Vons Super Combo store...?

Uh...California.

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steps
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Vons Super Combo store...?

Post by steps »

i was reading an article online and they were talking about a "Vons Super Combo" store in simi valley...the artcle was talkin about how they were going to open up a "prototype" store in inglewood, ca and a couple of other cities...I'm sure these stores failed....but any info on them...?? thanks guys!!
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Post by Jeff »

They also talk of one in Inglewood and other areas. The article was from 93:

Vons launches novel super combo - opens huge store in Simi Valley, California
Drug Store News, April 5, 1993 by Allene Symons
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The latest Vons super combo near Los Angeles offers a novel array of new departments and front-of-store services including an island pharmacy, a dry cleaner, a bank, a party-catering department and a closet shop.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - In Southern California's hot contest between drug stores, mass merchants and food/drug operators, everyone is courting customers with convenience. The latest move in this big stakes game came in March, when the Vons Companies opened its 78,000-square-foot super combo in Simi Valley, a suburban community north of Los Angeles. Dennis Eck, vice chairman and chief operating officer, characterizes the store as "the next generation of combos."

Pharmacy, services, general merchandise and prepared foods are configured as distinct departments, often with hanging or vertical demarcation in neon signing or eye-catching motifs.

The former Gemco site was originally 90,000 square feet but was cut into shops to carve out 78,000 square feet for the combo (an average Vons is 55,000 square feet). The store carries 85,000 items, in contrast with the 25,0000 to 30,000 in an average supermarket and 45,000 items in an average combo. Eck noted that the resulting space "added district departments to the store" while avoiding "just filling up the additional space. "

The visibly different departments give the customer a choice of destinations or "experiences" and most stand out from different vantage points in the store. The flow of the store enables a shopper to bypass departments. Said Eck: "We want it to be very attractive so hopefully you will want to experience them, but we don't want to force you into everything."
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A big draw is the attractively configured front-of-store services, which are designed to win one-stop-shopping customers. These include a dry cleaners, a bank with tellers (plus an ATM), a pack-and-ship service, photo center, an audio/video rental store and three international take-out (or eat in) restaurants.

In California, food/drug combo competitors with extensive services like these include Smith's, which is rapidly opening new stores in the state, and Safeway's Marketplace format in northern California.

Unlike these competitors, the Vons Simi Valley super combo his a pharmacy designed as an island service department, surrounded by an extensive health, nutrition and OTC or "personal care module" near the front of the store. The free-standing position helps maximize the number of front-of-store departments where consumers don't want to walk a distance. Vons tested this unusual placement in some of its Tianguis stores, a food and drug chain that caters to the region's Hispanic market.

Harvey Durand, group vice president of drug stores called the drug and personal care module an assortment "equal to or better than any drug competitor" and priced better than drug competitors like nearby Longs Drugs and Sav-on.

General merchandise galore

The general merchandise offerings are unusual in this store, compared to any other Vons. Among the new or expanded categories are:

* Stationery Plus, an expanded back-to-school and home office department signed with the warehouse-decorator look of ceiling hung signage and suspended high tech materials in 250 feet of gondola space. Prices are positioned against Staples (warehouse club) and a drug store. This department, like the mailing center, is being promoted to local and home-office businesses.

* The party center commands the back right wall and offers card, party and gift wrap lines from Hallmark and American Greetings. A large, serviced bullpen area offers coordination for party planners, where customers can get assistance with everything from invitations and napkins to food, flowers and valet service if needed.

* A video rental department, which includes audio rental for commuters, is the first to be owned and operated by Vons rather than run as a leased department. It includes 4,000 titles (6,000 tapes) in 1,500 square feet. It is positioned beyond a security turnstile and has a glass wall looking into the store.

* The reading center, designed as both an entertainment and information center, starts outside the glass-walled video rental shop. The first section is a full assortment of business magazines along with a computer to demo software and a television monitor showing CNN news. A few steps away is the extensive book and magazine department, configured into several alcoves for cozy browsing.

* A new fashion sun and reading glasses department is adjacent to the cosmetics area. It features sun and reading glasses from Foster Grant and Revlon with giant ceiling-hung frames to identify the section from afar. In cosmetics, a video unit adds excitement with informative programming like personal manicure techniques. Other new Revlon lines include hair accessories and jewelry both presented in the section on spinner displays.

* The pet department reflects the local demographics of suburban families with pets and is 150 gondola feet. It includes carriers and gourmet pet lines.

* Everything Rubbermaid, a 250-gondola-feet department representing every Rubbermaid item although omitting some slow-moving colors. The department is signed with drop neon.

* A home storage and closet organizer department with do-it-yourself modular installations and accessories from hangers to garment storage bags.

Although the Simi site represents the latest in Vons merchandising, Eck noted at the preview showing: "We don't have a prototype. It all depends on what you've got to work with." Not having a prototype helps Vons deal with any size site, he explained.

Vons plans to open several more super combo locations in the next year, including Inglewood (Los Angeles area), and Fresno and Bakersfield in central California. The Vons Companies, headquartered in Arcadia, Calif. is the ninth largest supermarket retailer in the U.S., and operates 345 stores in Southern California and Nevada under the names Vons, Pavilions, Tianguis and Williams Bros.

