Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by storewanderer »

Similar to the situation Ralphs has created with Ralphs and F4L in SoCal I suppose, obviously same ownership and a lot of the same products but not the same store... or store standards.

Safeway has done a good job masking the smaller stores in the PNW (and NorCal) with the Lifestyle remodels. That remodel program has made some small stores feel like, for lack of better words, larger stores, due to bigger perimeters, etc. and you really don't notice how small some of the stores are until you start going through center store and see the short, narrow aisles, or go to checkouts that are sardined together and barely have room for one customer to wait in line without completely blocking the front walkway. Many of these smaller Safeway operations did not have full perimeter (bakery/deli/seafood) until the Lifestyle remodels or 5-10 years before.

For whatever reason that masking project didn't work as well with Vons in most cases due to store layout/perimeter design. Vons has some of the oldest most dismal stores in the entire fleet. Denver may be worse. Tough call. What is ironic is most of those old dismal Vons are actually former Safeway units but for whatever reasons they just look even more run down down compared to identical age/size counterparts in NorCal/OR/WA. I am wondering if it is a volume thing that has worn the Vons down...
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2023, 10:27 pm I am wondering if it is a volume thing that has worn the Vons down...
Vons does good volume in San Diego County as they are the only conventional left in some San Diego neighborhoods (failures of Ralphs, and Albertsons divests to Haggen).
Although Vons has higher store count than Albertsons in SoCal, I wouldn't be surprised if the Albertsons name does stronger volume than Vons in SoCal by now, as those stores are newer, more modern, and probably better merchandised.
The planned Vons in Valley Center is now going to be an Albertsons. This might be the first step towards elimination of the Vons name in far North County, assuming the 70% chance the merger doesn't happen.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: June 4th, 2023, 11:05 pm
storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2023, 10:27 pm I am wondering if it is a volume thing that has worn the Vons down...
Vons does good volume in San Diego County as they are the only conventional left in some San Diego neighborhoods (failures of Ralphs, and Albertsons divests to Haggen).
Although Vons has higher store count than Albertsons in SoCal, I wouldn't be surprised if the Albertsons name does stronger volume than Vons in SoCal by now, as those stores are newer, more modern, and probably better merchandised.
The planned Vons in Valley Center is now going to be an Albertsons. This might be the first step towards elimination of the Vons name in far North County, assuming the 70% chance the merger doesn't happen.
This is my suspicion. Also it seems like Albertsons brand is better positioned with bigger stores in faster growing areas. Vons is well positioned in the more densely populated areas but it feels like with smaller tired stores and various new non-union competitors opening in those more densely populated areas (more Sprouts, more ethnic operators, more upscale operators) that Vons is simply not well positioned in a lot of places to take advantage of the areas of SoCal that are seeing population growth yet not seeing quite as many new competitors show up.

The growth of non-union ethnic operators in SoCal cannot be ignored, and I'm not just referring to Hispanic/Asian operators. The variety of options and ongoing growth of various other ethnic operators in the more dense areas of SoCal around Los Angeles is very impressive and these operators are putting up some really nice stores in what were otherwise sad depressing spaces that housed run down former union grocers or large drug stores. This is happening in NorCal as well but is is a lot slower and it feels like the majority of the growth is Asian formats. The diversity in stores in SoCal is a lot better in terms of giving consumers a lot more options.

There have been a surprising number of new stores opened with the Albertsons name in recent years. Of course those OR/WA managements who are stuck on the Safeway name and keep converting stores from Albertsons to Safeway are causing the Albertsons banner count to decline and hide the fact that the banner is actually opening new stores in growing areas..

It will be funny if the merger goes through and Valley Center ends up opening as a Ralphs with an Albertsons layout. That would be the first actual new Ralphs (not replacement/relocation) since... when?
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by veteran+ »

"The growth of non-union ethnic operators in SoCal cannot be ignored, and I'm not just referring to Hispanic/Asian operators. The variety of options and ongoing growth of various other ethnic operators in the more dense areas of SoCal around Los Angeles is very impressive and these operators are putting up some really nice stores in what were otherwise sad depressing spaces that housed run down former union grocers or large drug stores. This is happening in NorCal as well but is is a lot slower and it feels like the majority of the growth is Asian formats. The diversity in stores in SoCal is a lot better in terms of giving consumers a lot more options."

I do not see "impressive" anything with ethnic, independent or non union stores in my general area.

