New Albertsons Interior Southern California

[mbz321]

Right, most of East Norriton's decor is left over from ShopRite, but I imagine since the store is being renovated now, it'll be changed.

Yep...I happened to pop in here a few days after I made my post a few back and it has indeed had a more thorough remodel. Unfortunately it is still the 'Quality Built' package, but they did add a few more splashes of color (dark browns, etc.) in spots and it definitely looks better. (They didn't remove the 'horizontal' wall paneling leftover from its days as a SuperG...they just painted it and put the wall decor on top of it).

The flooring has been changed as well to light brown linoleum.
Also, the 'Frosted Mug' area was expanded a lot (work was still happening over there) with a whole aisle with new coolers added in on the far left, which used to be the produce wall. Produce was shrunk and shifted over a bit with new cases.

I'm actually kind of surprised they invested so much in this store so soon as I'm not sure how well business is doing. There is a large banner out front proclaiming the accept WIC/EBT and there was also a partial aisle added of (2 for $3 'dollar store' quality merchandise. I've never seen this in another Acme. When it was a shopRite, they had a similar aisle). I think the high prices are scaring people away.

[storewanderer]

Right, most of East Norriton's decor is left over from ShopRite, but I imagine since the store is being renovated now, it'll be changed.

Yep...I happened to pop in here a few days after I made my post a few back and it has indeed had a more thorough remodel. Unfortunately it is still the 'Quality Built' package, but they did add a few more splashes of color (dark browns, etc.) in spots and it definitely looks better. (They didn't remove the 'horizontal' wall paneling leftover from its days as a SuperG...they just painted it and put the wall decor on top of it).

The flooring has been changed as well to light brown linoleum.
Also, the 'Frosted Mug' area was expanded a lot (work was still happening over there) with a while aisle with new coolers added in on the far left, which used to be the produce wall. Produce was shrunk and shifted over a bit with new cases.

I'm actually kind of surprised they invested so much in this store so soon as I'm not sure how well business is doing. There is a large banner out front proclaiming the accept WIC/EBT and there was also a partial aisle added of (2 for $3 'dollar store' quality merchandise. I've never seen this in another Acme. When it was a shopRite, they had a similar aisle). I think the high prices are scaring people away.

Pricing is a disaster for this Safeway/Albertsons chain. I do not know what they are doing. They have GOT to get their everyday pricing down.

[veteran+]

So the Unions now allow 3 hour shifts?

That's weird and plainly WRONG!

I was shocked when I first heard it directly from an Albertsons employee standing next to me and talking to a cashier (who was totally ignoring me the customer as he rang up my transaction) that they were scheduled by "the new system" for 3 hours. But then remember the unions caved to the big 3 and allowed for the "two tier system" where basically only the existing long term employees have any real rights or protections while the newer (and today vast majority of) employees are paid less and have less rights, benefits etc. At this point I wonder how many first tier employees are left at any of these chains. Both the chains and the UFCW destroyed themselves with that strike and that deal. As calculated for inflation on another thread Ralphs was the biggest loser with half their stores lost and 70% of their revenue gone. And the UFCW employees lost. The only winners are Stater Bros, Walmart, Trader Joe's and Costco who were all big recipients of customers when the chains were on strike (or locked out, or whatever the disaster was exactly).

I will note the 3 hour shift employee, who was a courtesy clerk, looked very young. I notice Albertsons/Vons seems much more likely to hire minors (teenagers) which I assume are on work permits. So it could be related to that. But if you did have an after school job bagging groceries and sweeping floors, is it really even worth it unless say the store is right next to school and home if you're going to make about $50 Pre tax and Pre Union dues? All Work Permits I've reviewed over the years would typically limit total weekly hours on school nights and require the minor to be off work by 9pm or 9:30 at the latest.

I pretty sure that is a student work program progam (under age 18).

[storewanderer]

They can work 14 and 15 year olds very limited hours in some places, not sure about CA. Task limited too. Basically bagging, cleaning off counters... could probably assign them carts but wouldn't personally.

[ClownLoach]

So the Unions now allow 3 hour shifts?

That's weird and plainly WRONG!

