If Safeway had stayed in Houston the first time around (instead of making the AppleTree split) they certainly would have been under pressure to replace a lot of their first batch of Houston stores, most of which were of course from the 70's (and the stores they bought from Weingarten's were usually even older). I have a feeling Safeway would have opened Pak N Save stores in the area had they stayed. Some might have ended up replacing not one but two small Safeway stores.
On a similar subject, Albertsons once had no-frills stores known as Max Foods, but that chain I believe was scrapped in the late 90's. It's a real shame because the former Houston Albertsons could have probably done really well if they had been converted to Max Foods instead of being sold or closed.
If you ever get to travel to Tennessee, there are a number of former Seessel's supermarkets once owned by Albertsons. Could be wrong on this but I thought Seessel's was sold in 2002 to Schnucks, a mediocre local chain. Ironically, less than two years after ridding itself of Seessel's, Albertsons bought Shaw's, another regional chain that would seem to serve no real purpose for Albertsons except for giving them a presence in a region far away from home.
Anyway, isn't it amazing that Acme around 1994 started using the same basic interior design of the late 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta stores? It's really strange that the newly-built Acme stores of the late 80's and early 90's (before 1994) did NOT use the 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta format. I really wish I knew why American Stores started using this look for one division around 1988 but waited quite a long time to use it for another.
One oddity (in my opinion) about the supermarket industry in Houston is the fact that Save-A-Lot has a very, very small presence. I'm surprised they never snapped up any ex-Safeway/AppleTree stores (or the smallest Kroger greenhouses once they were replaced) even though these stores were the perfect size and many had the perfect demographics. H-E-B Pantry Foods did the job of Save-A-Lot, but no other true discount grocers seem to be in Houston anymore. I also am very surprised the Safeway/AppleTree/Randalls/Pantry Foods at 249 and Louetta now is a Stein Mart. That seems like such a weak, downscale location for them compared to the Stein Mart at 1960 and Champions Forest by the Randalls Flagship, which isn't even that far away. It would seem Big Lots would be the best fit for the 249 and Louetta spot in today's world.
>>If Safeway had stayed in Houston the first time around (instead of making the AppleTree split) they certainly would have been under pressure to replace a lot of their first batch of Houston stores, most of which were of course from the 70's (and the stores they bought from Weingarten's were usually even older). I have a feeling Safeway would have opened Pak N Save stores in the area had they stayed. Some might have ended up replacing not one but two small Safeway stores.
Pak N Save would never have worked, especially as by the time Safeway bought them, they were only in California (and Florida, briefly) and would not have brought them across divisions, but there was absolutely no way Safeway would've survived in Houston with the number of out of date stores and how competitive the market was, and while there were a few stores that could've been kept, such a fraction of the market would eventually force a sell-off. Randalls had large, modern stores by comparison (except of course they ones they bought from Safeway/AppleTree, ironically), which was why it was a desirable one to get back into the market.
>>On a similar subject, Albertsons once had no-frills stores known as Max Foods, but that chain I believe was scrapped in the late 90's. It's a real shame because the former Houston Albertsons could have probably done really well if they had been converted to Max Foods instead of being sold or closed.
The southern divisions did use Super Saver later on around 2004, 2005, but it was too little, too late, and was basically "This store is a dump/major underperformer, so let's MAKE it a dump". Winn-Dixie kinda tried the same thing around that era, and it was a major failure.
>>If you ever get to travel to Tennessee, there are a number of former Seessel's supermarkets once owned by Albertsons. Could be wrong on this but I thought Seessel's was sold in 2002 to Schnucks, a mediocre local chain. Ironically, less than two years after ridding itself of Seessel's, Albertsons bought Shaw's, another regional chain that would seem to serve no real purpose for Albertsons except for giving them a presence in a region far away from home.
Schnucks is based in St. Louis, IIRC, and bought them from Albertsons, which had bought them from Bruno's. Shaw's was a strange purchase, though.
