Former Albertsons #2796 - Bryan, TX

Albertsons never lasted long in Bryan, unfortunately.

1901 Texas Avenue South • Bryan, TX
This Albertsons opened in 2002 at one of the weird times of Albertsons history, wherein the Houston stores were collapsing and yet this store opened, a shining specimen in an "urban renewal" project that brought the moribund 1958 Townshire Shopping Center back to life. It also included a gas station under the name Albertsons Express.

Let me tell you that the Houston division, and we'll explore this later with some notoriously bad stores, weren't the best at choosing locations. I'm sure that the Albertsons here was probably coaxed in with some city TIF funds, which probably kept it alive as it did. The Albertsons physically replaced (rebuilt) an old Sears store, which was was never very big and had been a variety of other uses since Sears moved to Post Oak Mall in 1982. The last use were college classes which took off circa 1998 when a new campus was built.

Now, Townshire did have a Safeway (read more about that on the original post), but this post is about the Albertsons that later inhabited it. In 2002, the grocery market in Bryan wasn't like it is today. During the time, Albertsons was competing with a 1970s-era Kroger and a 1990s-era H-E-B Pantry, and it was bigger than H-E-B and newer than Kroger, so it had advantages. Additionally, the AppleTree was located a few miles down the road as well. Either way, it probably was one of the biggest and certainly the nicest supermarkets in Bryan for a while. So what happened?

Well, within a few years, the H-E-B moved to a larger store a few blocks down at the redeveloped Manor East Mall site (now Tejas Center), and the problems at Albertsons corporate didn't help matters much either. It was the first on the chopping block post-breakup in 2006 and was shuttered along with much of the Central Texas stores at the time. Based on the short life and the local sentiment, the store likely lost money hand over fist, which is big compared to the other two then-living Albertsons in town still doing business, plus the two AppleTrees in town (a Safeway legacy) were doing fine too. Part of the other huge problem was the demographics were all wrong--there were decades-old apartment buildings just next to it, run-down motels across the street, and the grocery store was more expensive then the ones around it.

And so went the Bryan Albertsons and what Acme Style dubs the "Theme Park" décor (also, "Grocery Palace", as it's known). In 2012 or so, the Albertsons gas station reopened as a generic "Tigerland Express" (not Exxon, nor did it keep any of the "Express" signage), and in the summer of 2013, a new Walmart grocery store finally opened after several years of rumors (not to mention the complete exodus of Albertsons from the market altogether, by this time).

Walmart gutted the store but didn't actually alter the facade too much besides a partial repaint (honestly, I think it looks much better that way, sans Walmart branding). Here's my picture of the Walmart Neighborhood Market. You could see the façade incorporates much of the old Albertsons facade, though they painted parts brown (as opposed to the original tan-red color and blue for the decorative arch). Walmart does have a separate door for liquor sales; unfortunately, I don't believe there was one for Albertsons.

The source photo above, as well as shots of the interior with the "Theme Park" décor can be found here, mirrored from its original source. The newsletter certainly is interesting, as within five years, all the major grocery stores but one (and that last one has since been torn down and replaced) has either changed its name, moved, or gone out of business.

In a surprising turn of events, it turned out that even Walmart couldn't hack it, and the store ended up on the January 2016 closing list of stores, causing the store to be vacant once more. The only remnant is the former Albertsons Express/Tigerland Express. Someone I knew was telling me how sketchy the "Tigerland Express" gas station was, and was surprised to learn that even an Albertsons existed in that spot. Clearly, this was a terrible location for any grocery store.

This post was originally based on "Townshire Shopping Center" from Brazos Buildings & Businesses

Village Foods

Village Foods back in the AppleTree days. (Picture from Holcombe of Hidalgo, used with permission
NOTE: Village Foods is now closed. This post will be updated soon to reflect that. Please stand by...
This post was originally based on "Village Foods" from Brazos Buildings & Businesses

Safeway #1193
Address: 1760 Briarcrest Drive
Bryan, TX
Opened: 1988?
Became AppleTree: 1989
Became Village Foods: 2008

One of the last and biggest stores Safeway ever built in the Houston division, this store actually never closed, just swapped names numerous times with merchandising differences, eventually becoming a locally run store with just one location, this one.

