Save Mart bought by private equity firm

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timanny
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

Post by timanny »

storewanderer wrote: March 31st, 2022, 9:16 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: March 31st, 2022, 11:50 am Save Mart should emphasize the Lucky brand. If necessary, rebrand some former Lucky stores to Lucky and bring back the old logo. You never know. A name change can do wonders to attract customers.
I agree with this but considering they did quietly rebrand Santa Cruz, Monterey, etc. area from Save Mart to Lucky back around 2012, how many stores that used to be Lucky up until 1999, are now branded Save Mart? I can't think of many:
Tahoe City
Truckee
Auburn
Carmichael
Placerville (2)
Sacramento (Gerber, Folsom Blvd., Kiefer, Fair Oaks)
Roseville
Davis
Lodi
Marysville

So using that logic it would not even be hard to convert such a small number of stores back to a better recognized banner. There are some ex-Albertsons units scattered in those territories as well that would probably need to be converted (the NV units, Grass Valley, Chico, Jackson, Elk Grove).

There are a few more scattered around the central valley that Save Mart bought from ASC Lucky around 1997 but I'll ignore those since that is arguably Save Mart's market area.

Also I think they need to return the old red Lucky logo... (they can keep the updated Save Mart and Food Maxx logos...).

Tracy was also a Lucky. In fact the former Lucky/Albertsons is the only Save Mart-bannered store still in town; one was converted to Food Maxx and the other (a replacement for their original, much smaller Tracy location next door) is vacant, actually leaving a food desert.

I think the Modesto home base and history is a big reason why they won't rebrand the valley stores. Lucky was more popular than Save Mart in Tracy and Stockton, and Save Mart had no prior history in Sacramento at all. But the Sacramento media market includes all of those places, and they probably don't want to use 2 names in the region. Although Albertsons doesn't have a problem with that in Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Southern California.
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

Post by storewanderer »

timanny wrote: March 31st, 2022, 10:32 pm
Tracy was also a Lucky. In fact the former Lucky/Albertsons is the only Save Mart-bannered store still in town; one was converted to Food Maxx and the other (a replacement for their original, much smaller Tracy location next door) is vacant, actually leaving a food desert.

I think the Modesto home base and history is a big reason why they won't rebrand the valley stores. Lucky was more popular than Save Mart in Tracy and Stockton, and Save Mart had no prior history in Sacramento at all. But the Sacramento media market includes all of those places, and they probably don't want to use 2 names in the region. Although Albertsons doesn't have a problem with that in Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Southern California.
I never remember that Tracy Store.

Tracy was interesting as that was a Lucky/Sav-On combo and went to Save Mart with the NorCal Albertsons. Based on the timing of when it opened it seems like it must have been in development as they were dumping off the rest of the central valley stores. Also the Lodi Lucky (still open as S-Mart) was a major expansion/renovation being done around the same time in the 1997 period.

Stockton was sold to Save Mart by ASC in 1997 or so as I recall, not entirely sure why ASC sold those stores, I think they had about 10 stores starting in Stockton that went down as far as Madera. I think the stores were not in great condition and needed expansion to be positioned better. After that deal Save Mart had something like 60% market share in Stockton (how much do they have now....... is it even 20%?)?
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

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For decades Tracy has been attached at the hip to the Bay Area, and for years was the only town in the valley that really was. At the time that Lucky opened (replacing an older store at Tracy Blvd and 205 that originally opened as a Lucky Discount Center) Safeway had not made its comeback in the valley except for Tracy, where it had dominated since the Marketplace store (now Food Maxx as Safeway relocated across the street) opened a few years earlier, following a five or six year absence (the Tracy Blvd gable marina closed in 1987). Lucky was not about to fly the white flag in a town where traditional grocery shopping trended more like the Bay Area than the valley. In order for Save Mart to dominate in Tracy, they had to buy up everything that wasn't Safeway and almost monopolize the market: at one point, they had the former Lucky, the former Safeway marketplace after Safeway crossed the street, the older Tracy Blvd store near Grant Line, and the FoodMaxx that was originally Food 4 Less across from the original Lucky on Tracy Blvd near 205. Then they fought to keep Walmart from expanding into a supercenter. All of these attempts failed.