>>Anyway, isn't it amazing that Acme around 1994 started using the same basic interior design of the late 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta stores? It's really strange that the newly-built Acme stores of the late 80's and early 90's (before 1994) did NOT use the 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta format. I really wish I knew why American Stores started using this look for one division around 1988 but waited quite a long time to use it for another.
Not really. ASC only started to become an integrated operating company by the 1990s, so it would make sense by that point.
>>One oddity (in my opinion) about the supermarket industry in Houston is the fact that Save-A-Lot has a very, very small presence. I'm surprised they never snapped up any ex-Safeway/AppleTree stores (or the smallest Kroger greenhouses once they were replaced) even though these stores were the perfect size and many had the perfect demographics. H-E-B Pantry Foods did the job of Save-A-Lot, but no other true discount grocers seem to be in Houston anymore.
The two stores weren't really related. First, Save-a-Lot is a dump and occupied even smaller stores, and typically thrive in poor areas. H-E-B Pantry were essentially "starter" stores, and were located just about everywhere, favoring growing areas (not declining urban areas). They also cut meats there (which I don't think Save-a-Lot did). It competed more on the lines of Food Lion, which it handily beat in Houston. Stores that functionally fill the Pantry purpose today include Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market (cited as a reason why H-E-B got out of the Pantry business) and Aldi (downscale but without the stigma of a Save-a-Lot).
Thanks so much for answering my questions (which I realize might sometimes sound stupid) piece by piece, and I apologize for originally posting them on the wrong page. I still must ask though... why might Save-A-Lot (which yes I know sucks) not have a much bigger Houston presence? There definitely would seem to be plenty of poor areas in Greater Houston that lack supermarkets and would at least be improved in a way if Save-A-Lot entered. Why should Greater Philly have a huge Save-A-Lot presence but Greater Houston have almost none?
In fact, one neighborhood in Greater Philly (I'm thinking of Lindenwold, NJ) that has a Save-A-Lot reminds me a lot of Spring, which had a Pantry Foods for a long time. And I get the feeling that the Food Town across from the Safeway/Pantry Foods will almost certainly become a Save-A-Lot if it closes. By the way, I think this Food Town may have been a Weingarten's, but one that never became Safeway due to the Safeway across the street.
Speaking of Spring, it infuriates me that the beautiful Albertsons at Spring Cypress and Kuykendahl (now a driver's license center) never became another supermarket, yet Kroger and H-E-B both built new from scratch stores less than a mile from it WHILE it was empty and available! And even worse, Kroger and Food Town each have a really old, dumpy store in Spring that could have relocated to the Albertsons site.
There also was an Albertsons at I-45 and Cypresswood in Spring that became a Conn's (appliance store) even though no other supermarkets were nearby, and now a Walmart Supercenter and SuperTarget are the two main "grocers" nearby. What a waste. H-E-B for some reason didn't want any of the ex-Albertsons in Greater Houston (even though they were for sale right as H-E-B was upgrading the Pantry Foods stores) except for one Albertsons on Kempwood that did become an H-E-B.
Anyway, what exactly is a Walmart Neighborhood Market like? I've never been to one and the only one I can name is one in Cypress near the ex-Albertsons there. Either way, I'm a bit surprised Walmart is using that concept in Houston because there's a huge presence of both Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club stores in Houston. Considering this, I find it ironic that Greater Philly (which has a big Walmart presence but very few Supercenters and Sam's Clubs) has no Neighborhood Markets, even though they (to me) would seem to fit the region perfectly.
By the way, Walmart has an experimental store at I-45 and Gulf Bank in Houston called Mas Club, a uniquely Hispanic version of Sam's Club. A small strip center with a Safeway/AppleTree (where a murder occurred in the parking lot in 1981, the perpetrator of which was finally executed in 2000 despite a major protest by the NAACP) was originally at this site. The center was mostly empty by the late 90's, so much so that a Volvo dealership used the parking lot to store cars that didn't fit at their own property.