I was shocked when I first heard it directly from an Albertsons employee standing next to me and talking to a cashier (who was totally ignoring me the customer as he rang up my transaction) that they were scheduled by "the new system" for 3 hours. But then remember the unions caved to the big 3 and allowed for the "two tier system" where basically only the existing long term employees have any real rights or protections while the newer (and today vast majority of) employees are paid less and have less rights, benefits etc. At this point I wonder how many first tier employees are left at any of these chains. Both the chains and the UFCW destroyed themselves with that strike and that deal. As calculated for inflation on another thread Ralphs was the biggest loser with half their stores lost and 70% of their revenue gone. And the UFCW employees lost. The only winners are Stater Bros, Walmart, Trader Joe's and Costco who were all big recipients of customers when the chains were on strike (or locked out, or whatever the disaster was exactly).

I will note the 3 hour shift employee, who was a courtesy clerk, looked very young. I notice Albertsons/Vons seems much more likely to hire minors (teenagers) which I assume are on work permits. So it could be related to that. But if you did have an after school job bagging groceries and sweeping floors, is it really even worth it unless say the store is right next to school and home if you're going to make about $50 Pre tax and Pre Union dues? All Work Permits I've reviewed over the years would typically limit total weekly hours on school nights and require the minor to be off work by 9pm or 9:30 at the latest.

I pretty sure that is a student work program progam (under age 18).

Ages 14 and 15 are super limited but they don't hire them at grocery stores that I've seen. They do occasionally hire 16-17 year old baggers. Again I do not believe Kroger is allowing their stores to hire minors at this time, but Albertsons seems to be fine with it.

I checked with the local school district and they just issue a window when the student may work, such as 3 to 9:30pm. Work cannot exceed 8 hours on a day. So it is not a school district policy for the 3 hour shift. There is a specific law regarding a 3 hour limit but it is for anyone who would somehow be working during part of the school day such as child actors, and we know they usually get put into special child actor schools that are like a home school type setup. Basically whatever the school puts on the work permit seems to be the law and that is entirely at their discretion.

[storewanderer]

Smiths used to hire 14 and 15 year olds pre-Kroger, and there were very limited rules on when they could work and what tasks they could perform. It worked somewhat well since the 4 PM to 7 PM period was the busy time for stores on weeknights and you could schedule them during those hours to bag and run carry outs. I knew of a couple of them who took jobs there at 14 and actually worked there all the way through college stopping at cashier then eventually did leave for jobs in their intended fields.

I've seen 14 and 15 year olds working at a few different fast food franchise operations around Reno. Have not had good experiences with these kids and cannot believe some of what I've seen. Franchisees don't seem to case- these kids must be willing to take minimum wage. I have quit going to locations run by both franchisees in question.

[veteran+]

Smiths used to hire 14 and 15 year olds pre-Kroger, and there were very limited rules on when they could work and what tasks they could perform. It worked somewhat well since the 4 PM to 7 PM period was the busy time for stores on weeknights and you could schedule them during those hours to bag and run carry outs. I knew of a couple of them who took jobs there at 14 and actually worked there all the way through college stopping at cashier then eventually did leave for jobs in their intended fields.

I've seen 14 and 15 year olds working at a few different fast food franchise operations around Reno. Have not had good experiences with these kids and cannot believe some of what I've seen. Franchisees don't seem to case- these kids must be willing to take minimum wage. I have quit going to locations run by both franchisees in question.

I was hired by Food Fair in Miami as a bagger (after training which does not happen anymore, LOL) at age 15.

Of course that was a 100 years ago...............................

[brendenmoney]

So as part of a summer road trip up to Washington, I drove through Bend, OR. Although my main purpose was not to check out the Safeway at The Forum with Colorful Modern, I knew since I was in the area that I should check out what the commotion is about with the Safeway version of the new Upland Albertsons decor package. I also checkout out the other area Safeways as well while I was at it (I find it interesting Bend can support 4 Safeway's and one Albertsons all in a somewhat smallish city, that also has Fred Meyer, Walmart Supercenter, Costco, and Target, Whole Foods, along with some smaller grocery chains.)