I think Lucky kept Lodi for similar reasons; as Tracy was a little more Bay Area than the rest, Lodi was a little more Sacramento.

Lucky didn't want to completely pull out of Stockton, either. They did not want to give up the Miracle Mile/UOP store, but Save Mart insisted on it in order to take the others.
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

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Save Mart's strategy to try to force itself upon multiple central valley towns as the only option was nothing but a failure. Even back when Save Mart was run pretty well (before 2008) and the stores were friendly, fairly priced, and had decent quality products, the customers did not seem to like how they bought up various competition. And this really played out in Stockton and Tracy in particular where Save Mart as you point out over the years bought up Albertsons Stores (back in the 80's they got a couple in Stockton too), Fry's Stores, Lucky Stores, Pak N Save Stores, Safeway Stores, Food 4 Less Stores.... basically everyone's stores. Seems like the one thing Save Mart never went after for some reason was Alpha Beta Stores. Not sure why.

Safeway was absent from Tracy for at least a decade. They sold the 90's store to Save Mart then built across the street much later. I am sure the customers were very pleased.

I am not entirely sure but there was some kind of a deal around 1997-1998 where Save Mart exchanged stores in Vallejo for some of the valley Safeways (I'm not sure if that was for the 2 really outdated Fresno Safeways/1 Fresno Pak N Save or if that was for the Tracy Safeway/Stockton Pak N Save). Also I think the Stockton Pak N Save was a converted Safeway (may be wrong).

I was always surprised Save Mart got away with buying all the stores they did in the valley but those small transactions involving a random store here and there did not seem to trigger much attention. I know they had to do a small number of store divests when they took over Food 4 Less but it wasn't many stores (Visalia and a store in Fresno as I recall went to FoodsCo instead; both closed maybe the Fresno one relocated). Then when they took Albertsons over they sort of voluntarily opted to not convert some stores (such as Oroville, Sonora, Sacramento-Florin, Citrus Heights-Antelope) that were in close proximity to a Food Maxx or other Save Mart.
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

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storewanderer wrote: April 1st, 2022, 7:17 pm Save Mart's strategy to try to force itself upon multiple central valley towns as the only option was nothing but a failure. Even back when Save Mart was run pretty well (before 2008) and the stores were friendly, fairly priced, and had decent quality products, the customers did not seem to like how they bought up various competition. And this really played out in Stockton and Tracy in particular where Save Mart as you point out over the years bought up Albertsons Stores (back in the 80's they got a couple in Stockton too), Fry's Stores, Lucky Stores, Pak N Save Stores, Safeway Stores, Food 4 Less Stores.... basically everyone's stores. Seems like the one thing Save Mart never went after for some reason was Alpha Beta Stores. Not sure why.

Safeway was absent from Tracy for at least a decade. They sold the 90's store to Save Mart then built across the street much later. I am sure the customers were very pleased.

I am not entirely sure but there was some kind of a deal around 1997-1998 where Save Mart exchanged stores in Vallejo for some of the valley Safeways (I'm not sure if that was for the 2 really outdated Fresno Safeways/1 Fresno Pak N Save or if that was for the Tracy Safeway/Stockton Pak N Save). Also I think the Stockton Pak N Save was a converted Safeway (may be wrong).

I was always surprised Save Mart got away with buying all the stores they did in the valley but those small transactions involving a random store here and there did not seem to trigger much attention. I know they had to do a small number of store divests when they took over Food 4 Less but it wasn't many stores (Visalia and a store in Fresno as I recall went to FoodsCo instead; both closed maybe the Fresno one relocated). Then when they took Albertsons over they sort of voluntarily opted to not convert some stores (such as Oroville, Sonora, Sacramento-Florin, Citrus Heights-Antelope) that were in close proximity to a Food Maxx or other Save Mart.
Safeway sold the marketplace store to Save Mart because they moved across the street. The spot they are in now was originally slated to be Albertson's before the ASC purchase. Once they bought ASC/Lucky, they withdrew from the site and Raley's was going to take it. Safeway panicked and outbid them for the parcel, deciding to build a bigger store there. I vividly remember the night before the marketplace closed and the new store opened (2002-ish) because to the naked eye it looked like dualing Safeways facing each other. Save Mart had been down the street in what is now a 99 cent only store since 1984 until the new Safeway opened and the marketplace building was redone for them. The time gap between the marketplace closing and the new Safeway opening was literally overnight. Safeway's absence from Tracy was between the closing of the marina gable on Tracy Blvd (now O'Reilly Auto Parts) in 1987 and the opening of the marketplace in 1992. I lived in Tracy for most of my life including the entire time period all of these events occurred.