COPYRIGHT 1993 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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Post by Jeff »

I found the addres of the Inglewood location:

Vons Super Combo Store, 500 E Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, 90301, LAX.

Apparently, its still a Vons store.

Von's on Cochran and Erringer it used to be Gemco
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Post by steps »

wow thanks for the article!! very good to know!

and yes there still is a VONS on manchester...if it wa s a former super combo store, that would explain why its so abnormally huge!

so what happened to this concept...?? I'm assuming they were putting more money in then they were getting out...
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Post by Daniel »

Vons opened a smaller version of this type of store here in Fresno about the same time, as mentioned in the article. (It was originally built for Phar-Mor but they went bankrupt before they had a chance to use it. That Vons replaced a 1980's store across the street that is now a Ross) It had the Cleaners, island Pharmacy, Video rental, and Rubbermaid section but didn't have the other stuff like the reading area and the pet section. That store closed down last year and is now a low-end furniture store.
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Post by steps »

so that was a vons super combo store that u are talking about...?? wa sthe signage different...?? are any of these stores still around...??
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Post by Daniel »

Yes, it was described in the opening hype as a "Super Vons". The signage was the standard red Vons sign, the only difference being that it listed the dry cleaner and video rental on the front of the store, along with the bakery, service deli and the normal departments they promote on the regular storefronts.

It is kind of interesting that they opened one across town that is larger than the "Super" Vons, but it was never promoted as such. It does have a Panda Express and a Starbucks inside, but it is just considered a regular Vons. (I don't know the exact square footage of the location, but it was a 1970's Payless Super Drug. "Super Drug" was Payless' banner for their drugstores that had full service cosmetics, expanded toy and sporting goods sections, large music sections, as well as linens, shoes and clothing.)
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Post by steps »

very interresting!! theres a vons in redondo beach that has a dry cleaners and a smothie bar....i think the smoothie bar is independent tho....(didn't know safeway allowed that!) i beleive the store was built in 1997....its a big store....i wonder if they did a super pavilions....lol
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Post by runchadrun »

There's something very Simpsonsesque about a department called "Everything Rubbermaid."

:D
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Post by Jeff »

The very large Vons store in Alhambra closed this past Sunday. The lease was up. Apparently Ralphs owns the building and was leasing it to Vons.

What is going to happen to the building is uncertain.
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Post by runchadrun »

Jeff wrote:The very large Vons store in Alhambra closed this past Sunday. The lease was up. Apparently Ralphs owns the building and was leasing it to Vons.

What is going to happen to the building is uncertain.
The Crawfords Corner store at Valley and New? That was my store as a kid... I'm going to be in the neighborhood tomorrow and was going to check it out to see how things had changed. D'oh!

It's actually not surprising that there's a Ralphs connection. It was a Market Basket (Kroger-owned) until 1982 when they pulled out of LA and then it became a Vons. I guess Kroger held on to all that real estate.
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Post by runchadrun »

To reply to my own post, there's a story about the store closure at http://www.sgvtribune.com/search/ci_3493813
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Post by Jeff »

yes, there was an article in the Tribune about it. I just head today.
From the Tribune:

Discounts lure sad shoppers
Popular Vons market to close Sunday
By Patricia Jiayi Ho Staff Writer

ALHAMBRA - The discounts got deeper at Vons on Valley Boulevard this week as the store announced it will be closing its doors permanently Sunday.

"We are closing it because it is the end of the lease," spokeswoman Sandra Calderon said in a message. "We've decided not to renew the lease at this time."

Calderon could not be reached for further comment.

Customers packed the store Wednesday and Thursday, picking many shelves bare. Prices were marked down 50percent.

Signs posted around the store announced the permanent closure and thanked customers for their patronage.

"Where am I gonna get my Naked Juice?" asked Josef Sandoval, 29, as he loaded his car with groceries Thursday. "It's got all my staples."

Vons has been leasing the property from Ralphs Grocery Co. for many years, said Terry O'Neil, a Ralphs spokesman.

Prior to Vons, a grocery owned by a family-run chain occupied the lot, and was acquired by Ralphs about 30 years ago, O'Neil said.

Customer Mary Lou Rivera, 63, said she had been going to the supermarket since 1972 and lamented its demise.

"It's a shame," Rivera said. "\ has changed so much."

While there are numerous grocery stores in the vicinity, such as Hawaii Super Market and Shunfat Supermarket, it is one of a few that focuses on American foods.

Bonny Chan, 17, said she was disappointed in the diminished grocery

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store variety.

"Even though I don't come here, I'm gonna miss seeing it," Chan said, adding that she preferred Max Foods across the street. "It was nice to have another non-Asian grocery store around."

The future of the building is uncertain.

"At this point, we don't know," O'Neil said. "It's too early for us to discuss what we'll be doing."

Michael Martin, development services director for the city, said he did not expect the building to remain empty for long.

"Usually with space on Valley, when someone moves out, someone else moves right in," Martin said.

"Especially that stretch there between Garfield and New \, you don't see vacancies for very long."

Vons Companies is owned by Safeway Inc. As of September, there were 315 Vons stores in Southern California, according to the company's Web site.
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