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Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: April 17th, 2022, 12:30 pm
by storewanderer
CalItalian wrote: April 17th, 2022, 12:26 pm Latest update on start of project

https://www.valleycenter.com/articles/v ... g-permits/
Nobody seems to be in any hurry with this project. They are moving forward with new stores in other places much more quickly including in northern California.

Almost seems like they are waiting for one thing to go wrong so they can pull out of the project.

Maybe they don't project the store to be profitable for years after opening so they are in no hurry on that ground. The longer they wait, the more development can happen around it that will bring it closer to profitability.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: April 18th, 2022, 2:26 am
by CalItalian
storewanderer wrote: April 17th, 2022, 12:30 pm
CalItalian wrote: April 17th, 2022, 12:26 pm Latest update on start of project

https://www.valleycenter.com/articles/v ... g-permits/
Nobody seems to be in any hurry with this project. They are moving forward with new stores in other places much more quickly including in northern California.

Almost seems like they are waiting for one thing to go wrong so they can pull out of the project.

Maybe they don't project the store to be profitable for years after opening so they are in no hurry on that ground. The longer they wait, the more development can happen around it that will bring it closer to profitability.
This isn't a very large area (less than 12,000 residents). It's still kinda rural despite a couple of new planned housing developments that have sold out all their homes and are working on new phases. The one thing they're going to have trouble with is their gas station. Valley View Resort & Casino opened their own gas station and convenience store last summer (www.horizonfuelcenter.com). It's one of the lowest priced gas stations in California and has sucked up all the business in the area.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: March 26th, 2023, 10:37 pm
by storewanderer
Construction is now slated to start in October 2023. This will be Albertsons Store #71 (they seem to be starting from zero with store numbers lately).

Interesting it is now appearing to be an Albertsons instead of a Vons.
The banner is probably just formality for a store that will open as either Kroger or Ralphs.

https://www.constructionjournal.com/pro ... a6c9b.html

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 12th, 2023, 6:34 pm
by retailfanmitchell019
storewanderer wrote: March 26th, 2023, 10:37 pm Construction is now slated to start in October 2023. This will be Albertsons Store #71 (they seem to be starting from zero with store numbers lately).

Interesting it is now appearing to be an Albertsons instead of a Vons.
The banner is probably just formality for a store that will open as either Kroger or Ralphs.

https://www.constructionjournal.com/pro ... a6c9b.html
Does not surprise me. Albertsons is stronger than Vons in North San Diego County. Assuming the merger doesn't happen, I expect Albertsons to gradually eliminate the Vons name up here.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 12th, 2023, 11:59 pm
by storewanderer
Now we have shopping center design photos that show a building with an Albertsons logo.

This is so funny. This Albertsons banner, seeing growth out of it seems so odd to me. The Vons banner must be unbelievably weak for them to backtrack on what was slated to be a Vons and give it the Albertsons banner. Unless the plan forward is to divest the Vons banner and Kroger ends up keeping the Albertsons banner... because there is no way this store needs to be divested...


https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/7655-Va ... /22535871/

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 15th, 2023, 11:21 pm
by ClownLoach
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: May 12th, 2023, 6:34 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 26th, 2023, 10:37 pm Construction is now slated to start in October 2023. This will be Albertsons Store #71 (they seem to be starting from zero with store numbers lately).

Interesting it is now appearing to be an Albertsons instead of a Vons.
The banner is probably just formality for a store that will open as either Kroger or Ralphs.

https://www.constructionjournal.com/pro ... a6c9b.html
Does not surprise me. Albertsons is stronger than Vons in North San Diego County. Assuming the merger doesn't happen, I expect Albertsons to gradually eliminate the Vons name up here.
Same thing I've been saying for a while. The newer, high growth areas in the IE, OC and San Diego have been almost entirely dominated by Albertsons, not Ralphs or Vons. As such these are the most desirable stores as they are guaranteed future positive comps for at least the next couple of decades. This is why I laughed off proposals to jettison anything with an Albertsons sign.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 16th, 2023, 12:06 am
by storewanderer
ClownLoach wrote: May 15th, 2023, 11:21 pm

Same thing I've been saying for a while. The newer, high growth areas in the IE, OC and San Diego have been almost entirely dominated by Albertsons, not Ralphs or Vons. As such these are the most desirable stores as they are guaranteed future positive comps for at least the next couple of decades. This is why I laughed off proposals to jettison anything with an Albertsons sign.
I think Vons may be about the weakest grocery store banner in CA. Well maybe Save Mart is a weaker banner.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 16th, 2023, 6:16 am
by ClownLoach
storewanderer wrote: May 16th, 2023, 12:06 am
ClownLoach wrote: May 15th, 2023, 11:21 pm

