pseudo3d wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 7:57 am
Unless the Safeway store they were standing in front of was not the same Safeway inside, I can't find pictures of that downtown Safeway with that décor package. The aisle signs still have the fake wood grain.
KGW mixed video between the "10th and Jeff" Safeway and the Pearl Safeway in their report. I'm not sure if some of their producers used their personal devices to discreetly shoot video (entirely likely as their station is near both these locations) or they were borrowing off of social media posts from others.
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10th and Jeff has a custom decor package, no idea why. (notice in one shot in the report, all the historical bridge photos) Someone appeared to have a soft spot for a "central Portland" theme and I'm not sure if the metal pieces were a test or just luck. The "Sunset" Safeway west of here received a thorough remodel shortly before that store and has 100% custom decor.
pseudo3d wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 7:57 am
Unless the Safeway store they were standing in front of was not the same Safeway inside, I can't find pictures of that downtown Safeway with that décor package. The aisle signs still have the fake wood grain.
KGW mixed video between the "10th and Jeff" Safeway and the Pearl Safeway in their report. I'm not sure if some of their producers used their personal devices to discreetly shoot video (entirely likely as their station is near both these locations) or they were borrowing off of social media posts from others.
► Show Spoiler
Off Topic
10th and Jeff has a custom decor package, no idea why. (notice in one shot in the report, all the historical bridge photos) Someone appeared to have a soft spot for a "central Portland" theme and I'm not sure if the metal pieces were a test or just luck. The "Sunset" Safeway west of here received a thorough remodel shortly before that store and has 100% custom decor.
All I did was search for Safeway Downtown Portland on Google. Most of the pictures are old lifestyle, but if you comb thru you can find the ones with the new metallic signage.
I saw this setup at the Safeway in Hercules, CA recently. I’m not sure if the store opened this way (very new store) or if they added it at a later date.
As far as I could tell, there was no physical barrier or signage stopping someone from grabbing something in this section and going to the normal checkout. The store only had a few check stands open so people had gravitated to the “high value item” check stand for normal purchases which made quite the line. I’m not sure if they’re being more strict about it up and Portland but I see no prevention of theft from this setup if that is the goal. They did have significantly more cameras in this section and the setup corrals you past multiple of them so perhaps they’re trying to gather data on shoplifters (like Target) rather than stop them to begin with.
lake52 wrote: ↑January 14th, 2023, 9:45 am
I saw this setup at the Safeway in Hercules, CA recently. I’m not sure if the store opened this way (very new store) or if they added it at a later date.
As far as I could tell, there was no physical barrier or signage stopping someone from grabbing something in this section and going to the normal checkout. The store only had a few check stands open so people had gravitated to the “high value item” check stand for normal purchases which made quite the line. I’m not sure if they’re being more strict about it up and Portland but I see no prevention of theft from this setup if that is the goal. They did have significantly more cameras in this section and the setup corrals you past multiple of them so perhaps they’re trying to gather data on shoplifters (like Target) rather than stop them to begin with.
This is a terrible set up and you are 100% right there is no way this prevents theft in any meaningful way.
Hercules did not open that way... and I am very surprised they would do this so quickly in such a new store.
Where did they put the lockup area? Is it on the side of the store where liquor is (I think it was right next to produce there)?
With that said I would venture that it is a lot easier to reconfigure a new cement floored and spacious store like Hercules like this than a lot of their other stores... so maybe that is why they did this there. In a lot of the older stores, with the way Safeway has its refrigeration, layout (short aisles, narrow aisles, etc.), layers atop layers of old flooring, etc. pulling out aisles and doing this set up would be very problematic.
I wonder how many other bay area stores have this set up now.
Yes it was directly adjacent to produce. Three rows of shelves total, one side is liquor/beer/wine and the other is cosmetics. Funny enough the only food in this section was beef jerky. They added permanent shelving at the rear of the aisles so you can only egress out the front. Two check stands at the front with a wide space between.
This is my first time seeing this setup at a Bay Area store. CVS and Raley’s quite frequently use gates or shelves to make the liquor dept one way, but I’ve never seen a store go through the effort of moving physical check stands to this area.
lake52 wrote: ↑January 14th, 2023, 2:18 pm
Yes it was directly adjacent to produce. Three rows of shelves total, one side is liquor/beer/wine and the other is cosmetics. Funny enough the only food in this section was beef jerky. They added permanent shelving at the rear of the aisles so you can only egress out the front. Two check stands at the front with a wide space between.