I go in and go out without buying anythng for a plethora of reasons.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2023, 11:42 pm The growth of non-union ethnic operators in SoCal cannot be ignored, and I'm not just referring to Hispanic/Asian operators. The variety of options and ongoing growth of various other ethnic operators in the more dense areas of SoCal around Los Angeles is very impressive. The diversity in stores in SoCal is a lot better in terms of giving consumers a lot more options.
LA has a lot of "ethnic White" neighborhoods and suburbs (Armenian, Jewish, Persian, Eastern European) with stores like Jons Market that cater to those communities.
Even though Superior Grocers is a Hispanic grocer, they have a store in Crenshaw, a majority-Black neighborhood in LA.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by jamcool »

LA has also a few Hawaiian/Polynesian supermarkets also.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: June 5th, 2023, 9:48 am

I do not see "impressive" anything with ethnic, independent or non union stores in my general area.

I go in and go out without buying anythng for a plethora of reasons.
I find their growth to be impressive. Not necessarily the stores themselves. But I do have to give a lot of these operators who grew from one store into a few stores credit that they were able to make this happen in what is supposedly such a tough business climate. I suppose some factors for running stores relying heavily on fresh goods (great access point in SoCal for produce/meat/dairy from CA or Mexico) and imports (tons of imports coming through the port) may offset higher wages/rent/whatever. There can be bright spots if you lurk around. I really enjoy these stores because they are all so different.

These stores are having to order from Supervalu/UNFI for "US standard" center store but are using a ton of secondary suppliers for most of their fresh products and imports which really helps pricing. They tend to price and mix pretty poor on "US Standard" items.

Produce is usually a bright spot- yes you have to dig through and yes it tends to be ripe but the price is right and ripe stuff is just what I'm looking for on trips.

I like the kitchen gadgets in some of the Asian ones. Impressive depth of mix and quality may not be the best but prices seem reasonable.

Some that focus on Euro goods have an amazing selection of boxed teas.

Haven't found much I'm interested in yet at the India-focused ones other than random produce or drinks.

Hispanic formats are my favorite for potential hot food, bakery, drinks, produce, and some center store items.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by SamSpade »

Off Topic
I cannot remember where this was last discussed by me (I think the "KGW Great Food Drive," which happens in spring) but as KGW is again working with the Albertsons companies only (no other sponsors) on a summer drive, I thought this interesting:
1) Both Logos being used, the curvy S and the leafy A
2) Mention of both brands of stores - Safeway first, but Albertsons also stated in each commercial
3) This one goes to the Sunshine Pantry, which has a worker warehouse inside a former Albertsons store located in Wilsonville, Ore. so I'm not sure if any of this plays into that
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2023, 10:27 pm Similar to the situation Ralphs has created with Ralphs and F4L in SoCal I suppose, obviously same ownership and a lot of the same products but not the same store... or store standards.

Safeway has done a good job masking the smaller stores in the PNW (and NorCal) with the Lifestyle remodels. That remodel program has made some small stores feel like, for lack of better words, larger stores, due to bigger perimeters, etc. and you really don't notice how small some of the stores are until you start going through center store and see the short, narrow aisles, or go to checkouts that are sardined together and barely have room for one customer to wait in line without completely blocking the front walkway. Many of these smaller Safeway operations did not have full perimeter (bakery/deli/seafood) until the Lifestyle remodels or 5-10 years before.

For whatever reason that masking project didn't work as well with Vons in most cases due to store layout/perimeter design. Vons has some of the oldest most dismal stores in the entire fleet. Denver may be worse. Tough call. What is ironic is most of those old dismal Vons are actually former Safeway units but for whatever reasons they just look even more run down down compared to identical age/size counterparts in NorCal/OR/WA. I am wondering if it is a volume thing that has worn the Vons down...
And some Safeway stores STILL do not have bakery/deli/seafood after the so-called Lifestyle remodel that consisted of some repainting and new signs, and maybe new flooring. Clatskanie, Oregon is a good example. While it has been a Safeway since the 1960s, the only thing that makes you feel like you are at Safeway is the classic building design. When you look past that, it feels more like a small town store where they have not invested in many updates.
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Re: Albertsons continues to disappear from WA

Post by Super S »

I finally had a chance to stop in the Salmon Creek Safeway today that was recently rebannered from Albertsons. I got a mixed signal from the remodel.

What I noticed was that they replaced all of the old Albertsons blue-gray tile flooring with new tile, and in perimeter a woodgrain-type of flooring which I have seen in the past Lifestyle stores. The tile actually looked good, much better than polished concrete.

The interior decor...I'm not sure what it is....looks modern enough but doesn't really give off any type of "upscale" vibe. It does look better than the cheap Supervalu remodel though.

One noteworthy thing is that they did not reposition the lights over the GM side of the store which once had aisles going in a different direction. The lighting is pretty much carryover from Albertsons, but they did update to LED some time back. However, the different rows look out of place, with one row directly above one of the rows of freezers (not above the aisle)

I am wondering if this remodel/rebranding had more to do with a potential divest than anything, so the store at least looks up to date. I really don't understand what other reason there would be to rebrand to Safeway when there is an existing longtime Safeway about a mile south.

Still watching to see what direction the Albertsons in Battle Ground goes now.
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