As I previously stated multiple times,the first concept prototype format location in California opened a year or two in the Ventura county community of Camarillo.This new store occupies a portion of a former Albertsons (a larger part of it is now occupied by a Sprout's)and replaced a Thrifty or Payless location within the same center(
http://www.camarillovillagesquare.com)with the prior store(had Wellness 2.0 decor at the end)now occupied by a Ross.I must note that interior pictures of the replacement store (at least on Yelp and Google Maps)remain lacking outside of a few pics focused on the new design Thrifty hand dip counter.I presume the interior was better planned.
In any case,the new French Valley Winchester store brought the California RAD store count back up to 481(after 50 closures among some 170 chainwide that occurred between Halloween 2021 and the end of November 2022),but unfortunately the Golden state's store count is back down to 480 after the official first loss of 2023(this below-the-radar closure happening yesterday):the vintage(early to mid-1950's) Panorama City Thrifty Drug at 8400 Van nuys boulevard was falsefronted/remodeled many times in its nearly 70 years as a drugstore (certain other Panorama Center co-tenants,most notably the current dollar tree,still have intact vintage facades),but still had an intact pylon sign not to mention that the only update in the RAD era came when it rebranded (got blue awning signage and RA-1 interior circa 1998 and had both until the very end,never got a wellness remodel or new logo signs). Despite its age it is(or was)far from the oldest continuously operating Thrifty in LA,as the Sunset Strip (7900 Sunset, opened 1936 and expanded/remodeled/falsefronted many times, I believe an a&p operated in part of the building early on)and Lincoln Heights (111 East Avenue 26, open since at least the late 1940's)are even longer running.Hopefully the prescriptions simply went to the closest go-forward RAD location (two a piece in North Hollywood and Van nuys,one a piece in pacoima, Northridge, San Fernando,and Granada hills; Mission Hills closed this past spring) instead of being sold;same going for North Bend Oregon (nearest remaining locations are in bandon and Florence).Closer to Sacramento,a recent Yelp review suggests that San Mateo concar's reprieve from redevelopment will soon run out(all existing retail buildings excluding maybe 7-eleven and/or Trader Joe's are set to be razed for the long planned concar passage mixed-use project as lake52 previously reported).On the subject of the Bay area,San Ramon is still marked as 'temporarily closed' on Google Maps though marked as open on Yelp,the most recent review on either platform was last month.
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Recently in the wake of a prolonged string of atmospheric rivers,some Karen/Kevin decided to report our long leaky roof to Cal OSHA of all agencies.It would be interesting to see if regional/corporate management is committed enough to my store to consider a real roof replacement (nearly 50 year old wooden frame base,as opposed to steel supports in newer buildings)rather than the quick fix patchwork that has continuously kicked the can down the road as this structural quagmire was at least years in the making of not decades (it was already a problem in winter 2018-19 and may have already been an ongoing issue even before I landed there from 7900 Arcadia).
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For your life,Thrifty and Payless have got it.