It also never renovated (just received updates). Becoming an AppleTree in 1989 (so it never really served long as a Safeway) and replacing a 1970s-era Safeway catty-corner across to the store, unlike the great AppleTree burn-out in 1993, the store was one of six saved and remained open a number of years afterward, even into 2008 when it was finally sold to the landlord and re-merchandised to include more natural and organic products.

It's actually not some sort of Whole Foods knock-off, which it wasn't, and actually scared off a few loyal customers who (wrongly) believed the prices had shot up. The store retained much of the original AppleTree décor (as seen in some of the pictures) but would ultimately take most of them down (some AppleTree remnants remain in the store, but you'll have to look for them). What's neat about it is its decor, which is largely from the late 1980s (and a far cry from the drab exposed HVAC of other stores). These are photos I took in 2011, and even those have changed (the green trim, a product of the AppleTree takeover is now tan, plus more neon has been removed, and that "Reading Center" is now a painted "Village Wine & Beer Garden"). Originally, there were photos of the products sold in the departments, but these were replaced with Texas A&M-themed graphics later on after the conversion. Pictures of the pre-Village Foods AppleTree are found on Flickr (the top row, for some reason the photos are not all in the person's Photostream and the tags don't work).





You will, of course, notice that there's the AppleTree logo still intact (and that neat cake, but that's besides the point) and even a scratched-up cart that still bears the name.

Here's a few other pictures taken in and around Village Foods in summer of 2013, showcasing neat old quirks like the original Dr Pepper fixtures from the late 1980s and a few of the variety meats that Village Foods sells that are hard to find elsewhere (in particular, oxtails). I've spent a lot of time at this particular store recently, and I can tell you which songs I've heard on the in-store muzak more than once (for those curious, I've heard a few ELO songs, including "Don't Bring Me Down", but others include "My Sharona" by The Knack, "One Way or Another" by Blondie, or "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News). Some are classics, some not, and some are pretty awful (cover versions of Beatles songs come to mind).

An explanation for the last one--it was a peeled-off sticker from a fixture they were reusing to sell candy, which saw its primary use in the 1990s (notice dated logos—click to zoom in). Despite the slow disappearance of the store's heritage, it is entirely worth seeing.

By the way, do visit the photostream as linked above, there's more pictures from the classic AppleTree days.

Former Safeway (AppleTree) #934 - Houston, TX

////THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION///

From Wikipedia Commons

Safeway #934 • Hedwig Village (Houston), TX
9325 Katy Freeway
Houston, TX
Opened: 1974 (according to HCAD)
Closed: January 1994 (quickly reopened as Kroger)
What's There Now: Kroger

A note about the address...this store (now a Kroger) is technically in Hedwig Village but has a Houston mailing address. This one I've actually been to, and is a bit interesting in terms of history. It was an early to mid 1970s Safeway with a floorplan of 28,000 square feet, but in 1990, AppleTree took expanded the floorplan to 46,000 square feet, making it one of the larger stores in the AppleTree stores and definitely the most modern. Unlike similar looking examples down at Gessner and Hammerly (now a Kroger) and in Bryan (later an indepedent supermarket, now closed), the store did not cluster the perishables in the center, unless Kroger reconfigured it (unlikely).

Despite the fancy signage, there isn't anything special about the Kroger today.

This store didn't originally look like this: it was a much smaller early 1970s-era Safeway until a renovation in 1990 expanded the footprint from about 28,000 to 46,000. As a result, it was one of the largest and most modern AppleTree stores in the chain, though that unfortunately didn't save it. It was based clearly after a modern Safeway prototype that Safeway had built right up to the end of when they sold out, examples exist in Bryan (now an independent supermarket) and another in Houston, also now a Kroger.

It was one of the many stores sold to Kroger in late 1993, closing and reopening in 1994. By this time, AppleTree had pared down the chain to its nicer and/or most successful stores (that being a relative term, some of the former stores were looking small and outdated even by the early/mid-1990s).

