Oak Harbor Albertsons reopens as Safeway

[storewanderer]

http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/business/298628171.html#

Looks like lifestyle colors. I really expected the new company to come up with something other than the tired overused boring lifestyle store. Though turning on more lights makes the lifestyle look a lot different, as they have been doing in Reno and Sparks, the stores actually look a lot better with more lights on; completely different feel. And with a former Albertsons with very high ceilings like this one the lifestyle will look different also.

[submariner]

http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/business/298628171.html#

Looks like lifestyle colors. I really expected the new company to come up with something other than the tired overused boring lifestyle store. Though turning on more lights makes the lifestyle look a lot different, as they have been doing in Reno and Sparks, the stores actually look a lot better with more lights on; completely different feel. And with a former Albertsons with very high ceilings like this one the lifestyle will look different also.

Anyone else notice the combined Albertsons/Safeway name tags?

[storewanderer]

In Colorado they have combined Safeway/Albertsons uniforms and have also combined some back office functions like hiring. Though it appears Safeway Denver is staying as a division, notice an Albertsons person is now in charge of it.

[Alpha8472]

They are wearing Albertsons uniforms with Safeway hats. The brown colored Safeway shirts were created to match the brown Lifestyle decor back in 2005. Now there is a mismatch.

You can view the Albertsons uniforms at:

http://www.albertsonsapparel.com/

[Super S]

Now it will be interesting to see a Safeway converted to Albertsons....

[submariner]

Now it will be interesting to see a Safeway converted to Albertsons....

Which ones were on that list? I admit I was mostly focused on Haggen recently

[klkla]

Now it will be interesting to see a Safeway converted to Albertsons....

I would expect that to happen in Las Vegas where there will only be a handful of Vons stores left after the Haggen divestiture is done.

[Super S]

Now it will be interesting to see a Safeway converted to Albertsons....

Which ones were on that list? I admit I was mostly focused on Haggen recently

None that I know of. But as time goes on this is a possibility in markets where Safeway doesn't have as strong of a presence, such as eastern Washington/Oregon as well as Idaho and Wyoming. I can't comment on other areas where there is overlap.

[pseudo3d]

Can't help but wonder how much of a test this was, even though it was fairly early into the game. At the time, the Safeway brand products weren't in Albertsons yet, so they decided to fake a "Lifestyle" remodel on a former Albertsons (a former "Theme Park" store if Yelp photos are accurate). It also happened to start a rumor about rebranding other Albertsons in the region, though I'm not sure Albertsons Cos. is ready to do that (after all, the Haggen stores are reverting back to their original brands).

[marshd1000]

I also had thought that perhaps, if the Haggen stores had been successful, that we would have seen a merge between the Albertsons and Safeway stores in some areas. I know that in Puget Sound, there are more Safeways than there are Albertsons. So I thought that maybe the few remaining Albertsons would possibly have been re-branded as Safeway. Or I thought that maybe the stores would have kept their names but there would be joint Albertsons and Safeway ads. Years ago, when Safeway bought Carrs in Alaska, the Carrs stores were not re-branded as Safeway and the Safeways were not turned into Carrs. Instead new stores were Safeway and the ads said, "Carrs/Safeway". So I would have thought, at the least, we may have seen some "Albertsons/Safeway" ads, with the original stores keeping their banners. But with Albertsons taking back a good hunk of the Haggen stores in Washington, that would not make sense. I live near Burien, WA and it would make no sense at all to rebanner the two Haggens to Safeway as they are all very close to the original Burien Safeway. So while they are getting a huge amount of Burien grocery business, it would be easier for them to keep up the illusion of a separate Albertsons and Safeway, even though they are running the same sales ads!