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Once in a while,I'll drop by the now-Albertsons behind Sunrise Mall(it's near my work)and as of last month,it still has a Lucky-style interior.For curiosity purposes,of the former Lucky locations that continue to operate under the Albertsons banner,have any been remodeled after the merger?

ive seen 3 Albertsons that were former lucky stores and they still have the lucy interiors and same shelves.....they jus put the albertsons sign over all the luckys signs in the store....i think they remodeled one lucky store but I'm not for sure...the one on crenshaw and mlk blvd i think was remodeled...? correct me if I'm wrong....

If you want to see a real nicely preserved former Lucky complete with the old interior, visit the one in Carmichael at Manzanita and Fair Oaks. I have some friends with family who live near that store and they all say what a nice new store Albertsons put up there. Imagine their surprise (or horrification, knowing that another rant was coming about how great Lucky was) when I told them that it was opened by the beloved Lucky that I often rant to them about in 1997 or so.

As for remodels, they've done the following that I know of around Sacramento:

Placerville- Missouri Flat (still a real nice old relic down on Broadway though)

Auburn (just remodeled)

Sacramento- Folsom Blvd at 59th St. (remodeled last summer)

Orangevale- Greenback Lane

Sacramento- Power Inn/Gerber

Sacramento- Fair Oaks Blvd., Loehman's Center (very nicely done remodel, perhaps the best looking ABS Store I've seen)

theres an albertsons in burbank that is relaly nice,....it has tvs in the produce section that gives u cooking ideas and everything....!! service deli and bakery are great...fresh and free samples! lol.....its a great store

Former Lucky Stores in Alhambra, Montebello, San Gabriel are still looking like Lucky Stores inside. There are hardly any that were remodeled.

Several stores in the Bay Area were remodeled. Some that come to mind are Marina Village in Alameda, Lakeshore in Oakland, Bayfair in San Leandro, and El Camino in San Bruno. I think there were others too (maybe College Avenue in Oakland) but I can't remember for sure.

Also, a few were torn down and replaced with new stores at the same site, including East 18th Street in Oakland, and Alemany Boulevard in San Francisco. The SF conversion, though, had been in the works since the Lucky days, as had two new stores (Fulton Street at Masonic, and Clement Street) that also opened in SF. The Alemany and Fulton stores are on the ground floors of large apartment buildings. The same was planned for Clement (the former site of a 1950s Safeway, oddly enough), but the apartments were cancelled due to neighborhood opposition.

BTW, the Pleasant Hill store was a new prototype Lucky was developing just before the merger. It's a beautiful store, much more subdued and tasteful than the subsequent Albertsons designs which were a bit garish and over the top in my opinion.

storewanderer wrote:If you want to see a real nicely preserved former Lucky complete with the old interior, visit the one in Carmichael at Manzanita and Fair Oaks.

This store was opened as a Lucky/Savon on January 27, 1998. When it first opened I was Operating Manager for Savon Drugs in this store, left and later returned as General Manager, left and returned again post-merger as Drug Manager.

The interior in this store is awesome. Most of the former Lucky/Savon stores will have still have this interior including Oakland (I-880 - former Del Monte Cannery), San Jose (Saratoga), Salinas, Sand City, Hollister, Tracy, Brentwood, Hercules, and Florin Rd in Sacramento. Several of the original Northern California Lucky/Savon stores have Savon decor in half of the store. The Florin store opened just days after the "marriage". We were preparing the store as Lucky/Savon and just days before had to shift to Albertsons.

I was disappointed to find the Brentwood former Lucky remodeled into the current ABS scheme when I was there last summer. They at least kept the old Sav-On sign out by the street (large, took up half of the sign with Albertsons squeezed into the other half).

Elk Grove has the interior you describe with Sav-On decor in half of the store (not aisle hangers as I recall but everything else).

The build from scratch Lucky/Sav-On combo stores were very nice stores with excellent product variety. The old Smiths that were converted to that format in SoCal were pretty good too as far as the merchandising goes, but not as nice looking with all of the old Smiths equipment in there and the Lucky decor package thrown in (except in Garden Grove where they kept Smiths fixtures on floral and chinese food) (why did Smiths like brown so much for floors and shelves?).

