New Albertsons Interior Southern California

[SoCalShopper1023]

One thing I also noticed that this decor package has a lot of similar elements to the most recent Kroger decor used in standard (non fresh fare) Ralphs stores. Like the fonts on the wall signage, and the "Cake Shop" signage reminds me of the "Bakery Shop" signage that Kroger uses. Plus all the "Local" branding pertaining to Upland.

I'm not a fan of that particular Kroger decor package, but this Albertson's iteration looks slightly better.

There are remarkable similarities. They must have hired the same design firm.

Assuming the merger with Kroger goes through, it would be interesting if Kroger adopts this decor package for all their stores instead of their own current decor package. But I can also see this store going to C&S since it's an Albertsons branded store.

[ClownLoach]

One thing I also noticed that this decor package has a lot of similar elements to the most recent Kroger decor used in standard (non fresh fare) Ralphs stores. Like the fonts on the wall signage, and the "Cake Shop" signage reminds me of the "Bakery Shop" signage that Kroger uses. Plus all the "Local" branding pertaining to Upland.

I'm not a fan of that particular Kroger decor package, but this Albertson's iteration looks slightly better.

There are remarkable similarities. They must have hired the same design firm.

Assuming the merger with Kroger goes through, it would be interesting if Kroger adopts this decor package for all their stores instead of their own current decor package. But I can also see this store going to C&S since it's an Albertsons branded store.

They would not have invested in this level of a remodel for a store planned to be divested. The stores that seem to be the most obvious divests have been receiving cheap and minimal refreshes. They especially would not invest in a new decor package that likely cost a pretty penny to develop with the knowledge it would be sold.

The vast majority of the SoCal divests are going to be Vons branded stores because there are more Vons that are immediate overlaps with Ralphs than Albertsons. Many Albertsons are in suburbs and lower population areas where Ralphs has either nearly disappeared or never was present (Inland Empire, Central Coast). Since they're planning around 60 divests in California I estimated 40 would be Vons and the rest Albertsons just playing with Google Maps, which is going to mean about 100 Albertsons will have to change names to either Ralphs, Vons or Pavilions, while 40 or so Vons will become Albertsons. It's a mess.

[kr.abs.swy]

ClownLoach, I think you are looking at photos of the Century Blvd store on the Westside of Bend (across from the site of a short-lived Ray's Food Place), but I'm not 100% sure. One of the pictures shows "Bend" and that's clearly not the old Marina in the middle of town, or the converted Albertsons on the south side. https://maps.app.goo.gl/CbCMurLMZ61nWBb58

I went back to the pictures I took while the remodel was in progress on the Forum store. I took a couple of pictures in March last year, while they were remodeling. I have them ready to upload but I'm getting a "board attachment quota has been reached" error message.

I thought the store looked really good. The new decor had some personality but wasn't overbearing. The colors popped and it made the store seem a bit more fun. I was impressed. It felt slightly Whole Foods-y.

The Safeway in The Forum in Bend (2650 NE US Highway 20) was remodeled to that interior last year.

That Safeway still has a false ceiling. That interior felt quite a bit different with the false ceiling. I thought it looked really good in the Bend store. (Sort of how the stores that were remodeled into Grocery Palace back in the day had a different feeling from the ones that were new builds - didn't feel quite as over-the-top).

BTW, off topic, does anyone know what that Bend store started as? The front doesn't look like any other Safeway I've ever seen.

The pictures of that Safeway are not at all the same decor. That decor is the Oregon offshoot of Colorful Lifestyle that has shown up in downtown Portland and elsewhere in the state. They just apply some mountain-scape wallpaper to the blank colored walls, affix what looks like trimmed LVP flooring behind the existing lettering. Then for some odd reason they install the numberless checkout lights from Pavilions that look like an industrial lamp. It is really like a repaint of the already colorful lifestyle store. This Upland store is a totally new package with new lettering and graphics.

