DFW Tom Thumb/Albertsons/MArket Street Observations

[architect]

Market Street update: I was at the Park/Preston location earlier this evening and finally found the Arriba coffee; it is alive and well. The coffee is found on an endcap away from the main coffee section, and is available in both prebagged and bulk varieties. The signage for it also carries a strong "local" branding, much like many of HEB's Texas-made products.

[architect]

Earlier tonight, I was searching for something on Google Maps around Fort Worth, and stumbled into what appears to be a former Tom Thumb location. The building, located at 7440 McCart Ave, Fort Worth, TX, is now occupied by Aldi, Dollar Tree and DD's Discounts. From a street view image, the facade appears similar to a Randalls-era "New Generation" store. If this was the case, could it have closed prior to the bloodbath of closings in 2005? If so, the, the neighborhood must have proved to be a particularly poor fit for Tom Thumb, as the store was likely only open for a few years. I have never seen this location on any type of store closing list or anything, so it seems to have been just a blip on the radar.

[architect]

Actually, scratch the previous comment, turns out the store closed in the round of 2005 closings.

[architect]

Interesting observation: I was just looking back at Tom Thumb's Instagram account, and noticed that in January, TT presented a check to the Red Cross for tornado victim assistance. Although these donations were being collected at both Albertsons and Tom Thumb locations in the DFW area, the check was presented in Tom Thumb's name exclusively. This makes me wonder if Albertsons is beginning to phase out their namesake brand in the DFW area, especially considering that TT has much more legacy in the area, and the company's two newest stores in the market will be branded under the TT name?

[architect]

DFW Update:

Last week, I stopped by the Tom Thumb at Preston/Belt Line in Dallas. This store is quite large, and could definitely be considered one of their unofficial flagships for DFW. During my visit, I noticed that quite a few new products had been introduced. In particular, the selection of Signature Kitchens canned vegetables had increased (filling in many of the store-branded products which were absent under Safeway's leadership, but were carried in store-branded versions under Essential Everyday, Kroger, etc.). In addition, this store has began to carry a new line of high-end but competitively priced imported Italian pastas, including squid ink spaghetti which is very difficult to find in the US (it can usually only be found at specialty stores). Pricing seemed somewhat more competitive than a few months back, but there is still plenty of ground to make up. It does appear that Albertsons is at least attempting to improve their product selection in their higher-end stores.

Also, on Sunday night, I stopped by the Market Street at Watters Creek in Allen, and had several interesting observations. First of all, the Peet's Coffee bar had been replaced with a Starbucks (the first Starbucks I have seen at a DFW Market Street location) and related signage was changed accordingly. In addition, Keva Juice signage had been removed (which might have been located in the same location as the removed Peet's Coffee). In the pasta aisle, the store had begun carrying the exact same imported pastas previously seen at the Preston/Belt Line Tom Thumb, making me wonder if the DFW Market Street stores are now being run by the Southern Division office to an extent? I will try to stop by a different Market Street location soon and see if I observe any of the same changes.

[pseudo3d]

DFW Update:

Last week, I stopped by the Tom Thumb at Preston/Belt Line in Dallas. This store is quite large, and could definitely be considered one of their unofficial flagships for DFW. During my visit, I noticed that quite a few new products had been introduced. In particular, the selection of Signature Kitchens canned vegetables had increased (filling in many of the store-branded products which were absent under Safeway's leadership, but were carried in store-branded versions under Essential Everyday, Kroger, etc.). In addition, this store has began to carry a new line of high-end but competitively priced imported Italian pastas, including squid ink spaghetti which is very difficult to find in the US (it can usually only be found at specialty stores). Pricing seemed somewhat more competitive than a few months back, but there is still plenty of ground to make up. It does appear that Albertsons is at least attempting to improve their product selection in their higher-end stores.

I assume this pasta (which coincidentally, my sister brought back from Italy) is not a store brand.

