Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

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marshd1000
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by marshd1000 »

It is interesting to see the Pak n Save, Super Saver and Lucky logos up there too. Since they are calling the Super Saver stores, Super Saver by Albertsons, I wonder if they will try to expand in Utah under that brand?
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by pseudo3d »

The Safeway brands almost immediately appeared with Albertsons brands on official websites (including hiring). I'm thinking Albertsons wanted Haggen more for the half of the company that were conversions and not so much the "legacy stores", because 15 stores is really uneconomical to run as a completely different unit (even if it's not a "real" division). The company is still unprofitable, and Haggen in its current state seems to be ripe for selling off if they wanted. It would do Albertsons greater good if it was fully integrated with the Seattle division, but in the process something may be lost.

EDIT: This was before the "banner post" by SamSpade. I guess that since Albertsons does seem to be committed to keeping Haggen, then they'll probably ultimately end up getting diluted. But then again, those plaques look like they can be easy to remove and add to.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by marshd1000 »

On occasion I will go into the Woodinville and Marysville Haggens if I am nearby. It is interesting to see that Haggen is not participating in the current Safeway and Albertsons Monopoly game. In the not too distant past, Haggen would do Monopoly but that was before the expansion and contraction! Last time when I was in I still see Haggen branded items. But Signature has pretty much replaced Food Club and Western Family on the skus that those items had those brandings. I think I still saw some Full Circle Organic stuff along with O Organics. Interestingly in the health and beauty aids category, I still see Top Care and no Signature Care items. When it comes to refrigerated dairy, it is still Haggen branded (I may have missed some stuff). But organic dairy is O Organics. In terms of ice cream, Haggen is still there. But when it comes to specialty flavors, they have added Signature Select, so now there are some things like Moose Tracks that they did not have before. I did see some Lucerne in the frozen section but not much. Also I don't remember which store I saw this in, but the Seahawks Team Store has made it into one of the Haggen stores. In Woodinville, they got rid of Zaw Pizza and are adding a cold entree bar in addition to the salad bar. So Albertsons is investing in the physical plant, at least at the Woodenville store. I was also on the Facebook page for Haggen and see that at the West Olympia store, there is a Haggen operated Starbucks now. In the past, Haggen and Starbucks had an agreement to have Starbucks corporate stores inside. there are a few of those left. But the Oak Harbor former Safeway has a Haggen operated Starbucks. But that was from the ill fated expansion. But since Safeway and Albertsons have a license with Starbucks, I am not surprised to see store operated Starbucks happening in more Haggen stores.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by architect »

marshd1000 wrote:On occasion I will go into the Woodinville and Marysville Haggens if I am nearby. It is interesting to see that Haggen is not participating in the current Safeway and Albertsons Monopoly game. In the not too distant past, Haggen would do Monopoly but that was before the expansion and contraction! Last time when I was in I still see Haggen branded items. But Signature has pretty much replaced Food Club and Western Family on the skus that those items had those brandings. I think I still saw some Full Circle Organic stuff along with O Organics. Interestingly in the health and beauty aids category, I still see Top Care and no Signature Care items. When it comes to refrigerated dairy, it is still Haggen branded (I may have missed some stuff). But organic dairy is O Organics. In terms of ice cream, Haggen is still there. But when it comes to specialty flavors, they have added Signature Select, so now there are some things like Moose Tracks that they did not have before. I did see some Lucerne in the frozen section but not much. Also I don't remember which store I saw this in, but the Seahawks Team Store has made it into one of the Haggen stores. In Woodinville, they got rid of Zaw Pizza and are adding a cold entree bar in addition to the salad bar. So Albertsons is investing in the physical plant, at least at the Woodenville store. I was also on the Facebook page for Haggen and see that at the West Olympia store, there is a Haggen operated Starbucks now. In the past, Haggen and Starbucks had an agreement to have Starbucks corporate stores inside. there are a few of those left. But the Oak Harbor former Safeway has a Haggen operated Starbucks. But that was from the ill fated expansion. But since Safeway and Albertsons have a license with Starbucks, I am not surprised to see store operated Starbucks happening in more Haggen stores.
Interestingly, Market Street is also not participating in the Monopoly promotion this year, despite the fact that their name is boldly listed on the back of this year's Monopoly board. Just as a possibility, I wonder is Albertsons might be gradually creating a separate operational structure for their higher-end brands such as Haggen, Pavillions and Market Street which would allow them to more appropriately manage merchandising and promotion for these banners as a whole? We've seen increasing amounts of differentiation at Pavillions too.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by pseudo3d »

