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Sunday, December 13, 2015

Former Albertsons #2726 / Randalls #2671 - Katy, TX


525 South Fry Road • Katy, TX

First, I would like to say welcome back. I know I said 2016, but that's when the blog will be operating again. Let's start by showing off a reverse of our first post ever by showing an Albertsons turned into a Randalls, with pictures and information from October 2015. This has the added benefit of essentially becoming an Albertsons again, although it's just not the same.

I can't figure out when the store opened originally, but it closed in 2002, and the Randalls must have come soon after. I should also note that the facade looks to be significantly modified...in fact, you can even see the original walls (white) coming off the sides of the tan Randalls.


The arrangement was probably unaltered from the original Albertsons, with the florist to the left when you stepped in, then passing by the bakery on the left, the deli on the right, as you headed into produce, then the butcher area in the back (there's also a bread alcove area near here). What I tried to do was do some searching that Albertsons was in control. Besides the "it's just better" branding now common to all the Albertsons Companies brands, the only reference to their once and future parent company was a sign advertising hiring. The gang's all here, from ACME in the northeast to those few remaining Super Saver stores in Utah.


There was a large segment of the floor being replaced, the original tiles were being replaced. I'm guessing the ugly not-white tiles are the ones being replaced, though I can't imagine them even being for Industrial Circus, the late 1990s Albertsons décor with corrugated metal.

The integration with Albertsons seems to be coming along. Quite a few Safeway-branded items were still on the shelf though they were being replaced with Signature in many categories.


One thing I noticed that probably other Safeway/Albertsons watchers may not have noticed is that "Better Living Brands LLC" has the exact same phone number and address as Safeway. Some quick Google searching revealed that Safeway Inc. wasn't surreptitiously renamed, but it was originally a name designed to market Safeway brands like O Organics to other stores, which is why you can find a Flickr picture of O Organics showing up at an Albertsons several years before the merger actually happened.

The other big thing I noticed was that the deli is now selling a lot of Dietz & Watson meats and cheeses (as well as "accessories" like spicy mustard), with the deli counter now about two-thirds Dietz & Watson (Primo Taglio seems like its on the way out, happilly). It seems like Albertsons is taking things with Safeway slowly, which is a good thing, considering how "Albertsons"-izing American Stores was largely a disaster (rebranding Lucky within six months being the big one).

The card is still unfortunately in effect, a lot of "Card Price" signs were out, but there were also a lot of "Everyday" prices too. One hopes that the Remarkable card (compatible with other Safeway cards, but had been around almost a decade before the purchase) will just become a rewards card instead of a necessity. Another "good sign" was a paper bag with just the Randalls name...which I didn't take a picture but I have bags from late 2014 that had ALL the Safeway brands post-Dominick's (Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons, Pavilions, Safeway) on it, so at least Albertsons is giving the Randalls division an identity.

One of the things I noticed is at least with the drop ceilings, it's surprising how dark the Lifestyle stores really are. Albertsons has not added any additional lighting here.

In terms of features, the store is a bit light on them. It has the "Signature Café" sandwich bar (closed for the day, I came in mid-afternoon) and a soup station, as well as a little area near the front to eat products from the deli or bakery. It does not have a Starbucks Coffee, or any other place to get coffee for that matter. The bakery seems pretty good. I got a donut there for 50¢, and it was 10¢ cheaper than Kroger and didn't make me sick either (I've had terrible luck with Kroger's bakeries).

Now, the big question is, what did the Albertsons look like here when it was open? It's relatively low store number (#2726) and likely part of the "first circle" strategy (planting in the distant small towns orbiting Houston, then going for the throat, H-E-B Pantry did the same thing but to great success) so I would guess that it would be 1996, the same year the distribution center (also located in Katy) did. The only hint I got was the fact was the old floor tiles, which might've been with the "Industrial Circus" décor but I don't really know.

I left with a twinge of disappointment, not because I couldn't find any Albertsons leftovers, but because Randalls seemed to never amount to much anymore, and it was easy to see why rumors of its demise had swirled around for years. Despite the push with big 70k+ square feet "New Generation" stores (of which this one isn't, this was built post-acquisition), stores like this (or worse, former AppleTree conversions) aren't very big, their private brands still seem lacking (even to H-E-B), though to Safeway's credit, I'll take "The Snack Artist" over Kroger's packaging anyday, they still can't yet compete with Kroger on price, and the "lifestyle" décor is just the worst...bland, boring, and generally too dark. No wonder they went on the sale block.

Anyway, I do hope to have a living Albertsons on this site soon, unfortunately, it's a little outside the focus of this blog, technically...

7 comments:

  1. I freaking HATE the current facade on this store. The store looked way better when it first became Randalls because at first, Safeway/Randalls did nothing to change the original Albertsons facade.

    Also in Katy, there's a former 80's Randalls on Mason Road that now is a Big Lots, and a former Kroger greenhouse nearby that now is a Goodwill store. This Kroger opened around 1977 but was replaced by another greenhouse across the street in 1985. I'm not sure if the 1985 store is still open or not, but it was open until at least 2010 so it really outlived the 1977 store.

    The old Albertsons in The Woodlands (don't be fooled by the Spring address) is a Randalls that is kind of in a strange location but does really well due to a golf course and hotel/convention center nearby. As of 2011, the store still had the 2002-era Safeway decor and I hope it still does. It's disappointing though that the 80's Randalls down the street that this store replaced is now a 99 Cents Only store and a fitness center. Sawdust Road was a hopping retail corridor throughout the 80's and 90's but amazingly since 2000 has really died. Hell, Walmart relocated to be on a different, much quieter street that I forget the name of. Big Lots and Hobby Lobby are now the only major retail businesses other than H-E-B on Sawdust. There also is a very busy CVS (used to be Eckerd) in front of what used to be a Walmart (yes it also had a pharmacy) but now is an office building.

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  2. 1995 is what I'm getting as an opening for this store as an Albertsons. If this store opened in 1995, it would have opened with the Blue and Gray Market interior, and had tiles like those seen here (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F44LpNRzmjw/U2JED8dcUnI/AAAAAAAAAkw/lDUDfONCHf4/s1600/Liquor+Store+Interior.jpg) when it was Albertsons. Also, the exterior canopy over the entrance looks pretty Albertsons like to me, and according to satellite images, looks to have been there since the days of Albertsons. I don't think Randall's changed a whole lot to the exterior. The interior they definitely did some work to.

    Also, I thought I remembered O Organics from the Florida Albertsons stores back around 2010 or so. Now I know why. I never thought to look at the back of the package before.

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  3. I don't think it would've opened with the B&G interior, it might have opened with something newer, especially if we assume that the metal canopy was always there. 1995 for opening sounds about right though.

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  4. Actually, the current facade was added circa 2010 when Safeway remodeled the store to the lifestyle format. When Randalls first opened at this site in 2002 or 2003, they left the original Albertsons "stone" facade alone.

    Good news: in Bing Maps, you can still see the old facade on this store if you zoom out a bit. Zooming in will show you the new facade.

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  5. Zoom out a bit in Bing Maps and you can see the original Albertsons facade on this store. The current Safeway lifestyle facade makes it look taller than it did before.

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  6. Dietz and Watson is a Philly Brand. They must be putting their stuff in more stores as part of a expansion agreement via Acme.

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  7. Albertsons used the "blue/gray/pink" between 1992-1997 for new and remodeled stores. The company referred to it as "kitchen" decor.

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