Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

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storewanderer
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Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by storewanderer »

First closure out of Save Mart in a while.

This store was awful. Former Alpha Beta. No bakery or deli. Very outdated. I am shocked a store like this lasted this long in this area. It hardly had any business. ASC Lucky spent almost no money on this (it did not get the mid 90's remodel most ASC Lucky units received). Albertsons spent zero on this. Save Mart did the conversion repaint.

The one strange thing about this store was at some point, the space next to the store (not sure what it started as) got a Sav-On pharmacy. This space was separate from the store (despite they shared a wall) and it had Sav-On decor inside. However under Albertsons it was considered like an in-store pharmacy (receipt said Albertsons, etc.). It was open limited hours and it housed drug/HBA/cards so if you wanted those items outside the short hours of that space you were out of luck as none of that stuff was housed inside the main store. I'm not sure how this was handled after Save Mart closed the pharmacy operation.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: March 31st, 2023, 12:45 am First closure out of Save Mart in a while.

This store was awful. Former Alpha Beta. No bakery or deli. Very outdated. I am shocked a store like this lasted this long in this area. It hardly had any business. ASC Lucky spent almost no money on this (it did not get the mid 90's remodel most ASC Lucky units received). Albertsons spent zero on this. Save Mart did the conversion repaint.

The one strange thing about this store was at some point, the space next to the store (not sure what it started as) got a Sav-On pharmacy. This space was separate from the store (despite they shared a wall) and it had Sav-On decor inside. However under Albertsons it was considered like an in-store pharmacy (receipt said Albertsons, etc.). It was open limited hours and it housed drug/HBA/cards so if you wanted those items outside the short hours of that space you were out of luck as none of that stuff was housed inside the main store. I'm not sure how this was handled after Save Mart closed the pharmacy operation.
I've seen some historic references to "Lucky Sav-On" but I'm guessing that they were side-by-side combos and not true combo stores. I know that Jewel-Osco was not initially a true combined store until later, though some combined stores were fully integrated (Skaggs Albertsons, Tom Thumb-Page, etc.)
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by storewanderer »

This was an odd arrangement. I have not seen this type of arrangement elsewhere.

The store doesn't even have a bakery/deli (horribly outdated store).

Pharmacy might be a former Round Table.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by rwsandiego »

pseudo3d wrote: March 31st, 2023, 8:20 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 31st, 2023, 12:45 am First closure out of Save Mart in a while.

This store was awful. Former Alpha Beta. No bakery or deli. Very outdated. I am shocked a store like this lasted this long in this area. It hardly had any business. ASC Lucky spent almost no money on this (it did not get the mid 90's remodel most ASC Lucky units received). Albertsons spent zero on this. Save Mart did the conversion repaint.

The one strange thing about this store was at some point, the space next to the store (not sure what it started as) got a Sav-On pharmacy. This space was separate from the store (despite they shared a wall) and it had Sav-On decor inside. However under Albertsons it was considered like an in-store pharmacy (receipt said Albertsons, etc.). It was open limited hours and it housed drug/HBA/cards so if you wanted those items outside the short hours of that space you were out of luck as none of that stuff was housed inside the main store. I'm not sure how this was handled after Save Mart closed the pharmacy operation.
I've seen some historic references to "Lucky Sav-On" but I'm guessing that they were side-by-side combos and not true combo stores. I know that Jewel-Osco was not initially a true combined store until later, though some combined stores were fully integrated (Skaggs Albertsons, Tom Thumb-Page, etc.)
There were a couple Lucky SavOns in San Diego County. One looked like a Jewel Osco that had a Lucky interior (Can't recall whether it was in Oceanside, Carlsbad, or Vista) and the other was a former Advantage store (Balboa Avenue at the 805 in Claremont Mesa). Like a Jewel Osco, they both had full camera (i.e. you could buy cameras, not just some film) and cosmetic departments. My first 35MM camera came from a Jewel Osco as did several small appliances for my first apartment. Their merchandise breadth was (and in some cases still is) similar to a Kroger/Fry's/Smith's Marketplace, minus the clothing.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by storewanderer »

Lucky/Sav-On combo stores were a thing in CA starting in SoCal in the mid 90's when Lucky bought some Smiths Stores. ASC built 20-30 Lucky/Sav-On combo stores and some were under construction in 1999. These stores were combo stores with separate price tags on the Sav-On side, different employee uniforms, etc. They had the full mix of a freestanding Sav-On which meant a lot more vitamins, beauty, seasonal, greeting cards, and cosmetics than a usual Lucky, and ran the Sunday Sav-On ad. Liquor was also run by Sav-On in those stores.

There is still a Lucky/Sav-On combo open in Carmichael, CA which was built as one, now Save Mart if you want to see how these looked.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by dcpeachy »

Albuquerque and Santa Fe had Lucky-SavOn stores that were conversions of Jewel-Osco stores when they decided to rebrand the stores briefly prior to the buyout, at which time most of them became Albertsons-SavOn Pharmacy. From what I can see, some of the stores have the look of an integrated store, while others looked more like the Montana Buttrey-Osco stores, which were physically in the same building, but had separate operations.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

rwsandiego wrote: April 1st, 2023, 11:08 am
There were a couple Lucky SavOns in San Diego County. One looked like a Jewel Osco that had a Lucky interior (Can't recall whether it was in Oceanside, Carlsbad, or Vista).
Yeah, the Stater Bros. on Vista Way in O'side, which just closed.
There were a few others: La Mesa, Chula Vista, Spring Valley, and Rancho San Diego. All are still open as Albertsons.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by storewanderer »

I guess Safeway owns this building on this Lucky in Larkspur. They bought the building in 2012.

Perhaps a new Safeway or Andronico's is coming.

There is talk of multi use development, etc. Safeway best not screw around waiting for that and just get a store in there quickly. Once Kroger is in charge who knows if they will allow any new stores on the west coast anymore, based on Kroger's tract record in the past decade in CA when it comes to building new stores.
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by jamcool »

dcpeachy wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 4:41 pm Albuquerque and Santa Fe had Lucky-SavOn stores that were conversions of Jewel-Osco stores when they decided to rebrand the stores briefly prior to the buyout, at which time most of them became Albertsons-SavOn Pharmacy. From what I can see, some of the stores have the look of an integrated store, while others looked more like the Montana Buttrey-Osco stores, which were physically in the same building, but had separate operations.
Those NM stores began as Skaggs Alpha Beta stores
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Re: Lucky Closing- Larkspur, CA

Post by storewanderer »

jamcool wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 11:46 pm
dcpeachy wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 4:41 pm Albuquerque and Santa Fe had Lucky-SavOn stores that were conversions of Jewel-Osco stores when they decided to rebrand the stores briefly prior to the buyout, at which time most of them became Albertsons-SavOn Pharmacy. From what I can see, some of the stores have the look of an integrated store, while others looked more like the Montana Buttrey-Osco stores, which were physically in the same building, but had separate operations.
Those NM stores began as Skaggs Alpha Beta stores
A couple were built as Jewel Osco. Rio Rancho for sure. One or two others lingering on the east side. May have closed.

Also a Smiths in Santa Fe was built as Jewel and one was a former Skaggs Alpha Beta (both 1999 divests).
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