I'm thinking that Safeway when they bought Randalls/Tom Thumb should have renamed the Randalls/Tom Thumb stores Safeway Select, which is (was?) the name of a Safeway store brand of items. Maybe if this had been done, Safeway could have won back old Safeway/AppleTree customers for whom the Safeway name had previously been tarnished. And they should have kept Randalls/Tom Thumb quality, selection, and service the way it was. I truly am appalled how Safeway didn't seem to learn a lesson from their first Texas failure (which I'm sure stiff competition from Randalls was partly a cause of) before they tried Texas a second time.
>>Thanks so much for answering my questions (which I realize might sometimes sound stupid) piece by piece, and I apologize for originally posting them on the wrong page. I still must ask though... why might Save-A-Lot (which yes I know sucks) not have a much bigger Houston presence? There definitely would seem to be plenty of poor areas in Greater Houston that lack supermarkets and would at least be improved in a way if Save-A-Lot entered. Why should Greater Philly have a huge Save-A-Lot presence but Greater Houston have almost none?
In reality I've never been to a Save-A-Lot but I know that S-A-L made a stand in at least two points in Bryan-College Station, once in a spot they picked up from Grocery Outlet (an old Kmart Foods), and once after buying Texas-T, a discount grocery store named Jewel-T (owned by Jewel Cos., but had to sell stores after ASC bought them out). I'm sure S-A-L has come and gone in parts of Houston, but a major part of why they're not their is distribution. S-A-L probably did well in the Northeast because of the facilities SuperValu owned.
>>In fact, one neighborhood in Greater Philly (I'm thinking of Lindenwold, NJ) that has a Save-A-Lot reminds me a lot of Spring, which had a Pantry Foods for a long time. And I get the feeling that the Food Town across from the Safeway/Pantry Foods will almost certainly become a Save-A-Lot if it closes. By the way, I think this Food Town may have been a Weingarten's, but one that never became Safeway due to the Safeway across the street.
Again, distribution. While I'm not sure about Weingarten, S-A-L works in certain areas because they can hit a bunch of little stores at one time, and with low margins, won't work if there's just a few.
>>Speaking of Spring, it infuriates me that the beautiful Albertsons at Spring Cypress and Kuykendahl (now a driver's license center) never became another supermarket, yet Kroger and H-E-B both built new from scratch stores less than a mile from it WHILE it was empty and available! And even worse, Kroger and Food Town each have a really old, dumpy store in Spring that could have relocated to the Albertsons site.
Like what's been explored, Albertsons often had questionable locations, and especially in light of bigger stores Kroger and H-E-B build, it's understandable why they might've passed it up.
>>There also was an Albertsons at I-45 and Cypresswood in Spring that became a Conn's (appliance store) even though no other supermarkets were nearby, and now a Walmart Supercenter and SuperTarget are the two main "grocers" nearby. What a waste. H-E-B for some reason didn't want any of the ex-Albertsons in Greater Houston (even though they were for sale right as H-E-B was upgrading the Pantry Foods stores) except for one Albertsons on Kempwood that did become an H-E-B.
The Albertsons stores tended to be on the small side of what H-E-B wanted. I was convinced in fall 2012 that Albertsons LLC would sell the Dallas stores to H-E-B, as that had so far been their M.O., except that compared to what H-E-B was building in Houston, they were much smaller.
H-E-B did buy a few Albertsons later on, including one near Webster and one in Kingwood.
>>Anyway, what exactly is a Walmart Neighborhood Market like? I've never been to one and the only one I can name is one in Cypress near the ex-Albertsons there. Either way, I'm a bit surprised Walmart is using that concept in Houston because there's a huge presence of both Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club stores in Houston. Considering this, I find it ironic that Greater Philly (which has a big Walmart presence but very few Supercenters and Sam's Clubs) has no Neighborhood Markets, even though they (to me) would seem to fit the region perfectly.