This is Bend with their new remodel (which I am naming "Colorful Oregon")

SmartSelect_20240507_102509_Google.jpg


SmartSelect_20240507_102343_Google.jpg

SmartSelect_20240507_102404_Google.jpg

[ClownLoach]

ClownLoach, I think you are looking at photos of the Century Blvd store on the Westside of Bend (across from the site of a short-lived Ray's Food Place), but I'm not 100% sure. One of the pictures shows "Bend" and that's clearly not the old Marina in the middle of town, or the converted Albertsons on the south side. https://maps.app.goo.gl/CbCMurLMZ61nWBb58

I went back to the pictures I took while the remodel was in progress on the Forum store. I took a couple of pictures in March last year, while they were remodeling. I have them ready to upload but I'm getting a "board attachment quota has been reached" error message.

I thought the store looked really good. The new decor had some personality but wasn't overbearing. The colors popped and it made the store seem a bit more fun. I was impressed. It felt slightly Whole Foods-y.

The Safeway in The Forum in Bend (2650 NE US Highway 20) was remodeled to that interior last year.

That Safeway still has a false ceiling. That interior felt quite a bit different with the false ceiling. I thought it looked really good in the Bend store. (Sort of how the stores that were remodeled into Grocery Palace back in the day had a different feeling from the ones that were new builds - didn't feel quite as over-the-top).

BTW, off topic, does anyone know what that Bend store started as? The front doesn't look like any other Safeway I've ever seen.

The pictures of that Safeway are not at all the same decor. That decor is the Oregon offshoot of Colorful Lifestyle that has shown up in downtown Portland and elsewhere in the state. They just apply some mountain-scape wallpaper to the blank colored walls, affix what looks like trimmed LVP flooring behind the existing lettering. Then for some odd reason they install the numberless checkout lights from Pavilions that look like an industrial lamp. It is really like a repaint of the already colorful lifestyle store. This Upland store is a totally new package with new lettering and graphics.

This is Bend with their new remodel (which I am naming "Colorful Oregon")

SmartSelect_20240507_102509_Google.jpg


SmartSelect_20240507_102343_Google.jpg

SmartSelect_20240507_102404_Google.jpg

I can't find any pictures of any Safeway in Bend on Google or Yelp with anything but lifestyle decor aside from what I uploaded. What you're saying makes sense (isn't that the store where the senseless tragedy occurred?) but I just can't find the pictures. I did see one picture of a section of back wall and that isn't this decor either, it was a funky long quote which reminds me of Pavilions decor but the color and font were off. But it was impossible to distinguish anything else based on the picture? Maybe the dumb long quotes evolved into all that "Neighbor" and "Local" stuff? Trying to find it again. Looking forward to seeing the upload once you figure out the technical stuff.

Either way, the ones I uploaded have also appeared in a few other Oregon stores I've seen pictures of, a barn wood and mountains refresh of Colorful Lifestyle along with new aisle hangers and other hanging signs, so that's another new Albertsons design package in itself that I'm calling Colorful Oregon since we need names to distinguish all of these.

[ClownLoach]

What's not helping the matter is that it is obvious that all these Bend stores are cross posted with pictures of the wrong stores. All of them have some pictures of a marina ceiling for example somewhere. Saw a picture of a Grocery Outlet and what I think is a Walgreens interior in some too. Very hard to discern what I'm looking at without knowing the stores.

[SamSpade]

I went back to the pictures I took while the remodel was in progress on the Forum store. I took a couple of pictures in March last year, while they were remodeling. I have them ready to upload but I'm getting a "board attachment quota has been reached" error message.

Sometimes I will upload photos to Yelp and then you can easily open them in a new browser window for the file location (unlike Google) and share them here using the "insert image" function.

[SamSpade]

I can't find any pictures of any Safeway in Bend on Google or Yelp with anything but lifestyle decor aside from what I uploaded. What you're saying makes sense (isn't that the store where the senseless tragedy occurred?) but I just can't find the pictures.

Unfortunately, yes, that is the store where the tragedy occurred. There is also a Whole Foods Market literally in the parking lot and Costco a stone's throw away so pretty intense competition right there.

RE: The barn wood-esque decor, as noted, has been around Portland for a while. I first encountered it with the Sunset Hwy. renovation in 2018.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway-portland-33

[brendenmoney]

I think the "Colorful Oregon" or the barn-wood colorful lifestyle has been in use for a few years now in the PNW, but Albertsons must have decided to make the interior decor more widespread throughout that region, and it make me wonder if we'll see it more widespread throughout other regions too. In terms of Southern California, if this "Modern Neighborhood" that we see is used in the Upland Albertsons, and the "Colorful Oregon" (or another name I could give would be Colorful Barnwood Lifestyle) would look good for Vons remodels, since I do agree the Modern Neighborhood would not look so good in an older Vons unless the store get's a complete overhaul.