Also, on Sunday night, I stopped by the Market Street at Watters Creek in Allen, and had several interesting observations. First of all, the Peet's Coffee bar had been replaced with a Starbucks (the first Starbucks I have seen at a DFW Market Street location) and related signage was changed accordingly. In addition, Keva Juice signage had been removed (which might have been located in the same location as the removed Peet's Coffee). In the pasta aisle, the store had begun carrying the exact same imported pastas previously seen at the Preston/Belt Line Tom Thumb, making me wonder if the DFW Market Street stores are now being run by the Southern Division office to an extent? I will try to stop by a different Market Street location soon and see if I observe any of the same changes.

Considering that Market Street has carried whatever Albertsons had been carrying since they were bought, it's more likely that they had the option of buying that from a common shared list. The changes from Peet's to Starbucks may have been what they wanted anyway (remember the Sun Fresh stores had wanted Starbucks to stay, but they had to settle for Peet's because they were too small a chain)...remember the Albertsons in Abilene had received a Starbucks when it became a Market Street.

[architect]

Albertsons update: Over the last couple of weeks, I have been able to visit a couple of the remaining DFW Albertsons locations. My first observation with both store visits was their ridiculous pricing. There was very little promotional activity going on, and everyday prices on many items were often $0.50-$1 higher than most competitors. As far as the stores themselves go, they varied widely. Observations from each visit are below.

My first stop was the Casa Linda store. This location is an early 90's build, and is one of the only two Albertsons store remaining in Dallas proper (and clearly the more successful of the two, largely due to its location). Back in the spring, I visited this store, but my visit was turned short due to an awful "fishy" smell which spread throughout the store. On this visit, thankfully the smell was gone. The store seemed well-trafficked on a weekday afternoon, although this could simply be due to the fact that it is the only traditional grocer in the Casa Linda area, an area which is somewhat isolated due to White Rock Lake. While I was there, I did notice quite a few merchandising changes. The buying for Albertsons and Tom Thumb has clearly merged, as many products had been introduced throughout the store which Tom Thumb has long carried. On the other hand, some Albertsons-exclusive items had been removed. A dedicated natural foods section had also been introduced, in many ways similar to those typical of Kroger-owned stores. There was also an electrician installing additional electrical lines for lighting in the produce area, although I did not see any actual new lighting yet (a scissor lift is visible in one of the photos, I talked to the electrician for a bit while he was on a break). Overall, the store seemed to be in much better condition than a few months back, although it could still clearly use some work.

Photos:







Then recently, I was able to visit the Murphy store. This location is an early 2000's build, and seems to have perpetually slow traffic despite being in a growing area (a Kroger Marketplace built in 2013 just down 544 in Wylie is likely hurting this store). Overall, this store seemed to be in decent condition but the decor was clearly in need of an update. The store is also very large, and honestly seemed too big for the amount of volume which it is doing. It would not surprise me to see this store closed sometime down the road, along with a similar Albertsons in Wylie (both stores have almost identical floor plans, along with similar low traffic).

[pseudo3d]

The last one is the fancy package with the custom floors (still there, as they're somewhat difficult to remove) and giant hanging props (not sure if they are there or were ever), but that store has had a lot of competition in the last few years...a full-size Walmart AND a Sprouts.

[storewanderer]

What did that Murphy store start as? The ceilings look strange in there. What a giant store, too.

[architect]

What did that Murphy store start as? The ceilings look strange in there. What a giant store, too.

The Murphy store was actually built as an Albertsons (I agree, it is very strange)! There are many locations (most since closed) around DFW and Houston that were built with this prototype. Most locations feature a warehouse ceiling with hanging light fixtures (and a few random strip lights mounted to the underside of the roof deck; I'm assuming as some type of emergency lighting). This is the only store I have seen that has drop ceiling in this format, complete with the random strip lights which don't make any sense. The exposed HVAC ducts running below the drop ceiling also look very strange in person.

Also, I forgot to mention this, but the Sav-On signage had been removed at both stores (and the Albertsons signage was even recentered at the Casa Linda store to account for the change). Earlier today, I also saw a co-branded Albertsons-Tom Thumb truck/trailer combo, so based on all of these changes, I don't see the Albertsons name being retired in DFW anytime soon.