to hold out.
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by ClownLoach »

SamSpade wrote: December 7th, 2022, 9:13 am
Off Topic
Is there really a Walmart neighborhood market across the street from a regular Walmart in Escondido? SoCal is wild.
Walmart has the same setup in La Mesa, CA near San Diego; the neighborhood market is in an old Circuit City. The market probably does more sales volume than the regular store.

My personal favorite is in Santa Maria, CA where there is a full size Walmart with a Walmart Neighborhood Market literally next door. Apparently they passed some kind of anti-Walmart ordinance there which prevented them from converting the store to a supercenter. The lease for the store next door was acquired by Walmart in bankruptcy court (I think it was a COMPUSA or a Borders, can't remember) and they reopened it as neighborhood market. Since it was acquired in the bankruptcy court, which is a federal transaction, it is not subject to local or state ordinance. This is the same way Hobby Lobby entered many western states in the same centers as Michaels, who had strict non-compete clauses in their leases. Mervyn's lease was sold to Hobby Lobby by the court and Michaels couldn't do a thing about it.

When I first saw this store by store I had recently watched Wall-E, and immediately thought of the "Buy N Large Ultra Store" next to the "Buy N Large Mega Store" on the wrecked crater of Earth...
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by storewanderer »

Wal Mart has this set up in Elk Grove, CA as well. There is a Division 1 Store then in the parking lot is a former Safeway Pak N Save that closed and Wal Mart set up a Neighborhood Market in the Pak N Save. It is a nice large Neighborhood Market. Similar to the Neighborhood Market in Rocklin in a former mid 90's Albertsons, also a nice large store.

I was somewhat concerned about Major Market when Jimbo's showed up, but they still seem to be hanging in there. The Vons doesn't appear to do very well, but that isn't surprising. Nothing wrong with the Vons... nothing great either.
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Re: Stater Bros. Closing Escondido, CA on 1/8

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

Stater Bros. might not be gone from Escondido for long... I expect them to buy either the Ralphs or Vons on Escondido's east side assuming the Kroger/Albertsons merger goes through. I think the nearby Albertsons will go into SpinCo along with all of the Albertsons brand stores.
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