The best are the blue/grays in Reno that got converted to combo stores a few years back. They replaced the old blue aisle hangers with red ones on the Sav-On side of the store. Threw in some funny looking Sav-On logos in various spots throughout the store such as cosmetics, pharmacy, and I want to say liquor in a store or two but not all of them. Lucky/Sav-On was much, much better.

storewanderer wrote:
The build from scratch Lucky/Sav-On combo stores were very nice stores with excellent product variety. The old Smiths that were converted to that format in SoCal were pretty good too as far as the merchandising goes, but not as nice looking with all of the old Smiths equipment in there and the Lucky decor package thrown in (except in Garden Grove where they kept Smiths fixtures on floral and chinese food) (why did Smiths like brown so much for floors and shelves?).

Weirdly enough, I have been into nearly every Lucky/Savon combo store in Southern California since they began. The build from scrath stores were the nicest stores I have been into. Very wide aisles, well laid out, etc. Nearly every old Smith's store was a disaster. At least American Stores spent some money converting them into Lucky/Savon (removing that awful looking red thing from above the cash registers helped alot) I always found it odd that they never replaced the Floral fixture (I guess it's because its an awning type fixture). After the ABS merger, the store looked even worse. Golden Spoon closed and was never walled over or repaced, the video store was closed, although you can still see it from behind some shelving that's been placed. Last time I was there, the Cleaners was gone too, of course it was never walled over either. Albertsons also covered over the cafe area with shelving, moving the seating into the store between the deli and the Chinese eatery. Our former Smith's is in shambles, and they wonder why no one shops there anymore. I hope SuperValu keeps it open and finally gives it the remodelling it needs.

This store was opened as a Lucky/Savon on January 27, 1998. When it first opened I was Operating Manager for Savon Drugs in this store, left and later returned as General Manager, left and returned again post-merger as Drug Manager.

The interior in this store is awesome. Most of the former Lucky/Savon stores will have still have this interior including Oakland (I-880 - former Del Monte Cannery), San Jose (Saratoga), Salinas, Sand City, Hollister, Tracy, Brentwood, Hercules, and Florin Rd in Sacramento. Several of the original Northern California Lucky/Savon stores have Savon decor in half of the store. The Florin store opened just days after the "marriage". We were preparing the store as Lucky/Savon and just days before had to shift to Albertsons.[/quote]


Tracy has been remodeled. It no longer has the old Lucky/Savon look.

The Lucky/Sav-On look was a lot better than Albertsons current remodel decor. That isn't exactly saying much, either.

We can't complain too much until they remodel downtown Petaluma.

The San Bernardino CA LUCKY turned ALBERTSONS was remodeled...and it is very nice. They added self-check lanes. I believe this site may have originally been a MAYFAIR.

The Highland CA store was also a LUCKY that was remodeled AFTER the transition to Albertsons. It was built as LUCKY.

Thinking of NorCal Stores that do not have the Lucky Interior:
(original Albertsons)
Grass Valley
Chico
Paradise
Citrus Heights (Antelope Rd.)
Sacramento (Truxel)
Jackson
Vacaville (both locations)
Fresno
Clovis
Kingsburg
Visalia

(former Lucky)
Sacramento (Fair Oaks)
Sacramento (Gerber)
Auburn
Sacramento (Folsom Blvd.)
Placerville (Missouri Flat Road)
Truckee
Tahoe City
Merced
Tracy
Oakley
Petaluma (Lakeview)
San Bruno
Santa Clara
Milpitas (Blvd.)

(new construction since merger)
Rocklin
San Francisco (Fulton)
San Pablo
Vallejo
Concord

Additions/correctons to this list are encouraged.

I can think of another former Lucky with the current Albertsons interior; that would be the ex-Alpha Beta in Milpitas.

The other one I am thinking of is the location in Camellia Center on Folsom Boulevard in east Sacramento.

The Albertsons that's currently open in Merced is a new build for them. The former Lucky was down Olive, in the center with Gottschalk's. It was originally built as a Sav-On, then converted to Lucky. Somehow Save Mart got ahold of it and remodeled it into their "non-look". The exterior still has the odd Sav-On architecture with the angled side entrances and odd protrusions into the roofline.