Albertsons & Smith's Las Vegas Observations

[SamSpade]

Hope it's OK to resurrect this older thread...
I was in the Las Vegas valley at the start of the month.

It was interesting, circumstances took me into a VONS and an Albertsons.
VONS was 7405 S Durango Dr, Las Vegas
Albertsons was 11720 W Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, (I thought Summerlin was its own town, guess not)

Vons still had the original lifestyle decor in what seems to be a fairly upscale, healthy neighborhood. I was quite startled. The signs look so faded under the lighting that Albertsons installed after assuming ownership. Also, they have a very small 24/7 sign on the building but then the actual hours are 6 am to 11 pm.

Albertsons was OK. It was what I believe to be "fresh and healthy" v. 3.0 on this forum. The delicatessen sign was already missing a letter (oi) and clearly this store started with the beautiful Jewel decor due to all the departments having a recessed lighting fixture behind the department letters.

These stores do not look like their counterparts where I live. Also, pricing in Las Vegas is high. Average people there must be stretching their budgets as best they can. Groceries and fuel were both higher than here. I also saw a few older stores that clearly serve communities of people but are smaller/older than what middle-upper grocers tend to operate today.

As we drove around the valley, I noticed that Smith's and (especially) Albertsons are almost always across the street from one another. Clearly this is where some divestures will have to occur? Though, Walmart and Sams Club, and smaller players like Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joes were all visible along our journeys.

[arizonaguy]

Hope it's OK to resurrect this older thread...
I was in the Las Vegas valley at the start of the month.

It was interesting, circumstances took me into a VONS and an Albertsons.
VONS was 7405 S Durango Dr, Las Vegas
Albertsons was 11720 W Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, (I thought Summerlin was its own town, guess not)

Vons still had the original lifestyle decor in what seems to be a fairly upscale, healthy neighborhood. I was quite startled. The signs look so faded under the lighting that Albertsons installed after assuming ownership. Also, they have a very small 24/7 sign on the building but then the actual hours are 6 am to 11 pm.

Albertsons was OK. It was what I believe to be "fresh and healthy" v. 3.0 on this forum. The delicatessen sign was already missing a letter (oi) and clearly this store started with the beautiful Jewel decor due to all the departments having a recessed lighting fixture behind the department letters.

These stores do not look like their counterparts where I live. Also, pricing in Las Vegas is high. Average people there must be stretching their budgets as best they can. Groceries and fuel were both higher than here. I also saw a few older stores that clearly serve communities of people but are smaller/older than what middle-upper grocers tend to operate today.

As we drove around the valley, I noticed that Smith's and (especially) Albertsons are almost always across the street from one another. Clearly this is where some divestures will have to occur? Though, Walmart and Sams Club, and smaller players like Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joes were all visible along our journeys.

I think the entire SW division (Vegas, Arizona, El Paso) will be sold as a unit to someone else. The scenario in Vegas (with a VONS/Albertsons across the street from a Smith's) applies to Phoenix as well.

The only stores that wouldn't be overlapping are a handful of stores in small towns that Kroger has shown zero desire to serve other than the handful of small town Smith's (or former Smith's now Fry's) stores that were built before Kroger bought Smith's.

[storewanderer]

I am not sure if that Albertsons opened with Jewel interior or opened with the Supervalu interior. For some reason, I thought it opened with the Supervalu interior. I walked that store four or five months ago and thought it was a wonderful looking store as I went around the perimeter. Then I got into the aisles. I found the center store grocery aisles to be oddly laid out and they seemed rather narrow. The store was very busy when I was there, close to 5 PM, and the line ups for checkout were obstructing the entire front walkway but lines were only 2 or so customers long.

Prices have skyrocketed on everything in Nevada in the past couple of years. Prices have increased at a much greater rate here than in surrounding states when I travel. No use getting into excuses, it just is what it is.

The Vons is a bit of a case. Tired store with management that is trying, with what it has. Way too spacious and does not feel healthy. So the store across from the Vons was built as the Glazier's Food Marketplace. Glazier was an old Shop Rite operator from PA who moved to Las Vegas to open a store with "everything" from different regions and put out a really fantastic effort with his store. The store eventually sunk, I think Glazier was getting quite a bit older and his son in law was running the store and I'll just stop further comment but it wasn't long after I had a really negative experience there that the store announced closing and selling to Smiths. Despite that Glazier's was a really great store and it is a big loss that it closed.