A Neighborhood Market is a store owned by Walmart that tends to be around 50k, 60k square feet (about the size of an old Albertsons), and can be best described as a Walmart Supercenter sans the general merchandise (but with a bit more food items). The first one I went in was an older store, and it was incredibly odd...it had a semi-decent selection (for a Walmart), but the ceiling was HVAC, except everything was painted black, except for florescent lights, making shopping a gloomy and strange affair. The other one, located in an old Albertsons, was more of a traditional Walmart...except no GM sections.
>>By the way, Walmart has an experimental store at I-45 and Gulf Bank in Houston called Mas Club, a uniquely Hispanic version of Sam's Club. A small strip center with a Safeway/AppleTree (where a murder occurred in the parking lot in 1981, the perpetrator of which was finally executed in 2000 despite a major protest by the NAACP) was originally at this site. The center was mostly empty by the late 90's, so much so that a Volvo dealership used the parking lot to store cars that didn't fit at their own property.
Had, it closed last year.
>>I'm thinking that Safeway when they bought Randalls/Tom Thumb should have renamed the Randalls/Tom Thumb stores Safeway Select, which is (was?) the name of a Safeway store brand of items. Maybe if this had been done, Safeway could have won back old Safeway/AppleTree customers for whom the Safeway name had previously been tarnished. And they should have kept Randalls/Tom Thumb quality, selection, and service the way it was. I truly am appalled how Safeway didn't seem to learn a lesson from their first Texas failure (which I'm sure stiff competition from Randalls was partly a cause of) before they tried Texas a second time.
Shoppers are receptive to store names, the Macy's conversions brought sharp backlash from customers, even though some of them had been owned by Macy's for a while. Even though Safeway had a lot of market share, it wasn't from what I could tell particularly well-loved, and had a reputation for being a bit more expensive than its competitors. Although AppleTree tried to rid that reputation and attempted to keep up what with competition did, it just wasn't as cheap, as nice, or as large as its competitors were, and went bust within a few years (the visual image of the other grocery stores in Houston carting away the "apples" from the AppleTree as they sold them off is an apt one). I'm sure that the brand name of Genuardi's, Dominick's, or Randalls helped Safeway for a while as they ran the brands into the ground, and even if it were the other way around (Safeway outside, Randalls inside), it still wouldn't have gone well. I know for a fact for Genuardi's did have some stores converted to Safeway, but only after they were unionized.
Apologies for accidentally deleting your email. The Walmart on Sawdust in The Woodlands never had neither Radio Grill nor Subway to my knowledge. It was built in 1990-1991 with a really awful, unnamed snack bar, then around 2000 got a McDonald's. The current Supercenter had a McDonald's when it opened in 2007 or 2008, but I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually closed.
Back in 2000 (I HIGHLY doubt they still do, but I guess it's possible) the MacFrugal's (former Kroger then Pic N Save and now Big Lots) at 1960 and Jones was using Two Guys carts. Today those would have to be at least 35 years old. I must say MacFrugal's stores were very unappealing, but Big Lots rebranding them was a breath of fresh air. Big Lots really cleaned up those yucky stores.
The area where I live (southern California) has Vons (owned by Safeway) stores throughout. I believe Safeway once had a SoCal division in the 1970s and 1980s. Around 1988 (when Safeway fell on hard times), they sold all their area stores to Vons in exchange for a 30% financial interest in the latter company. What exactly happened before Vons entered this market?
I also believe Vons was acquired by Safeway outright in 1997. Just like their purchase of Randalls and Tom Thumb, they dumped everything special about Vons. Why did Safeway products and interiors begin flooding Vons stores? Why did Safeway's pricing (which was higher than Vons's former pricing) and practices alienate consumers?