This is my first time seeing this setup at a Bay Area store. CVS and Raley’s quite frequently use gates or shelves to make the liquor dept one way, but I’ve never seen a store go through the effort of moving physical check stands to this area.
This sounds like it has quite a bit less product in the separate area than the store in Portland. So it sounds like the real problem here was liquor theft. Safeway has so few cosmetics/HBA items in these new builds, I am surprised they don't just do a little lock up at customer service and leave it at that. The new one in Reno doesn't even carry any cosmetics at all; the other locations have about 3 feet of cosmetics total (the new Reno one has a few rows for nail polish remover and that is as close to cosmetics as the store gets).
What I am wondering is if this store got targeted by liquor theft potentially by underage individuals and somehow ABC came after them and said this department needs to be more closely guarded. That side of the store by produce is not too far from a door and looks very easy to do a liquor run out from undetected. Did you happen to notice what direction the cashiers are facing when they are behind a register (is their back to that door by produce? it is in the Reno Store)? And while the self checkout employee would theoretically have somewhat of a view of that door some of the time, it is a bit of a distance away and there are obstructions in the way (floral).
I haven't seen a separate register either in recent years in CA. Some of the Walgreens around San Jose used to have a separate liquor register during the old days, not sure what the status of that is. Older Skaggs had that set up too, I think it was a 70's and 80's drugstore thing.
I went to the Pearl Safeway a few days before this story aired and saw the set up. It's about a quarter of the store space in these aisles. They have 2-3 heavily armed police wanna be security guards who are dressed to intimidate, who my guess either couldn't make the cut as a cop or need gym money to pack on more muscle. They follow and keep their eye on anyone fitting the classic profile of a shoplifter. These two stores do heavy volume since they have little immediate competition but are also subject to a lot of theft. Will this work? They have to try it. I think it will help but I expect they will add a security guard who will just walk these few aisles only.
These aren't fun stores. The employees don't like working here. The stores smell. The atmosphere is awful but they serve a purpose in these urban areas to keep people living there carefree. If they go away, it's a huge loss. They should charge higher prices and do whatever they need to control the theft problem.
These aren't fun stores. The employees don't like working here. The stores smell. The atmosphere is awful but they serve a purpose in these urban areas to keep people living there carefree. If they go away, it's a huge loss. They should charge higher prices and do whatever they need to control the theft problem.
I wonder if stores in this kind of a location should have a different banner. In Downtown Reno for many years there was a Mayfair then when Mayfair left, the store was sold to Scolaris locally, but they didn't rebrand the store as Scolaris, they rebranded it to "JJ's Food Co." The JJ's Food Co. ran a tiny little ad, had a smaller center store mix, and had higher shelf prices than the other Scolaris locations. There was always loitering in the parking lot and it was not a pleasant store. It was demolished in the 90's to build Silver Legacy Casino.
So to your point I am curious- why do you think they did interior remodels to these stores?
Also the stores smell- is that due to something the store can control or is that a customer issue?
If they were to use a different banner on these stores, they could make mix adjustments and also not run as many promotions as the standard locations which could enable them to cut out some costs and increase some profits to pay for the other costs associated with operating in this type of environment. For example maybe City Foods Store just doesn't sell Olay moisturizers or Tenderloin steaks, and maybe it only sells tiny generic bags of beef jerky. But with the Safeway banner all of these items are expected/have to be there to meet the schematic.
babs wrote: ↑January 15th, 2023, 7:18 amThese aren't fun stores. The employees don't like working here. The stores smell.
Pearl used to be a fun store. Even when they converted the deli seating area into "BluePearl Taproom" (to compete with Fred Meyer I guess?) it was a good place to grab a quick pint and catch up with friends or watch live sports. It was kind of an improvement over the former "Safeway flagship" seating area with the gas fireplace/TV.
It is wild to think that this store was supposed to be the Portland division's crown jewel though, like Seattle's downtown Bellevue location that replaced the old Marina in a rebuild/new apartment building in the early '10s.
10th and Jeff has its own challenges, which I suspect have significantly worsened as fewer college students are attending PSU and/or living near campus, downtown's office core remains emptier, and delivery services for groceries catch on with the condo crowd. It's always had a few colorful nicknames, even when Safeway had a small Marina store one block over. Coworkers and I used to regularly visit the current store's sandwich bar and deli employees, who were some of the best around the chain if they stayed there long term, tbh. Checkout there has always been terrible.