So that Vons- first it had that Glazier thing across the street. Glazier killed Vons on perimeter and specialty goods, but center store at Glazier was sort of strange (Unified supplied) and not priced too great and toward the ends parts of the perimeter notably meat really started to slip badly. On any given day traffic at Glazier's was easily 3x the traffic of Vons. Then you have Smiths open across from the Vons. Now the opposite thing happens. Suddenly you have Smiths where the strength is on center store, not so much perimeter. The result there is a steady traffic but not busy Vons, with odd sales history over the years.

[SamSpade]

This trip ended up at two Smith's and realized "yes, Smith's just feels like Smith's" no matter where you are. I see why my family misses their location. There are Kroger touches, but it's really an OK overall basic supermarket. It doesn't try to play fancy like QFC. There are only 2 Marketplace stores according to Google Map around LV.

Also ended up in one VONS, and it's already mentioned on this thread, apparently it opened right before "Lifestyle" rolled out but unlike the two Oregon stores that still had that decor and were updated recently, it hasn't seen a spot of cap ex that I could tell. No self checkouts either. Produce smith was working and extremely friendly in a spacious department, though.

edit:
Forgot to add that both had the blue light copy "lot monitors" out and that the 2nd Smith's had the middle-store liquor/vitamin/drug section with a register. We easily removed what we needed and checked out at a regular self-check, but this presented a little hiccup when realizing we'd also intended to use the restrooms, now behind do not enter one-way gates.

[storewanderer]

This trip ended up at two Smith's and realized "yes, Smith's just feels like Smith's" no matter where you are. I see why my family misses their location. There are Kroger touches, but it's really an OK overall basic supermarket. It doesn't try to play fancy like QFC. There are only 2 Marketplace stores according to Google Map around LV.

Also ended up in one VONS, and it's already mentioned on this thread, apparently it opened right before "Lifestyle" rolled out but unlike the two Oregon stores that still had that decor and were updated recently, it hasn't seen a spot of cap ex that I could tell. No self checkouts either. Produce smith was working and extremely friendly in a spacious department, though.

Smiths is interesting. I used to consider it highly inferior to other Kroger divisions, about 15 years ago. Compared to other west coast Kroger divisions, the stores looked worse, fresh department quality and mix was just sad and lacking, stores were severely understaffed, the whole thing just felt downscale. Pricing was definitely lower though... Over time Smiths has gotten a lot better at merchandising, operations, and cleanliness. There has been some slipping in recent years at Smiths but they still have their good days. They are still much better than they were 15 years ago. At this point I find Smiths to be better than Ralphs (really sorry to say this) or QFC, still not as good as the average Fred Meyer, and in line with a "good" King Soopers, Frys, Dillons, or Kroger. I can't tell the difference much between a good King Soopers, Frys, Dillons, Kroger, or Smiths Store. There are merchandising differences if you look REALLY closely but they seem to all have the same general theme going: larger stores with a large item mix and moderate pricing; some sloppy operations; some questionable quality perishables; but some days, many days in some areas, you find a location that looks perfect.

Despite Smiths not trying to play fancy it actually has most of the "fancy" items QFC has. They have Boar's Head in deli, they have some USDA Prime Beef in meat (lowest grade they sell now is USDA Choice), they have the Murray's Cheese, etc. I think QFC has a lot more high cost liquor than Smiths; Smiths has always been pretty lost in liquor beyond cheap liquor. I price certain liquor items sometimes and Smiths liquor pricing is always dollars lower than Safeway/Raleys/Save Mart and their quantity discount on wine is at 4 bottles while some others make you buy 6 bottles for said discount.

[SamSpade]

Resurrection again. . . LOL

So in this past holiday weekend visit, we dined on Friday at a restaurant near the VONS/Safeway duo I mentioned up top. The VONS are now closing at 10 pm so we just missed their hours (pity, I was curious about what might have changed, if anything). The fuel center/mini mart seemed to still be open but...

Smith's is now open until MIDNIGHT. So with the stores no longer having exactly the same hours, that is where we went. It was busy with all kinds of customers and not just small basket sizes. I really liked the in-store popcorn I picked up and would definitely buy more if I had this option. Kroger was doing this in a Pick n' Save in a Wisconsin suburb when I was there many years ago, I wonder how/where they decide to run these. (Albertsons also does popcorn in Idaho at the new Market Street stores I think?)

So anyway, I think that these new hours are causing them to give away business/reduce comps in some places. :-\ I did not enjoy the $10 we paid for a 12-pack of soda pop, but I think that may have been our reality due to not living in the area. I'm assuming there was probably a buy 2 get 2 or something similar going on. They also had more of the Kroger generic sodas like they did in Denver, including a version of Fresca and the same "Mercado" flavors.