If Safeway had stayed in Houston the first time around (instead of making the AppleTree split) they certainly would have been under pressure to replace a lot of their first batch of Houston stores, most of which were of course from the 70's (and the stores they bought from Weingarten's were usually even older). I have a feeling Safeway would have opened Pak N Save stores in the area had they stayed. Some might have ended up replacing not one but two small Safeway stores.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar subject, Albertsons once had no-frills stores known as Max Foods, but that chain I believe was scrapped in the late 90's. It's a real shame because the former Houston Albertsons could have probably done really well if they had been converted to Max Foods instead of being sold or closed.
If you ever get to travel to Tennessee, there are a number of former Seessel's supermarkets once owned by Albertsons. Could be wrong on this but I thought Seessel's was sold in 2002 to Schnucks, a mediocre local chain. Ironically, less than two years after ridding itself of Seessel's, Albertsons bought Shaw's, another regional chain that would seem to serve no real purpose for Albertsons except for giving them a presence in a region far away from home.
Anyway, isn't it amazing that Acme around 1994 started using the same basic interior design of the late 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta stores? It's really strange that the newly-built Acme stores of the late 80's and early 90's (before 1994) did NOT use the 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta format. I really wish I knew why American Stores started using this look for one division around 1988 but waited quite a long time to use it for another.
One oddity (in my opinion) about the supermarket industry in Houston is the fact that Save-A-Lot has a very, very small presence. I'm surprised they never snapped up any ex-Safeway/AppleTree stores (or the smallest Kroger greenhouses once they were replaced) even though these stores were the perfect size and many had the perfect demographics. H-E-B Pantry Foods did the job of Save-A-Lot, but no other true discount grocers seem to be in Houston anymore. I also am very surprised the Safeway/AppleTree/Randalls/Pantry Foods at 249 and Louetta now is a Stein Mart. That seems like such a weak, downscale location for them compared to the Stein Mart at 1960 and Champions Forest by the Randalls Flagship, which isn't even that far away. It would seem Big Lots would be the best fit for the 249 and Louetta spot in today's world.
>>If Safeway had stayed in Houston the first time around (instead of making the AppleTree split) they certainly would have been under pressure to replace a lot of their first batch of Houston stores, most of which were of course from the 70's (and the stores they bought from Weingarten's were usually even older). I have a feeling Safeway would have opened Pak N Save stores in the area had they stayed. Some might have ended up replacing not one but two small Safeway stores.
ReplyDeletePak N Save would never have worked, especially as by the time Safeway bought them, they were only in California (and Florida, briefly) and would not have brought them across divisions, but there was absolutely no way Safeway would've survived in Houston with the number of out of date stores and how competitive the market was, and while there were a few stores that could've been kept, such a fraction of the market would eventually force a sell-off. Randalls had large, modern stores by comparison (except of course they ones they bought from Safeway/AppleTree, ironically), which was why it was a desirable one to get back into the market.
>>On a similar subject, Albertsons once had no-frills stores known as Max Foods, but that chain I believe was scrapped in the late 90's. It's a real shame because the former Houston Albertsons could have probably done really well if they had been converted to Max Foods instead of being sold or closed.
The southern divisions did use Super Saver later on around 2004, 2005, but it was too little, too late, and was basically "This store is a dump/major underperformer, so let's MAKE it a dump". Winn-Dixie kinda tried the same thing around that era, and it was a major failure.
>>If you ever get to travel to Tennessee, there are a number of former Seessel's supermarkets once owned by Albertsons. Could be wrong on this but I thought Seessel's was sold in 2002 to Schnucks, a mediocre local chain. Ironically, less than two years after ridding itself of Seessel's, Albertsons bought Shaw's, another regional chain that would seem to serve no real purpose for Albertsons except for giving them a presence in a region far away from home.
Schnucks is based in St. Louis, IIRC, and bought them from Albertsons, which had bought them from Bruno's. Shaw's was a strange purchase, though.
