The present and future of Randalls

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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by HCal »

Greggo wrote: November 25th, 2021, 8:34 pm Randalls customers no longer need a Remarkable Card to get sales prices. Everyone now gets them automatically. They’ve plastered signs all over the Austin stores letting shoppers know. Not sure what prompted this decision at this time, but if they’re trying to be competitive … the time for that was about 2 decades ago. Seems rather desperate.
The legacy Safeway chains required a card to get the sale prices, while the legacy Albertson chains didn't. I suppose they are now standardizing this. Given that the focus is on Just4U and personalized pricing, people will set up accounts anyway even if they don't need one to get the shelf discounts, so there may not be much point.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by pseudo3d »

Visited a Randalls store in Austin today (Ben White), which was a small store that was built as a Safeway many years prior and had been Randalls since 1994. A few observations:
- The hot wing was 3/4 full but otherwise fully operational.
- Did not see Remarkable Card being pushed or promoted anywhere, not even mentioned.
- They were still making tortilla chips but were out that day. Shame as they're quite good.
- They didn't have regular bags, only generic-style THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU bags. However, a closer look says at the bottom to recycle the bag at your nearest Tom Thumb, Randalls, or Albertsons, so I assume that this bag is used for the Southern Division in its entirety.
- Lucerne Eggs were at $1.59 a dozen.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: March 5th, 2022, 6:45 pm Visited a Randalls store in Austin today (Ben White), which was a small store that was built as a Safeway many years prior and had been Randalls since 1994. A few observations:
- The hot wing was 3/4 full but otherwise fully operational.
- Did not see Remarkable Card being pushed or promoted anywhere, not even mentioned.
- They were still making tortilla chips but were out that day. Shame as they're quite good.
- They didn't have regular bags, only generic-style THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU bags. However, a closer look says at the bottom to recycle the bag at your nearest Tom Thumb, Randalls, or Albertsons, so I assume that this bag is used for the Southern Division in its entirety.
- Lucerne Eggs were at $1.59 a dozen.
The bags you described are being used across the Southern Divisions stores in DFW as well, look cheap to say the least. It is interesting that Randalls has moved away from promoting the Remarkable card anywhere (even outside of requiring it for sale prices), while the Tom Thumb equivalent is still being promoted in DFW. My guess is that the Remarkable card stands out more in Houston/Austin, where HEB by comparison doesn't require or promote any form of loyalty card.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by storewanderer »

architect wrote: March 5th, 2022, 7:29 pm
pseudo3d wrote: March 5th, 2022, 6:45 pm Visited a Randalls store in Austin today (Ben White), which was a small store that was built as a Safeway many years prior and had been Randalls since 1994. A few observations:
- The hot wing was 3/4 full but otherwise fully operational.
- Did not see Remarkable Card being pushed or promoted anywhere, not even mentioned.
- They were still making tortilla chips but were out that day. Shame as they're quite good.
- They didn't have regular bags, only generic-style THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU bags. However, a closer look says at the bottom to recycle the bag at your nearest Tom Thumb, Randalls, or Albertsons, so I assume that this bag is used for the Southern Division in its entirety.
- Lucerne Eggs were at $1.59 a dozen.
The bags you described are being used across the Southern Divisions stores in DFW as well, look cheap to say the least. It is interesting that Randalls has moved away from promoting the Remarkable card anywhere (even outside of requiring it for sale prices), while the Tom Thumb equivalent is still being promoted in DFW. My guess is that the Remarkable card stands out more in Houston/Austin, where HEB by comparison doesn't require or promote any form of loyalty card.
All of the CA Safeway/Albertsons/Vons use a super thick "Thank you" plastic bag as well with no store name on it, but it comes in a box that says Albertsons Plastic Bag "Reusable" (uhh, not really). I agree these bags look very low end and look like they come from a bad independent store, not a legitimate chain store. The OR Safeways use a super thick plastic bag that has the Safeway and Albertsons logos on it, very small but present.

The NV Safeway units get a white thin plastic Safeway bag still. It looks like the Safeway bag of the Steve Burd era. I think the ones on the East Coast and in Arizona use the same bags. They are made at a factory in Hayward, CA.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by pseudo3d »

I've been informed from someone that the Randalls in Sugar Land will start liquidation within a matter of days (this location also suffered a minor fire recently)...3346 Highway 6 South. The Randalls stores in Austin and Houston seem to be going through this SHLD-like liquidation pattern, where they close slowly but surely...wonder if this is a plan to just kill off those markets without raising alarms.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote: April 8th, 2022, 8:43 am I've been informed from someone that the Randalls in Sugar Land will start liquidation within a matter of days (this location also suffered a minor fire recently)...3346 Highway 6 South. The Randalls stores in Austin and Houston seem to be going through this SHLD-like liquidation pattern, where they close slowly but surely...wonder if this is a plan to just kill off those markets without raising alarms.
Should Albertsons close the Houston Division, the many South Louisiana stores it supplies now would have a problem. Lake Charles, Alexandria, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Hammond are all supplied by Randalls and are Albertsons in name only.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote: April 8th, 2022, 10:02 am
pseudo3d wrote: April 8th, 2022, 8:43 am I've been informed from someone that the Randalls in Sugar Land will start liquidation within a matter of days (this location also suffered a minor fire recently)...3346 Highway 6 South. The Randalls stores in Austin and Houston seem to be going through this SHLD-like liquidation pattern, where they close slowly but surely...wonder if this is a plan to just kill off those markets without raising alarms.
Should Albertsons close the Houston Division, the many South Louisiana stores it supplies now would have a problem. Lake Charles, Alexandria, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Hammond are all supplied by Randalls and are Albertsons in name only.
The Houston Division is already no more; the DC was closed and the offices were shut down. It's all been the Southern Division for a few years now.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: April 8th, 2022, 8:43 am I've been informed from someone that the Randalls in Sugar Land will start liquidation within a matter of days (this location also suffered a minor fire recently)...3346 Highway 6 South. The Randalls stores in Austin and Houston seem to be going through this SHLD-like liquidation pattern, where they close slowly but surely...wonder if this is a plan to just kill off those markets without raising alarms.
This closure does not surprise me in the least, as this store is quite smaller and feels like a dinosaur compared to the nearby competition. To the north is a substantially larger Kroger (adjacent to First Colony Mall), while to the south is a far large HEB. Further to the north on Highway 6 are a Whole Foods and a SuperTarget, while there are multiple Kroger stores and an HEB further to the south. Interestingly, just to the north of the closest HEB store at Highway 6/Austin Parkway is another former Randalls property now operating as a Fitness Connection; this really shows how dominant Randalls was back in the day to have two stores in such close proximity,
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by Greggo »

The Sugar Land Randalls closed for good over the weekend. Down to just 15 stores in the Houston area now, according to this blogger.

https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2022/ ... -saturday/

Any guesses on which store is next? Which ones haven’t gotten Colorful Lifestyle yet? That would be a good indicator.
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Re: The present and future of Randalls

Post by veteran+ »

Greggo wrote: June 6th, 2022, 2:51 pm The Sugar Land Randalls closed for good over the weekend. Down to just 15 stores in the Houston area now, according to this blogger.

https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2022/ ... -saturday/

Any guesses on which store is next? Which ones haven’t gotten Colorful Lifestyle yet? That would be a good indicator.

What a shame!!!
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