Retail Watchers

Vons has not played particularly well in that area. Albertsons has been the stronger banner there (money was spent on new stores in the late 90's/00's.

I suspect part of the decision for trying Pavilions was to replace the one Pavilions that got divested off to Haggen (even if it is... 20 minutes from this new store site) in the region, reservations about opening a new store with the name Albertsons, and knowing Vons is a bit of a joke out there.

Also the Pavilions banner establishes straight out this is going to be a higher end/higher priced store. This is not going to be a store that messes around with price cut programs or trying to cater to lower income customers when there is always a WinCo or Wal Mart nearby who will undercut it.

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 6th, 2020, 3:56 pm Vons has not played particularly well in that area. Albertsons has been the stronger banner there (money was spent on new stores in the late 90's/00's.

I suspect part of the decision for trying Pavilions was to replace the one Pavilions that got divested off to Haggen (even if it is... 20 minutes from this new store site) in the region, reservations about opening a new store with the name Albertsons, and knowing Vons is a bit of a joke out there.

Also the Pavilions banner establishes straight out this is going to be a higher end/higher priced store. This is not going to be a store that messes around with price cut programs or trying to cater to lower income customers when there is always a WinCo or Wal Mart nearby who will undercut it.

Actually, neither Vons or Albertsons have faired well in the Coachella Valley (Palms Springs, Indio, et al). Albertsons started closing stores before Vons (if memory serves well). The Albertsons stores were larger but lower volume. Vons started closing stores that were old and low volume and that helped in a way because the remaining stores experienced good increases in sales (even though the Desert Hot Springs store had huge theft issues)

I believe Stater's and even Ralphs performs better than either.

The relaunching of Pavilions (replacing a Vons in La Quinta) could be a good thing but will it be good enough to compete with the relatively new Whole Foods in Palm Desert?

The entire Valley is not an easy market. It is extremely seasonal (many stores experience 50 to 100 percent sales increases in season). The stores that do better or at least consistent are stores in working class neighborhoods (well done by Staters). I recall many "numbers", having worked for Ralphs, Pavilions, Fresh & Easy and Vons in the area. Also friends would secretly give me sales numbers from Staters.

I understand that Winco is performing very well but Super Target (located in the wrong neighborhood)is not. And of course Super Walmart is king even though they closed their Neighborhood Market (wrong location).

Did the news story say they would close the existing La Quinta Vons if the Pavilions gets approved? If I recall, the La Quinta Vons was expanded not to many years ago. I think the more surprising thing from the news article is that they want to open a store with a drive through pharmacy. For ex Safeway divisions I know Tom Thumb had drive through pharmacies, but are there any other Albertsons or Vons drive through pharmacies in southern California?

The Vons in Arcadia (which was a Pavilions until a few years ago) has a drive-through pharmacy.

Bluelightspecial wrote: ↑February 8th, 2020, 10:13 pm Did the news story say they would close the existing La Quinta Vons if the Pavilions gets approved?

I didn't see that. The stores are four miles apart and serve different neighborhoods. But, the existing Vons has more competition so that could be a factor if they decide to close it.

klkla wrote: ↑February 9th, 2020, 8:19 pm

Bluelightspecial wrote: ↑February 8th, 2020, 10:13 pm Did the news story say they would close the existing La Quinta Vons if the Pavilions gets approved?

I didn't see that. The stores are four miles apart and serve different neighborhoods. But, the existing Vons has more competition so that could be a factor if they decide to close it.

I think the existing Vons there performs pretty poorly, it was really late to a lifestyle remodel but did eventually get one I think.

klkla wrote: ↑February 9th, 2020, 8:19 pm

Bluelightspecial wrote: ↑February 8th, 2020, 10:13 pm Did the news story say they would close the existing La Quinta Vons if the Pavilions gets approved?

I didn't see that. The stores are four miles apart and serve different neighborhoods. But, the existing Vons has more competition so that could be a factor if they decide to close it.

It's actually a little over a mile apart.

The old La Quinta store is on Highway 111.

Duplicate post

veteran+ wrote: ↑February 10th, 2020, 8:12 am
It's actually a little over a mile apart.

The old La Quinta store is on Highway 111.

I was just basing it on Google maps which shows that it is 3.5 to 3.9 miles depending on the route.

Google is sometimes way off, lol.

I lived there so I'm pretty sure it's lots closer.