>>Anyway, isn't it amazing that Acme around 1994 started using the same basic interior design of the late 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta stores? It's really strange that the newly-built Acme stores of the late 80's and early 90's (before 1994) did NOT use the 80's Skaggs Alpha Beta format. I really wish I knew why American Stores started using this look for one division around 1988 but waited quite a long time to use it for another.
Not really. ASC only started to become an integrated operating company by the 1990s, so it would make sense by that point.
>>One oddity (in my opinion) about the supermarket industry in Houston is the fact that Save-A-Lot has a very, very small presence. I'm surprised they never snapped up any ex-Safeway/AppleTree stores (or the smallest Kroger greenhouses once they were replaced) even though these stores were the perfect size and many had the perfect demographics. H-E-B Pantry Foods did the job of Save-A-Lot, but no other true discount grocers seem to be in Houston anymore.
The two stores weren't really related. First, Save-a-Lot is a dump and occupied even smaller stores, and typically thrive in poor areas. H-E-B Pantry were essentially "starter" stores, and were located just about everywhere, favoring growing areas (not declining urban areas). They also cut meats there (which I don't think Save-a-Lot did). It competed more on the lines of Food Lion, which it handily beat in Houston. Stores that functionally fill the Pantry purpose today include Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market (cited as a reason why H-E-B got out of the Pantry business) and Aldi (downscale but without the stigma of a Save-a-Lot).
Thanks so much for answering my questions (which I realize might sometimes sound stupid) piece by piece, and I apologize for originally posting them on the wrong page. I still must ask though... why might Save-A-Lot (which yes I know sucks) not have a much bigger Houston presence? There definitely would seem to be plenty of poor areas in Greater Houston that lack supermarkets and would at least be improved in a way if Save-A-Lot entered. Why should Greater Philly have a huge Save-A-Lot presence but Greater Houston have almost none?
DeleteIn fact, one neighborhood in Greater Philly (I'm thinking of Lindenwold, NJ) that has a Save-A-Lot reminds me a lot of Spring, which had a Pantry Foods for a long time. And I get the feeling that the Food Town across from the Safeway/Pantry Foods will almost certainly become a Save-A-Lot if it closes. By the way, I think this Food Town may have been a Weingarten's, but one that never became Safeway due to the Safeway across the street.
Speaking of Spring, it infuriates me that the beautiful Albertsons at Spring Cypress and Kuykendahl (now a driver's license center) never became another supermarket, yet Kroger and H-E-B both built new from scratch stores less than a mile from it WHILE it was empty and available! And even worse, Kroger and Food Town each have a really old, dumpy store in Spring that could have relocated to the Albertsons site.
There also was an Albertsons at I-45 and Cypresswood in Spring that became a Conn's (appliance store) even though no other supermarkets were nearby, and now a Walmart Supercenter and SuperTarget are the two main "grocers" nearby. What a waste. H-E-B for some reason didn't want any of the ex-Albertsons in Greater Houston (even though they were for sale right as H-E-B was upgrading the Pantry Foods stores) except for one Albertsons on Kempwood that did become an H-E-B.
Anyway, what exactly is a Walmart Neighborhood Market like? I've never been to one and the only one I can name is one in Cypress near the ex-Albertsons there. Either way, I'm a bit surprised Walmart is using that concept in Houston because there's a huge presence of both Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club stores in Houston. Considering this, I find it ironic that Greater Philly (which has a big Walmart presence but very few Supercenters and Sam's Clubs) has no Neighborhood Markets, even though they (to me) would seem to fit the region perfectly.
By the way, Walmart has an experimental store at I-45 and Gulf Bank in Houston called Mas Club, a uniquely Hispanic version of Sam's Club. A small strip center with a Safeway/AppleTree (where a murder occurred in the parking lot in 1981, the perpetrator of which was finally executed in 2000 despite a major protest by the NAACP) was originally at this site. The center was mostly empty by the late 90's, so much so that a Volvo dealership used the parking lot to store cars that didn't fit at their own property.
