Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

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Bluelightspecial
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by Bluelightspecial »

I think it depends on the division. NorCal has been much more aggressive in putting in gas stations, more than other divisions like southern California and Eastern. Not sure why. Gas stations were pretty standard at a lot of Randalls stores, but Randalls is dying fast.
lake52
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by lake52 »

Update on the new SSF store, now not opening until 2024 but we have renderings.

https://sfyimby.com/2022/08/meeting-tod ... ounty.html

It is interesting that they are doing the “parking underneath” model versus the “parking above” model. The urban setting the developer is proposing here seems to be more conducive with the design used in Burlingame (downtown store) versus the design used in Millbrae (not super urban, just a tight site). The Millbrae store (as well as the similar design stores is urban Portland) is a bit awkward compared to the Burlingame store, although both accomplish the same issue of not enough space.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by storewanderer »

lake52 wrote: August 18th, 2022, 4:58 pm Update on the new SSF store, now not opening until 2024 but we have renderings.

https://sfyimby.com/2022/08/meeting-tod ... ounty.html

It is interesting that they are doing the “parking underneath” model versus the “parking above” model. The urban setting the developer is proposing here seems to be more conducive with the design used in Burlingame (downtown store) versus the design used in Millbrae (not super urban, just a tight site). The Millbrae store (as well as the similar design stores is urban Portland) is a bit awkward compared to the Burlingame store, although both accomplish the same issue of not enough space.
Very dense development there. The store will be able to sustain itself from the development traffic alone (tenants and office workers), let alone traffic that will come in from outside the development. It is good they went with a large 64,000 square foot store; they will need the space.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

There is a Safeway that was built around 2016 in Walnut Creek, California that has parking on the roof. I would prefer roof parking as the parking lot is brightly lit and not dark. Dark parking garages can be dangerous.

The problem with roof parking is that the store has huge pillars blocking the middle of the aisles.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 20th, 2022, 1:52 pm There is a Safeway that was built around 2016 in Walnut Creek, California that has parking on the roof. I would prefer roof parking as the parking lot is brightly lit and not dark. Dark parking garages can be dangerous.

The problem with roof parking is that the store has huge pillars blocking the middle of the aisles.
In a market like NorCal, Rooftop parking makes sense. The climate is fairly moderate all year.

In nastier climates, underground parking tends to be a lot more comfortable. Garage safety is up to the tenants and whatever entity controls the garage. Most grocery stores that have parking in an underground garage typically have a segregated area of garage that is just for the store and it tends to present not much differently than a surface parking lot. So you can see around it pretty good. A busy grocery store underground parking garage with a lot of people coming and going seems to be pretty safe. Some I've been in that are not very busy stores and seem to have a lot of loitering, such as, the Albertsons in Downtown San Diego, may not feel overly safe. If employees are going in and out fairly often to collect carts that adds another element of checking things.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by reymann »

Vons on herndon/fowler in clovis just got updated gas pumps with the safeway logo on their pumps. A bit of an oddity.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by storewanderer »

reymann wrote: August 21st, 2022, 11:22 am Vons on herndon/fowler in clovis just got updated gas pumps with the safeway logo on their pumps. A bit of an oddity.
Are they supporting the Vons brand at all in Fresno when you go into the store? What name is used on, for instance, radio ads or billboards, etc.?

I assume the ads and name badges/uniforms still say Vons? All of their perishable labels are blank labels and the printer prints whatever banner the store is on the label... the bags are just generic low end looking "Thank you" bags so those are not banner specific.

When Smiths opened its gas station in Sparks, half of the pump skirts said Kroger. That was corrected many months after the station opened.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

The VONS in Clovis are part of the Safeway Northern California division. When they ordered gas station supplies and equipment, they ordered only Safeway branded.

If they want VONS branded equipment, they would probably have to borrow items from the Southern California warehouses and have it delivered.

Back in 2001, on my first visit to a VONS (in Anaheim) I was surprised that it looked just like a Safeway. The cash register had a Safeway logo on it. I had no idea that Safeway owned VONS at the time.
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by Bluelightspecial »

storewanderer wrote: August 21st, 2022, 1:12 pm
reymann wrote: August 21st, 2022, 11:22 am Vons on herndon/fowler in clovis just got updated gas pumps with the safeway logo on their pumps. A bit of an oddity.
Are they supporting the Vons brand at all in Fresno when you go into the store? What name is used on, for instance, radio ads or billboards, etc.?

I assume the ads and name badges/uniforms still say Vons? All of their perishable labels are blank labels and the printer prints whatever banner the store is on the label... the bags are just generic low end looking "Thank you" bags so those are not banner specific.

When Smiths opened its gas station in Sparks, half of the pump skirts said Kroger. That was corrected many months after the station opened.
Doesn't surprise me. You see that a lot with the beverage coolers next to check stands at Vons stores where the vinyl the top says "Safeway".
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Re: Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

Post by reymann »

i'm surprised that they haven't rebranded the Fresno stores to Safeway at this point. There's so few stores left in the Fresno area they they can rebrand them and nobody would know the difference. I'm also surprised the Florida decor hasn't reached the Fresno area yet.
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