Same thing I've been saying for a while. The newer, high growth areas in the IE, OC and San Diego have been almost entirely dominated by Albertsons, not Ralphs or Vons. As such these are the most desirable stores as they are guaranteed future positive comps for at least the next couple of decades. This is why I laughed off proposals to jettison anything with an Albertsons sign.
I think Vons may be about the weakest grocery store banner in CA. Well maybe Save Mart is a weaker banner.
This could easily be a hint of that strategy. There are more truly overlapping Ralphs and Vons than Ralphs and Albertsons. If they were to dispatch a banner, Vons makes the most sense.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 16th, 2023, 4:39 pm
by rwsandiego
storewanderer wrote: May 12th, 2023, 11:59 pm Now we have shopping center design photos that show a building with an Albertsons logo.

This is so funny. This Albertsons banner, seeing growth out of it seems so odd to me. The Vons banner must be unbelievably weak for them to backtrack on what was slated to be a Vons and give it the Albertsons banner...
The farther away you go from San Diego the more Albertsons and fewer Vons you see. Albertsons had a bad reputation in San Diego proper and in the South Bay because most of their stores down there were nasty former Lucky stores that they should have remodeled but didn't. Ralphs also had some nasty stores, which they mostly closed, so Vons became the dominant grocer in the city. When I lived in Normal Heights and Albertsons opened the new store in City Heights (about 3 miles away) I did a lot of my shopping there. Likewise, when I lived in downtown San Diego, the new Albertsons in East village was my go-to instead of Ralphs.

I don't think Vons really built new stores as San Diego grew. The only ones that come to mind are Solana Beach, which was a replacement, Mission Hills, also a replacement, and maybe one in Scripps Ranch. The brand didn't grow much. Frankly, Vons improved after Albertsons took it over. (Yeah, I know - scary thought)

If the merger doesn't go through, I can see Albertsons re-branding Vons to Albertsons.

Re: New build Vons coming to Valley Center (near Escondido)

Posted: May 16th, 2023, 6:16 pm
by retailfanmitchell019
rwsandiego wrote: May 16th, 2023, 4:39 pm
The farther away you go from San Diego the more Albertsons and fewer Vons you see. Albertsons had a bad reputation in San Diego proper and in the South Bay because most of their stores down there were nasty former Lucky stores that they should have remodeled but didn't. Ralphs also had some nasty stores, which they mostly closed, so Vons became the dominant grocer in the city. When I lived in Normal Heights and Albertsons opened the new store in City Heights (about 3 miles away) I did a lot of my shopping there. Likewise, when I lived in downtown San Diego, the new Albertsons in East village was my go-to instead of Ralphs.

I don't think Vons really built new stores as San Diego grew. The only ones that come to mind are Solana Beach, which was a replacement, Mission Hills, also a replacement, and maybe one in Scripps Ranch. The brand didn't grow much. Frankly, Vons improved after Albertsons took it over. (Yeah, I know - scary thought)

If the merger doesn't go through, I can see Albertsons re-branding Vons to Albertsons.
I think south of the 8 is where Albertsons didn't have the best reputation in San Diego, yes. North of there, Albertsons had/has mostly higher-end stores. Albertsons aggressively remodeled and built new stores up here from 1999-2006. Perhaps the nicest (I wouldn't be surprised it it weren't the most profitable) Albertsons in the county was Del Mar, which had an upscale version of the Jewel interior. I have friends living near that store that still refer to it as Albertsons, even though Haggen and Gelson's bought the store. The Albertsons stores in Carlsbad (La Costa) and Torrey Highlands were as gorgeous as that store (they also had the Jewel interior).

The Albertsons in City Heights was a relocation of an old Lucky. It opened in mid-2001, with the Awnings interior, yet a Grocery Palace layout. Who knows why it closed in 2014. Was a nice store though.
In California, San Diego (outside of North County) was the last frontier for Albertsons. They got south of Highway 52 via buying Lucky (with the exception of the San Ysidro store, a former Big Bear supermarket that they bought in 1994).
My parents moved to San Diego in 1995, a few years before they started having children. They came from Minneapolis, a totally different grocery market dominated by Supervalu-related chains. My parents first lived in Hillcrest, before moving to Rolando (near SDSU). They did their shopping mostly based on proximity (Ralphs and Vons, they never really shopped at Lucky).


Yet I can't figure out what interiors the Encinitas Albertsons stores had... they closed those ones during the recession.
Albertsons didn't close much stores in the county during the Supervalu era.