I'm thinking that Safeway when they bought Randalls/Tom Thumb should have renamed the Randalls/Tom Thumb stores Safeway Select, which is (was?) the name of a Safeway store brand of items. Maybe if this had been done, Safeway could have won back old Safeway/AppleTree customers for whom the Safeway name had previously been tarnished. And they should have kept Randalls/Tom Thumb quality, selection, and service the way it was. I truly am appalled how Safeway didn't seem to learn a lesson from their first Texas failure (which I'm sure stiff competition from Randalls was partly a cause of) before they tried Texas a second time.
>>Thanks so much for answering my questions (which I realize might sometimes sound stupid) piece by piece, and I apologize for originally posting them on the wrong page. I still must ask though... why might Save-A-Lot (which yes I know sucks) not have a much bigger Houston presence? There definitely would seem to be plenty of poor areas in Greater Houston that lack supermarkets and would at least be improved in a way if Save-A-Lot entered. Why should Greater Philly have a huge Save-A-Lot presence but Greater Houston have almost none?
DeleteIn reality I've never been to a Save-A-Lot but I know that S-A-L made a stand in at least two points in Bryan-College Station, once in a spot they picked up from Grocery Outlet (an old Kmart Foods), and once after buying Texas-T, a discount grocery store named Jewel-T (owned by Jewel Cos., but had to sell stores after ASC bought them out). I'm sure S-A-L has come and gone in parts of Houston, but a major part of why they're not their is distribution. S-A-L probably did well in the Northeast because of the facilities SuperValu owned.
>>In fact, one neighborhood in Greater Philly (I'm thinking of Lindenwold, NJ) that has a Save-A-Lot reminds me a lot of Spring, which had a Pantry Foods for a long time. And I get the feeling that the Food Town across from the Safeway/Pantry Foods will almost certainly become a Save-A-Lot if it closes. By the way, I think this Food Town may have been a Weingarten's, but one that never became Safeway due to the Safeway across the street.
Again, distribution. While I'm not sure about Weingarten, S-A-L works in certain areas because they can hit a bunch of little stores at one time, and with low margins, won't work if there's just a few.
>>Speaking of Spring, it infuriates me that the beautiful Albertsons at Spring Cypress and Kuykendahl (now a driver's license center) never became another supermarket, yet Kroger and H-E-B both built new from scratch stores less than a mile from it WHILE it was empty and available! And even worse, Kroger and Food Town each have a really old, dumpy store in Spring that could have relocated to the Albertsons site.
Like what's been explored, Albertsons often had questionable locations, and especially in light of bigger stores Kroger and H-E-B build, it's understandable why they might've passed it up.
>>There also was an Albertsons at I-45 and Cypresswood in Spring that became a Conn's (appliance store) even though no other supermarkets were nearby, and now a Walmart Supercenter and SuperTarget are the two main "grocers" nearby. What a waste. H-E-B for some reason didn't want any of the ex-Albertsons in Greater Houston (even though they were for sale right as H-E-B was upgrading the Pantry Foods stores) except for one Albertsons on Kempwood that did become an H-E-B.
DeleteThe Albertsons stores tended to be on the small side of what H-E-B wanted. I was convinced in fall 2012 that Albertsons LLC would sell the Dallas stores to H-E-B, as that had so far been their M.O., except that compared to what H-E-B was building in Houston, they were much smaller.
H-E-B did buy a few Albertsons later on, including one near Webster and one in Kingwood.
>>Anyway, what exactly is a Walmart Neighborhood Market like? I've never been to one and the only one I can name is one in Cypress near the ex-Albertsons there. Either way, I'm a bit surprised Walmart is using that concept in Houston because there's a huge presence of both Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club stores in Houston. Considering this, I find it ironic that Greater Philly (which has a big Walmart presence but very few Supercenters and Sam's Clubs) has no Neighborhood Markets, even though they (to me) would seem to fit the region perfectly.