Another picture, this one I actually took. Awful shot, I know.
From about 2005-2008 the Katy Freeway underwent one of the largest widenings in freeway history, with dozens of buildings condemned, but surprisingly, this shopping center didn't get it (the Fiesta Mart catty-corner wasn't that lucky, losing a good chunk of its parking lot--although you could argue that they were looking for a way out, a product of a largely failed expansion to the suburbs, but I digress).

It was going to be expected that if the layout was anything like the current Village Foods in Bryan, it was going to have Kroger's standard décor package (there was no way that Kroger kept the AppleTree decor for the last twenty years). And I was kind of disappointed at the awkward layout of the store, though it looked like beer and wine was always on the left (no interior pictures, sorry).

Former Albertsons #2758 / Former Randalls - College Station, TX

The decaying monolith beckons.
This post was originally seen on "Brazos Buildings & Businesses" in its original form.

Randalls #??
Albertsons #2758
Address: 615 University Drive East
College Station, TX
Opened (as Randalls): 1991
Closed (as Randalls) / Opened (as Albertsons): 1997 (Albertsons reopened the store in November 1997)
Closed (as Albertsons): 2011
What's There Now: vacant

I figure that this is a good one to start with since it concerns both Randalls (bought by Safeway in '99) and Albertsons (announced it would buy Safeway in '14). It's also fitting since it was one of the first posts on Brazos Buildings & Businesses, though at the time, it didn't have the pictures it does now and was still open.

The story of this building goes back to the early 1990s, when Randall's, the upscale-leaning grocery chain from Houston opened a new "New Generation" store in College Station fairly close to the Texas A&M University campus. With construction underway by March 1991, and opening in fall of 1991 (see comments on the original post), it was the largest grocery store in the county (not like there was much competition) and definitely the largest one in College Station. It had, according to this article featured "a coffee department with a bar and stools, fresh-made juices, pizza from scratch, a full-line floral department, a full-service bank and a one-hour photo shop."

The store was absolutely huge. It's listed on the H-E-B sublease page (see below in regards to that) at 80,478 square feet, which is still considered a rather large supermarket and was certainly large by Albertsons standards.

In the mid-1990s, with the purchase of the Cullum Companies of Dallas (acquiring Tom Thumb), Randalls (now without an apostrophe) added wine and beer to its line-up for the first time. Unfortunately, that was its undoing, with that and acquiring the former AppleTree stores in the Austin/Temple-Killeen area, the debt occurred necessitated some store closures, of which the College Station store (which was a victim of that) was sold off along with two other stores in Round Rock and Pasadena (both are now closed, of course). It wasn't stated how (un)successful the store was, but Albertsons bought it and reopened it sometime in late 1997 (the College Avenue Albertsons closed in late December of that year) with new décor. From what I've heard, the employees weren't able to keep their jobs, unfortunately.

Albertsons wasn't so unlucky as fellow stores in the Houston division (which all closed in 2002), in fact, 2002 brought a third Albertsons in the area and a renovation of another, but the breakup of Albertsons Inc. and subsequent trimming down by Albertsons LLC ultimately took its toll.

By 2011, there were only three stores left south of the D/FW market: this one, Kerrville, and New Braunfels.

So when I heard that H-E-B had bought all the Albertsons sites and would shutter them, I had to check it out. I wasn't happy with this arrangement, as all the employees were forced out of a job not because it had succumbed to the position (although it likely would've died soon enough, given how bleak the scenario at Albertsons LLC looked at the time), but a rival grocery store bought them out not to build another store (or even convert it to another concept) but to stop potential competition (or putting another grocery store there). This actually wasn't the case, H-E-B only wanted the Kerrville location but had to take all three as a package deal.

By the time I got to this Albertsons, it lost the Pharmacy, that’s way the "Sav-On" and "Pharmacy" removed. It should also be noted that the Sav-On was added sometime in the mid-2000s, but it's not like the store was an "Albertsons Sav-On" (unlike the Kroger Sav-On stores, which were different Sav-Ons entirely).

