retailfanmitchell019 wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 3:00 pm
ClownLoach wrote: ↑November 11th, 2023, 1:30 pm
Also looking at pictures they finally remodeled the Balboa store. That one opened its doors as a boring Vons Lifestyle interior with nothing to differentiate it as a Pavilions besides the liquor area next door you would access through a cut-through doorway (the Pavilions-in-name-only like Long Beach and a few others). Few pictures but it looks like a full interior gut which could be good and bad at the same time, it had a separate liquor department next door with a very dark and moody interior with lots of cherry woodwork, it appears that has been completely torn out and is bright and shiny with lit shelves and light quartz stone everywhere.
Looking at pics on Google, it's a beautiful store now.
This was an Albertsons (ex-Lucky) that I believe had the Wegmans style interior similar to Corona Del Mar. I'm not sure why it closed in 2010 (maybe it wasn't fancy enough for Newport Beach I guess). Had Albertsons kept the store open through the Safeway merger, it would've been converted to Pavilions anyway.
Here's another potential Pavilions conversion: the Vons in Torrey Hills Center (Carmel Valley). This one opened in 2006 and still has the original Lifestyle I interior. Neighborhood demographics are perfect for a Pavilions.
I think other potential Pavilions conversions in San Diego County would be the Vons stores in Rancho Penasquitos, La Costa Town Square (was aborted during the pandemic), Cardiff, and Del Mar.
I don't think Pavilions got off to a good start in San Diego. The first one in the Sorrento Valley area was not exactly a hit. I would not call the Laguna Niguel conversion successful either after being downsized and remodeled a second time to accommodate shrinking. I know the pandemic was an excuse for La Costa but I don't think this brand can actually be successful everywhere and still mean something to the customer. That's why Ralphs Fresh Fare has flopped, it was over expanded and lost it's specialization in the process.
When Safeway owned the Vons companies they basically destroyed Pavilions and rendered the banner and concept irrelevant. They stopped investment for the most part, conducting rudimentary remodels to a more "woodgrain" Safeway decor as they purged the "stripe" decor out of Vons and removed most of the specialty products except for a slightly better bakery, meat and seafood counter. In the second phase of ruining Pavilions, many stores were downgraded to Vons while others either opened as Pavilions-in-name-only or were remodeled to it with Safeway Lifestyle 2.0 interiors that had no distinction from the regular fleet. Then they started to realize the error of their ways and some stores got the "Pavilions Lifestyle" decor with the bronze sparkle letters and sponge painted walls with glass photo prints. But the damage was done and the only reputation Pavilions had left was a more expensive Vons. And as a result Pavilions has failed in neighborhoods where it should not have, like Anaheim Hills near Yorba Linda. Under Albertsons someone must have smelled an opportunity to fix the problem because otherwise I'm sure they would have killed the banner off entirely by now and we have seen some positive momentum with the brand expanding again as a quasi-fancy and healthy store (and the removal from stores that were never an accurate reflection of the concept like Long Beach). What I see changing with La Jolla and presumably Montecito is that they're steering away from the quasi-Whole Foods and moving more towards the Bristol Farms model again as what I'll call Pavilions 5.0.
Pavilions 5.0, if operated correctly as a truly upscale higher end market, should not fit into very many locations. La Jolla is a slam dunk as the demographic there is perfect, basically unlimited spending money. The San Clemente and Montecito conversions are also guaranteed winners in that format, and Malibu needs it. All the Newport Beach stores for sure. Not so sure about Seal Beach, some of the LA County locations, etc. as their clientele is more of that Whole Foods customer instead of the Bristol Farms customer. They may have to rebrand more of the Pavilions to Albertsons or Vons if their newest vision is entirely premium format.
Obviously there are limitations to how much interaction Kroger and Albertsons can have beyond the initial merger agreement and basic operational discussions that would have taken place at a high level during that negotiation process. There must have been an agreement that the Pavilions concept would be a growth vehicle in the newly combined company and thus they continue to make investments to strengthen the banner, made it a separate division, etc. Because there is clearly a much higher cost to move a store "up" to the newest Pavilions concept versus a standard remodel they must have some big plans for it.