I certainly had high expectations for this Safeway based off of my impressions and it did not disappoint. Here is my take and some observations on this store in comparison to the Upland Albertsons:

-The wall graphics and textures were well executed. While I feared that this decor package would not look as good in an older Safeway/Vons, especially with the drop ceiling, it actually helped since the wall decor went all the way up to the ceiling and filled almost the whole space with about a foot in between where the graphics ended and the ceiling, unlike the Upland Albertsons with the exposed ceiling, with the wall decor ending several feet before the ceiling.
-This store also had murals like the Upland stores, however in the cart corrals of both vestibules. The both have the phrases "hello Bend welcome... Sincerely, Safeway" and the Safeway logo was present on the other walls of the vestibules.
-Throughout the store, like Upland, there was little to no use of the Safeway logo anywhere outside of the vestibules. In fact, the Upland store had more brand identity than this store with its singular Albertsons logo. The front wall behind the registers pretty much has the exact same signs as the Upland store: "Local and loved," and "Your neighbor since...." Speaking of neighbor, the word "neighbor" also is heavily used in this store.
-Pretty much everything that would be Walmart Blue in the Upland Albertsons is bright red in this Safeway. Instead of the blue squares on the aisle markers with a number, they are red squares. The check stand lights have red accents instead of blue, and the fixture hung above the check stands also has red accents.
-Seeing the location of this Safeway, it makes sense why they chose this one out of the other four in the city to use this new decor package. This shopping center also has Costco and Whole Foods within a stones throw away, hence why this Safeway needs to aggressively compete. That being said, I believe a larger Costco is being built on the north end of town to replace the Costco that is next to this Safeway, and since not much land is available for large stores in Bend proper, I imagine Walmart (or even Target or Fred Meyer?) could scoop up this soon to be available Costco for a second Bend location. Walmart has plenty of experience taking over old Costco buildings.
-One of the few things that I dislike about this remodel is that this store still hasn't gotten rid of the lighting that has been used in the store since this store was remodeled to Lifestyle long ago. I wish Albertsons would just replace the lighting in all these old Safeway stores with the slim LED light strips, which were used in the Upland store.
-The heavy use of red in this store does make me question if the Upland Albertsons is really designed as a post-merger decor package (speaking that I feel it is so unlikely at this point, but you never truly know until it is all settled). If this store were to become a Ralphs or a Vons, it would have made so much more sense to use the red used in this Safeway. That being said, I do guess all the blue fixtures could be switched out for red ones, the blue walls painted red, and the little blue squares on the aisle markers with numbers could be easily taken off and replaced with red ones, and I'm sure it may at most take a couple days, I imagine they could probably do all that in a day... oh yes and I forgot! Replace that one panel with an Albertsons logo to a fruit cart

Here are some photos I took of the store:
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... Cv45MGE94A
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... p5SrgyR-MQ
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... CHk0gfHEmQ
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... ULmatqVo3A
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... srsXUz9bCQ
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... BwzQ--QVfQ
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... agD_7wkhow
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... lj6sPGVH_A
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... JE_m8sntyA
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... a5YY3AsO0A
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... VNRqgu6laQ
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/safeway ... sqIC1CKO6g

I also want to give an honorable mention to the "Colorful Oregon" Safeway in Century Park on the other end of town that people have mentioned on this thread. While it's nothing to crazy, there is a lot of personalization to the area with this store through graphics as well as fixtures throughout this store. While this decor package has been limited to a few towns in the PNW, different walls graphics can be used at different stores that fit the theme of the area, and ultimately this is a decor package that I'm shocked Albertsons hasn't so far used more widespread at the very least throughout the PNW, if not the entire west coast.

We have to admit that Albertsons (or the firm they hired) has cooked up some great interior design packages, but it's shocking that they aren't used more widespread so far.

[storewanderer]

This looks pretty good on the Safeway. It has a lot more personality than the Florida interior. I'd do something with the aisle hangers and the entryway graphics but the rest is great.

[ClownLoach]

-The wall graphics and textures were well executed. While I feared that this decor package would not look as good in an older Safeway/Vons, especially with the drop ceiling, it actually helped since the wall decor went all the way up to the ceiling and filled almost the whole space with about a foot in between where the graphics ended and the ceiling, unlike the Upland Albertsons with the exposed ceiling, with the wall decor ending several feet before the ceiling.