architect wrote:I wonder is Albertsons might be gradually creating a separate operational structure for their higher-end brands such as Haggen, Pavillions and Market Street which would allow them to more appropriately manage merchandising and promotion for these banners as a whole? We've seen increasing amounts of differentiation at Pavillions too.
They do, sort of. All three are subdivisions of their respective brands. The Haggen district is managed by the Seattle Division, at least, I assume that's the plan (they closed the Oregon stores). The SoCal division has Pavilions as its own district (not sure if that's the name of it), led by a president of the brand, and even the Dallas division of United (consisting entirely of Market Street) I assume has its own leadership. All three are slightly different with their own goals on merchandising and product mix (Haggen focuses more on locality and organics than, say, Pavilions does). This isn't like Kroger Marketplace with each division having Marketplace stores (but still having Fred Meyer call a lot of the shots).

As for the Monopoly board thing, I think that's just the boilerplate Albertsons family branding.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by storewanderer »

I got into one of the Haggen Stores today. The only thing that has changed is there is some Signature stuff in center store. Still quite a few Haggen items, too sprinkied around, mostly canned goods, but also some other things like dry rice/beans and peanut butter. Even some Western Family items, including butter (?). In milk gallons for private label, there is Haggen Milk (made at the Safeway WA Dairy) and also Value Corner Milk, but the only Lucerne milk was in some half gallons. There were also still Haggen Eggs. I am curious the Safeway plant is making Haggen milk but can't make Albertsons Milk? Odd. Anyway... The entire drug area was still 100% Top Care for its private label.

There were also some "large pack" bakery items that were obvious Safeway low end product at a 6.99 price point (cookies, 9ct muffins, etc). But the rest of bakery was the old Haggen program, very high quality, well presented, looked well prepared, and high priced (4ct Muffins 4.99, 3ct large cookies 5.99 ouch). Deli is still the old Haggen program too.

They are still on the old Haggen registers (which have been upgraded for Chip/Tap) and using the Haggen Loyalty Card. Still using Haggen shelf tags. Basically zero integration and aside from the private label items which are just sort of there (not being promoted), no sign that this store is even owned by Albertsons/Safeway. Kind of reminds me of Kroger and Harris Teeter... don't fix what isn't broken. I was pleasantly surprised.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:In milk gallons for private label, there is Haggen Milk (made at the Safeway WA Dairy) and also Value Corner Milk, but the only Lucerne milk was in some half gallons. There were also still Haggen Eggs. I am curious the Safeway plant is making Haggen milk but can't make Albertsons Milk?
Assuming you went home and looked up the code that's printed on milk jugs, I would venture a guess that the Safeway milk plant had other contracts beyond just Safeway and that was one of the third parties that happened to be on that program. After all, I think I remember reading that one of the northwest Safeway bakeries made stuff for WinCo at one time fairly recently.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by klkla »

I Think this might be the first remodel of a Haggen store since Albertson's took over:
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/haggen- ... FsdQ7YdkXw

Look at photos dated after June 2017 for comparison.

There are elements I like. The store is definitely brighter and the muted color scheme is more modern. Not a huge fan of the polished cement floors, though.
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by storewanderer »

Great looking remodel and do you see anything in there that looks like Albertsons or Safeway? I don't.

They should definitely go with a real floor, one with a white/cream type tone...
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Re: Acquisition and Integration of Haggen into Albertsons

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: October 3rd, 2017, 10:07 pm Great looking remodel and do you see anything in there that looks like Albertsons or Safeway? I don't.

They should definitely go with a real floor, one with a white/cream type tone...
The only time the polished concrete comes close to looking good is when a store is designed with it from the get go. It's best suited for low-cost stores like Costco, Walmart, etc. In older stores, it reveals many flaws in the concrete not to mention patch jobs over the years for wiring etc. and visible patterns where tiles used to be. Fred Meyer remodels over the last few years are a good example of this.

I have also noticed the polished concrete doesn't retain its shine for very long regardless of the store, indicating either a lack of maintenance or polishes/coatings simply not holding up well.

There are a few JCPenney stores near me which got the polished concrete floors in some areas as part of the Ron Johnson era remodels. It looks completely out of place there.

A store trying to be upscale such as Haggen needs to make the store look the part. That means no polished concrete.

I will be happy when the polished concrete fad is over....it really cheapens the appearance of so many stores.
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