A Neighborhood Market is a store owned by Walmart that tends to be around 50k, 60k square feet (about the size of an old Albertsons), and can be best described as a Walmart Supercenter sans the general merchandise (but with a bit more food items). The first one I went in was an older store, and it was incredibly odd...it had a semi-decent selection (for a Walmart), but the ceiling was HVAC, except everything was painted black, except for florescent lights, making shopping a gloomy and strange affair. The other one, located in an old Albertsons, was more of a traditional Walmart...except no GM sections.
>>By the way, Walmart has an experimental store at I-45 and Gulf Bank in Houston called Mas Club, a uniquely Hispanic version of Sam's Club. A small strip center with a Safeway/AppleTree (where a murder occurred in the parking lot in 1981, the perpetrator of which was finally executed in 2000 despite a major protest by the NAACP) was originally at this site. The center was mostly empty by the late 90's, so much so that a Volvo dealership used the parking lot to store cars that didn't fit at their own property.
DeleteHad, it closed last year.
>>I'm thinking that Safeway when they bought Randalls/Tom Thumb should have renamed the Randalls/Tom Thumb stores Safeway Select, which is (was?) the name of a Safeway store brand of items. Maybe if this had been done, Safeway could have won back old Safeway/AppleTree customers for whom the Safeway name had previously been tarnished. And they should have kept Randalls/Tom Thumb quality, selection, and service the way it was. I truly am appalled how Safeway didn't seem to learn a lesson from their first Texas failure (which I'm sure stiff competition from Randalls was partly a cause of) before they tried Texas a second time.
Shoppers are receptive to store names, the Macy's conversions brought sharp backlash from customers, even though some of them had been owned by Macy's for a while. Even though Safeway had a lot of market share, it wasn't from what I could tell particularly well-loved, and had a reputation for being a bit more expensive than its competitors. Although AppleTree tried to rid that reputation and attempted to keep up what with competition did, it just wasn't as cheap, as nice, or as large as its competitors were, and went bust within a few years (the visual image of the other grocery stores in Houston carting away the "apples" from the AppleTree as they sold them off is an apt one). I'm sure that the brand name of Genuardi's, Dominick's, or Randalls helped Safeway for a while as they ran the brands into the ground, and even if it were the other way around (Safeway outside, Randalls inside), it still wouldn't have gone well. I know for a fact for Genuardi's did have some stores converted to Safeway, but only after they were unionized.
Apologies for accidentally deleting your email. The Walmart on Sawdust in The Woodlands never had neither Radio Grill nor Subway to my knowledge. It was built in 1990-1991 with a really awful, unnamed snack bar, then around 2000 got a McDonald's. The current Supercenter had a McDonald's when it opened in 2007 or 2008, but I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually closed.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2000 (I HIGHLY doubt they still do, but I guess it's possible) the MacFrugal's (former Kroger then Pic N Save and now Big Lots) at 1960 and Jones was using Two Guys carts. Today those would have to be at least 35 years old. I must say MacFrugal's stores were very unappealing, but Big Lots rebranding them was a breath of fresh air. Big Lots really cleaned up those yucky stores.
ReplyDeleteThe area where I live (southern California) has Vons (owned by Safeway) stores throughout. I believe Safeway once had a SoCal division in the 1970s and 1980s. Around 1988 (when Safeway fell on hard times), they sold all their area stores to Vons in exchange for a 30% financial interest in the latter company. What exactly happened before Vons entered this market?
ReplyDeleteI also believe Vons was acquired by Safeway outright in 1997. Just like their purchase of Randalls and Tom Thumb, they dumped everything special about Vons. Why did Safeway products and interiors begin flooding Vons stores? Why did Safeway's pricing (which was higher than Vons's former pricing) and practices alienate consumers?