-The heavy use of red in this store does make me question if the Upland Albertsons is really designed as a post-merger decor package (speaking that I feel it is so unlikely at this point, but you never truly know until it is all settled). If this store were to become a Ralphs or a Vons, it would have made so much more sense to use the red used in this Safeway.

A couple thoughts here. First, I have noticed that pretty much all of the designs that Albertsons comes up with work decently well on either drop ceilings or warehouse ceilings. This is a plus because they become more versatile packages. Kroger on the other hand likes to make decor packages that "stretch" higher on the walls, probably because they need to work in stores that are in the 100K size range. So as a result the Kroger packages are not looking very good in low ceiling stores (such as many Smiths, Fry's and Ralphs) where the printers have to make compressed graphics and fabricate smaller letters. Great example is that new Fresh Fare design with the infamous cardboard - it is pretty awful in the Ralphs stores with lower perimeter ceilings, but I was shocked as to how it actually improved the appearance of the Shea/Tatum Fry's Signature.

As far as the Colorful Modern goes, it is clearly a much more expensive install than the previous "Florida" Modern, especially newer quick remodels that are just repaints without permits that don't get some of the "extras" like some glass tile and new floors. So far the use is limited and to the best of this boards knowledge there are only two locations with it, so we can't draw too many conclusions. For Upland, there isn't a snowballs chance in you-know-where the store is planned to be divested as there literally is no Kroger store in range. It is seemingly a good store for Albertsons although I need to observe in the day/early afternoon as my later visit conditions were rough and lots of empty fixtures.

If I was Albertsons at this point I would not concern myself too excessively with the outcome of the banners themselves. The best stores that are assured to remain with the company in some form must continue to receive higher quality upgrades like Upland, and as you mentioned the blue boxes and stripes could change to red or whatever other color quickly. Frankly the plans for banners by market have already changed dramatically once and I wouldn't be surprised if they change again in a last ditch attempt to salvage this deal. I suspect the next attempt is going to be the Safeway banner going to C&S nationwide except for NorCal, potentially bringing the Safeway name back to SoCal for the first time in decades. This is because of growing criticism that the latest merger plan has too many weird banner changes, for example we estimated at least 150 SoCal stores will change banners despite only 60 something divesting since the Albertsons banner would have to be removed from go forward sites however most divests will be Vons. This store could also be a candidate for later flip to the Pavilions banner which doesn't really have a color anymore since they are using black letters on its signs now, so blue could be fine as turquoise and peach are the dominant colors in the current Pavilions decor which makes no sense.

So why use this in Upland and Bend? In Upland it's just a good store, and the nearest Vons hasn't been updated since Lifestyle 1.0 based on Google pictures. Maybe that Vons is a low performer or has a lease issue and is possibly at risk of closure in the near future. Could be that another competitor has arrived or upgraded in the area too, there is a very new looking Whole Foods I saw along the freeway nearby. So it would be smart for Albertsons to invest heavily in the store especially if they know a possible closure is coming for their other store in town (or they were being impacted by that new Whole Foods), and the store already had a current decor in colorful lifestyle so they needed to apply something newer. In Bend as we know there was a tragic incident, and after such events many chains usually take actions to make sure their stores within the local area are upgraded or in best condition possible which is why we see that these stores are getting a lot of attention. The Albertsons flipped to Safeway and got remodeled already, one Safeway got the special "colorful Oregon" decor with Pavilions accents, and the other got the Colorful Modern. In the case of Bend, they probably were more concerned about protecting the brand in the market after the violent incident versus concerning themselves with possible divestitures which is the right way to do things.

Although these companies have to operate as independently as possible, there are still good common sense decisions that will continue to be made. This is clearly a more expensive decor intended to elevate the experience and the best design they've used since Jewel in the 2000s (plus it's derivative of that decor). So I would expect this decor will get only limited application until there is some outcome for the merger, and the stores selected to receive it will be locations expected to be retained. Since Albertsons is unusual in that the company has a multitude of decor packages, applying say "Florida" Modern to one store that may divest later and applying new "Colorful Modern" to a store that is sure to remain with the fleet would still qualify as "usual and customary" business practices of operating as their own separate company.