Since Albertsons merged with Safeway, I've noticed Albertsons tends to test new decor packages in a single region, before making it more widespread. For example, Modern was first seen in the final three Albertsons stores in Florida that were remodeled to Safeway in 2016, hence why many people still call it Safeway Florida (although I think a few Tom Thumbs in Texas may have also gotten it) before all of a sudden it became more widespread all over the west coast. In other Safeway markets, I believe Albertsons kept using original Lifestyle decor for a few years after their merger, before Modern was introduced in virtually all markets with Safeway, Vons, and Tom Thumb.

It's the same thing with what we call Pavilions decor, although it technically is called Ultra-Premium, and is seen in some Bay Area Safeway stores, a couple Chicago Jewel-Oscos, a Star Market in Boston, and a newer Albertsons in Las Vegas. I'm sure there's more stores out there than just those that have it as well. It's just mostly used in Pavilions as it first appeared in those stores, which is why we associate that decor with Pavilions.

I do know that Albertsons is now also using a new decor for ACME somewhere in South New Jersey that I saw online somewhere, but I can't quite pinpoint what store is now using it. Albertsons is also introducing new decor for Balducci's as well even though I can't imagine they want much to do with the chain, which makes me think they are testing something there as well.

Thinking about how Stater Bros is swiftly remodeling their stores in the Inland Empire, it does make sense that Albertsons is testing "Modern Neighborhood" in Upland. I do think Stater still does a better job, but this new decor is on par with what Stater has been doing more recently.

[SoCalShopper1023]

There are remarkable similarities. They must have hired the same design firm.

Assuming the merger with Kroger goes through, it would be interesting if Kroger adopts this decor package for all their stores instead of their own current decor package. But I can also see this store going to C&S since it's an Albertsons branded store.

They would not have invested in this level of a remodel for a store planned to be divested. The stores that seem to be the most obvious divests have been receiving cheap and minimal refreshes. They especially would not invest in a new decor package that likely cost a pretty penny to develop with the knowledge it would be sold.

The vast majority of the SoCal divests are going to be Vons branded stores because there are more Vons that are immediate overlaps with Ralphs than Albertsons. Many Albertsons are in suburbs and lower population areas where Ralphs has either nearly disappeared or never was present (Inland Empire, Central Coast). Since they're planning around 60 divests in California I estimated 40 would be Vons and the rest Albertsons just playing with Google Maps, which is going to mean about 100 Albertsons will have to change names to either Ralphs, Vons or Pavilions, while 40 or so Vons will become Albertsons. It's a mess.

Which makes it even more interesting if this store is kept under Kroger. Since Kroger will have to rebrand this store to either Vons or Ralphs, which would make the blue accents look more out of place, since the Ralphs and Vons logos are primarily red. Plus I believe I saw some Albertsons logos throughout some of the signage in this decor package.

[marketreportblog]

I do know that Albertsons is now also using a new decor for ACME somewhere in South New Jersey that I saw online somewhere, but I can't quite pinpoint what store is now using it. Albertsons is also introducing new decor for Balducci's as well even though I can't imagine they want much to do with the chain, which makes me think they are testing something there as well.

There's a South Jersey store that's being remodeled to that decor right now, and I was trying to track it down (unsuccessfully) just earlier today. So far I know that decor has shown up in stores in Philadelphia (University City and Society Hill), Haddonfield, and the one other South Jersey store. Oddly, the new ACME in East Norriton doesn't have that decor. The decor for Balducci's looks like it'll be very bland but it looks like there's some serious renovation going on. I'm still shocked the Pavilions decor hasn't made its way into Kings or Balducci's -- it would be a perfect fit for many of the Kings, which still have not yet been renovated. And I'm excited to see more ACMEs with new decor... the "Quality Built" decor is perfectly adequate but nothing special at all.

Edit: the other ACME I was thinking of is Avalon.