There's two shots of the "Beverage Boulevard" sign, and ironically, is still hanging in the closed store.

According to the comments on the original post (see Brazos Buildings & Businesses), Early Bird Cleaners was there from day one, and was connected to the store from the inside. I'm not sure when it closed, but a spring 2013 visit had the space cleared out and the empty store visible from the outside...complete with many pieces of décor still intact, like that Beverage Boulevard sign. In looking back at the pictures, the Early Bird Cleaners seems to have gone dark.

After the closure of the store, the street signage was used as advertising for "BedZGalore.com", which itself flaked and eventually fell apart. A nearby tutoring place in a strip center gets really crowded on some nights, taking up a good half of the parking (which is great for them since all the other tenants had up and died).

The décor package, as you can see, is the "Theme Park" package seen on Albertsons brands at this time, which wasn't around when the store reopening, possibly redecorating at some point in the 2000s. I don't know what décor package it opened with originally.


Approaching the store. The pharmacy has already closed.

Notice that the Early Bird Cleaners is already dark.

Ceiling, entrance.

The in-store florist is already closed.

The pharmacy is gone, too.


Final shoppers stroll to snatch up good bargains.


Closest thing to a bulk section, apparently


"Watered" aisles.


Let's meet the meat.

Magazines and books.


Frozen foods...

Pet foods...

...and shrimp ramen.

It's even more vibrant and better in real life. While the photos make the store appear a bit grungy, this was a very colorful and cool sign.


Another view.


Ceiling near beer and wine department. It's worth noting that when the store opened in 1991 as Randall's, and up until 1994 when the acquisition of Tom Thumb took place, this store did not sell any alcoholic beverages. Do you suppose this was originally the coffee bar?


Former video rental area.


I love these carousel things in the checkout lines. I think the other Albertsons over near Wal-Mart had them too.

Post closure, the bucket of soda is still there! (Courtesy "AggiePhil")

Those "Good Housekeeping" signs look kinda generic. Were they ever used in an Acme store? (Courtesy "AggiePhil")
All of these pictures were taken by me unless noted. I do have a couple more of the "post-closure" pictures, but I found this one to be the most interesting.

So, why is this store still vacant? While the H-E-B in Kerrville was reopened under their name, and the New Braunfels location was eventually sold back to the city so they could convert into a new city hall, the Albertsons in College Station is rather murkier. You see, while the other two were owned by Albertsons, the College Station location was not. Even as far back on tax records in 2002, UIRT Investors owned the building, then went to EF Holdings in 2003. The deed currently is owned by Hassan Kazerouni, who got it from 615 EUD LLC, and 615 EUD LLC was transferred from Ridgemont Investment Group LLC the same day Ridgemont got it from E F Holdings Inc. in 2012, meaning that 615 EUD LLC was probably a shell of that company and not H-E-B as I had expected.

Tax records do not show ownership before that, which means there are three options.

a) The store was not owned by Randalls but rather leased long-term. Given that by the early 1990s, the "40-99" year lease trend was out of date, so the likely scenario is 25 years, since the lease didn't expire after 20 (2011). This could mean the store could be out of lease by the end of 2016, meaning finally some action.

b) Randalls did not sell the stores to Albertsons in 1997 but rather had them rent long-term. This means that if it was a 20 year lease, we'd see action in 2018, maybe longer.

Its currently listed as a "sublease" on their real estate website, and they won't let any food or drug store occupy it.

Now that we've got that depressing part over with, here's an awesome YouTube video of a Randall's opening in 1992 in Lufkin. While not in College Station, it gives a feel for what it was like, as the décor was probably identical and so on.

Spinning off from Brazos Buildings & Businesses, I present to you: Safeway Albertsons Texas, the new blog to explore the legacy of stores that Albertsons, Safeway, and their companies left behind, but in Texas. After all, AB Acquisition LLC owns all of them now and will likely change their name to assume their new identity of the biggest grocery store chain behind Kroger. Some of our earliest posts will be slightly updated versions of posts from the old blog, but there will be new original content soon!