Retail Watchers

Anyone remember the Albertsons on Goldenwest & Edinger in Huntington Beach? I don't remember much of it. I was pretty young when it closed. All I remember was that it stood vacant for years till Hobby Lobby moved in, and remember hearing it was once Lucky and Gemco.

jalberni wrote: ↑February 17th, 2024, 6:48 pm Anyone remember the Albertsons on Goldenwest & Edinger in Huntington Beach? I don't remember much of it. I was pretty young when it closed. All I remember was that it stood vacant for years till Hobby Lobby moved in, and remember hearing it was once Lucky and Gemco.

Here are interior pictures of the Goldenwest/Edinger Albertsons: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tortugaon ... 379092042/

It seemed to be a slow store like the Ralphs at Goldenwest and Warner but not as slow.

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: ↑February 17th, 2024, 11:13 pm

jalberni wrote: ↑February 17th, 2024, 6:48 pm Anyone remember the Albertsons on Goldenwest & Edinger in Huntington Beach? I don't remember much of it. I was pretty young when it closed. All I remember was that it stood vacant for years till Hobby Lobby moved in, and remember hearing it was once Lucky and Gemco.

Here are interior pictures of the Goldenwest/Edinger Albertsons: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tortugaon ... 379092042/

It was a odd store because it was very deep inside, which made it difficult to shop. Split aisles and all. I was in it a few times.

Sitting a long time then becoming Hobby Lobby is typical of their growth. They make lowball offers on properties that have sat vacant so long that the landlord can't take any more losses. They'll offer as little as 5% of asking price but they don't ask for any construction dollars. Usually that's how they get the sites nobody else wanted. Seems to be starting to bite them in the butt however as we are seeing Hobby Lobby stores closing throughout California where the landlord has decided they can make more money with a redevelopment and they're booting them out. Both shopping centers at this intersection are underutilized and I expect at least one will be torn down and replaced with mixed use housing... Maybe both as Huntington Beach is being asked to build over 10K new housing units and they don't have any room so they're suing the state to lower the burden. A underutilized shopping center like this Hobby Lobby strip mall could easily be replaced by 1500+ apartments and nearly everything else on the same street has already met the same fate. I expect this store to close in 5 years or less.