The trade between Save Mart and Safeway likely involved the Stockton Pak N Save which became a Food Maxx. That store opened as a Safeway marketplace about a year and a half before the Tracy marketplace, only to be converted to Pak N Save when the original Stockton Pak N Save (originally a Zody's) had a massive rat infestation.
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

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timanny wrote: April 1st, 2022, 11:21 pm

Safeway sold the marketplace store to Save Mart because they moved across the street. The spot they are in now was originally slated to be Albertson's before the ASC purchase. Once they bought ASC/Lucky, they withdrew from the site and Raley's was going to take it. Safeway panicked and outbid them for the parcel, deciding to build a bigger store there. I vividly remember the night before the marketplace closed and the new store opened (2002-ish) because to the naked eye it looked like dualing Safeways facing each other. Save Mart had been down the street in what is now a 99 cent only store since 1984 until the new Safeway opened and the marketplace building was redone for them. The time gap between the marketplace closing and the new Safeway opening was literally overnight. Safeway's absence from Tracy was between the closing of the marina gable on Tracy Blvd (now O'Reilly Auto Parts) in 1987 and the opening of the marketplace in 1992. I lived in Tracy for most of my life including the entire time period all of these events occurred.

The trade between Save Mart and Safeway likely involved the Stockton Pak N Save which became a Food Maxx. That store opened as a Safeway marketplace about a year and a half before the Tracy marketplace, only to be converted to Pak N Save when the original Stockton Pak N Save (originally a Zody's) had a massive rat infestation.
That is so weird. For some reason I thought Safeway left Tracy, then came back a few years later... looking at the liquor licenses, I see this clearly. Safeway moved the liquor license across the street to the new store and Save Mart had to get its own license to continue operating the former Safeway. What a weird arrangement there.

I went into that Save Mart in the former Safeway building a couple of times (before Save Mart did the Food Maxx conversion) and it clearly had Safeway flooring, some Safeway refrigeration, but it did seem like there was some reconfiguration done to bakery/deli prep areas and walls around there by Save Mart sort of like they tried to blend the bakery and deli prep areas together, also they seemed to re-do deli prep entirely to their specs. Not to go too far off topic here but it is funny how Save Mart basically kept produce how Safeway had it, yet in the 2 Ralphs that Save Mart took over, produce was the one area they actually did re-do the flooring and fixtures entirely during conversion and the rest of the place was completely Ralphs (other than a cheap wall re-do to destroy the appearance). Save Mart since did a full remodel to Clovis, last year. I cannot believe how awful it looks. Total bastardization of Ralphs nice interior (almost as bad as the Ralphs that turned into a Food 4 Less in Fresno- the franchisee painted all the walls yellow but kept Ralphs wall shapes/lights).

So basically Safeway dumped a store that was less than a decade old, to keep Raleys away... but didn't have any reservations about letting Save Mart take that store (even left them the fixtures). That really says a lot.
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Re: Save Mart bought by private equity firm

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Now this PE firm has hired Shane Sampson to be Chairperson of Save Mart, who was an old Albertsons executive and with some other chains for 40+ years. I think this is an excellent hire for Save Mart. This was one of the people who went to Cerberus and was in charge of marketing/merchandising for Southwest Division (major improvements happened during that time period) but eventually left Cerberus and went to Giant-PA then returned to Albertsons again and ran Shaw's for a while then was put into a corporate CMO position and left in 2019. I was curious when this person left in 2019 but it seemed like there was a bit of a clear out of the "old grocery people" in the executive positions in 2019-2020.

This is really what Save Mart needs. Between this hire, their CEO who had 12 years at A&P, and their retail operations/supply chain person who is a 45+ year ASC person they are going to have a very knowledgeable well rounded management team with heavy grocery experience.
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