[Romr123]

I think popcorn was a Mariano's innovation--had some really good stuff several years ago...made for a nice drive back to Detroit.

[storewanderer]

Resurrection again. . . LOL

So in this past holiday weekend visit, we dined on Friday at a restaurant near the VONS/Safeway duo I mentioned up top. The VONS are now closing at 10 pm so we just missed their hours (pity, I was curious about what might have changed, if anything). The fuel center/mini mart seemed to still be open but...

Smith's is now open until MIDNIGHT. So with the stores no longer having exactly the same hours, that is where we went. It was busy with all kinds of customers and not just small basket sizes. I really liked the in-store popcorn I picked up and would definitely buy more if I had this option. Kroger was doing this in a Pick n' Save in a Wisconsin suburb when I was there many years ago, I wonder how/where they decide to run these. (Albertsons also does popcorn in Idaho at the new Market Street stores I think?)

So anyway, I think that these new hours are causing them to give away business/reduce comps in some places. :-\ I did not enjoy the $10 we paid for a 12-pack of soda pop, but I think that may have been our reality due to not living in the area. I'm assuming there was probably a buy 2 get 2 or something similar going on. They also had more of the Kroger generic sodas like they did in Denver, including a version of Fresca and the same "Mercado" flavors.

You're 100% correct here that Albertsons/Safeway Arizona Division is walking business with this 10 PM closing time. Especially in the summer in hot climates like Las Vegas and Phoenix- people go out at night when it is cooler. I don't know what they are thinking. What is perplexing is they've been walking business for years now and instead of expanding hours now the SoCal Division has largely copied this policy. Meanwhile NorCal Safeway keeps pushing 24 hour stores (even where it makes no sense).

You'd be even less enjoying if you did your soda purchase at NorCal Safeway:
12pk Coke: 10.99
CRV 0.60
TAX 0.84 (if you're lucky- 7.25% rate which is still quite common in the rural areas)
Total 12.43

Even worse in Berkeley or Oakland
12pk Coke: 10.99
Sugar Beverage Tax: 1.44
CRV 0.60
Tax 1.33 (10.25% in those two cities)
Total 14.36
Yikes

[CalItalian]

I was in Vons Durango Las Vegas on Monday. I was there in November, as well. I was surprised the remodel was not completely finished as they were well underway in mid-November.

They are doing a nice job. Extensive interior remodel with mostly new equipment throughout the store. Now have 10 self-checkouts. 4 with max 15 items which are kinda tight if you have a shopping cart. The other 6 are unlimited.

Biggest negative, ALL liquor is locked up. 100%. Even the cheap stuff. Nice long extensive beer cooler, though.

Have I been missing something, not paying attention, at other similar remodels? Never seen local street names on aisle signage before.

Some of the entrance area flooring needs to be replaced (produce area was completely replaced with faux wood). This remodel will look great if it is. Not so hot, if they don't. Albertsons so often drops the ball on flooring during remodels.

I posted 20+ photos on Yelp today. Including their current lack of eggs.

Only 10 of my photos are in the review but they are all in the photos. So I linked to the Vons Durango Yelp page below instead of my review.
https://yelp.to/1yluc1qp2K

[storewanderer]

I was in Vons Durango Las Vegas on Monday. I was there in November, as well. I was surprised the remodel was not completely finished as they were well underway in mid-November.

They are doing a nice job. Extensive interior remodel with mostly new equipment throughout the store. Now have 10 self-checkouts. 4 with max 15 items which are kinda tight if you have a shopping cart. The other 6 are unlimited.

Biggest negative, ALL liquor is locked up. 100%. Even the cheap stuff. Nice long extensive beer cooler, though.

Have I been missing something, not paying attention, at other similar remodels? Never seen local street names on aisle signage before.

Some of the entrance area flooring needs to be replaced (produce area was completely replaced with faux wood). This remodel will look great if it is. Not so hot, if they don't. Albertsons so often drops the ball on flooring during remodels.

I posted 20+ photos on Yelp today. Including their current lack of eggs.

Only 10 of my photos are in the review but they are all in the photos. So I linked to the Vons Durango Yelp page below instead of my review.
https://yelp.to/1yluc1qp2K

The amount of lock up product at stores on what I'd call "far edges" of Las Vegas is interesting to me. A big part of remodels for Smiths and Albertsons is doing extensive lock up and or a bullcage for liquor and drug. I don't really see this in other markets at stores out on the edges like that.

This would have been the right time to rebrand this store to Albertsons. That they didn't should quiet any speculation about any major rebranding efforts out of Southwest Division.

The steeet names on signs are a feature of Florida/Modern decor.