NorCal Albertsons/PayLess combos

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norcalraclerk

NorCal Albertsons/PayLess combos

Post by norcalraclerk »

In the 1960's and 1970's,Albertsons first entered Northern California;and basically all of their stores built in NorCal during that era were twinned with "PayLess Super Drug Stores."Most of the initial NorCal Albertsons from that era were replaced,shuttered,or sold off(to Lucky);and the only ABS/PayLess combo that continues to operate fully intact without tenant chages for either half(though with RiteAid as the official successor-in-interest to PayLess)in the twin at Rohnert Park's Northbay Centre on Commerce Boulevard.

Of course,there are even a greater number in which the ABS became something else,but with the former PayLess still operating under the Rite Aid branding(though in some cases the ex-Payless got a downsize remodel creating additional storefronts).They are(current ABS-half tenant in parentheses):
  • *Douglas Boulevard @ Sunrise Avenue in Roseville(Office Depot)
    *Watt Avenue @ Arden Way in Sacramento(PetSmart)
    *Florin Road @ Franklin Boulevard(likely vacant,most recently Heilig-Myers)
    *North Wilson Way @ Waterloo Road in Stockton(S-Mart)
    *California Street(Shade Tree Plaza)in Woodland(unknown)
    *Contra Costa @ Monument boulevards in Pleasant Hill(Smart and Final)(possibly either demolished/rebuilt or heavily remodeled,it was originally built in the early to mid 1960's)
    *Grant Road @ El Camino Real in Mountain View(Marshall's)
    *Concar Drive @ Delaware Street in San Mateo(Ross)
There are even a couple of instances in which both the ABS and ex-PayLess became something else:
  • *San Juan Avenue @ Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights(This was also a 1960's era one.The original ABS was shuttered in mid-1980 and was largely vacant before it was demolished for a new ABS unit a couple years later.The second ABS at the site would be sold to Ralphs in 1999 and shutter as one in 2002,laying vacant for a couple of years before being taken over by the current OSH.The former PayLess became a Rite Aid which lasted as one until shuttering spring 2004,becoming vacant for a year and a half before recently becoming an indoor antique mall.)
    *Regional Street(Dublin Plaza)in Dublin(Built in the 1970's,this surprisingly avoided tenant changes until the late 1990's:The ABS operated as is until 1999 when it was sold to Ralphs,and lasted as one until the dawn of 2005.The PayLess became a Rite Aid,but was sold to Longs in fall 1999 and continues to operate as one.)
Finally there were a few demolished for redevelopment:

*Lincoln Center South(Pacific Avenue @ Benjamin Holt Drive)in Stockton(This was also a 1960's one.The ABS became a S-Mart which shuttered a few years back;while the PayLess survived as Rite Aid,since relocated as per the next sentence.Earlier this decade after the S-Mart shuttered,the Rite Aid relocated to a smaller pad in the same center,then the old ABS/PayLess was demolished for the present Safeway on its former site.)
*San Pablo Dam Road(between I-80 and San Pablo Avenue)in San Pablo:I don't know what went in the original Albertsons half,but the original ABS/PayLess building was razed in the early 1990's.Its former site is now part of the parking lot for the present-day San Pablo Town Center that not only was built around(to the sides)the original ABS/PayLess building,but replaced it.As for the current SPTC anchors,the Lucky is ironically now an Albertsons/SavOn,while the PayLess(built to replace the original one on that site)became a Rite Aid,but was sold in 1999 to Longs(and still operates as one to this very day).
*Alemany Boulevard(near the northern I-280/SR-1 junction)in San Francisco:Built in the late 1960's,the ABS became a Lucky a decade later only to ironically revert to Albertsons branding in 1999 upon the ABS/ASC merger;while the PayLess transitioned to Rite Aid.In 2000,the ABS/PayLess building was razed for the present Oceanview Village(a high rise apartment and retail complex that ironically includes new ABS and Rite Aid stores that replaced the originals).

Additionally there was one in Fremont's Beacon Plaza(on State Street),but I don't know what happened to that one,as it's not even in the online listing.

I've based this listing on info from the thread I created on the old board over a year ago,as well as new info gathered since then.There may be discrepancies(including possible missed locations),but feel free to reply if there are any...
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storewanderer
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Post by storewanderer »

I may be thinking of the wrong store but I think the Wilson Way S-Mart closed. It still had the old Albertsons interior and was rather run down inside with many cracked tiles around the perimeter departments, lots of old refrigeration, etc.

Were there any of these combos in Fresno?

Also wasn't there one in Roseville on Douglas where there is a current RAD and an ODP now? I was told the Granite Bay Albertsons at Sierra College and Douglas (now closed) was a relocation of that store.

But I recall the Rite Aid in that center opening as Payless in 1997 or something. Had Payless left there and Rite Aid decided to re-open in the center?

Oddly in the late 70's in Sparks, NV a center was built with an ABS and a Payless, but Payless quickly left and Longs moved in. Payless also closed their Reno Store at that time which occupied part of an old discount store or something. Both stores still have the large Payless-shaped signs out by the road. I should get pictures.
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Daniel
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Post by Daniel »

I don't have anything other than a hunch, but I suspect there was an Albertsons/Payless combo in Clovis. At the corner of Willow & Shaw there was a Payless Super Drug paired up with the independent Bad Boy Market. I always suspected the market was a chain of some sort, but as we didn't start going there until 1987 or 1988 whatever traces of Albertson's that might've remained were long gone. I just remember the interior was a pattern of yellow, orange and brown stripes that criss-crossed around the whole store, with white wall lettering in a western type font.

They remodeled the store in 1990, and closed about 3 years later. It's now a 98c store, while the Payless half has been subdivided into a Liquor Barn, Baby Store and an Aaron's Rent to Own. The Payless was still in the 80's configuration, with the pink and turquoise stripes on the walls. It was rebranded as Rite Aid for about a year. During that time, the areas where the shoes, clothes and linens were was basically empty, they put huge displays of soda 12 packs and plastic wading pools to make it look like there was merchandise where there really wasn't, lol.
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Post by justin karimzad »

The Payless in Fremont at 39155 State St was in existence at least as far back as 1968 and open at least as late as 1995. One person told me that it then became a Nob Hill Foods that has since closed, and is now vacant.
There was also an Albertson's/Payless combo in Modesto, CA at 2401 Mchenry Ave, that I'm inclined to think is from the 1960s. The Albertson's became another market (Michaelangelo's, maybe?), then a Michael's arts and crafts store, and the last time I checked a clothing store. The former Payless is still a Rite Aid that has only been downsized by having shelves placed in such a way as to block the rest of the space.
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Post by justin karimzad »

After looking at a satellite view of the Fremont Payless location on Google Maps, it appears that the building has been demolished, and only the empty parking lot remains.
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Post by Super S »

There were quite a few strip malls in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho that at one time had both Albertsons and PayLess Drug. I have also seen a few that were Safeway and PayLess. There was one on State Street in Boise, Idaho as I recall where a strip mall (Plantation shopping center) had an Albertsons and PayLess. Albertsons built a new store across the street in a strip mall that originally had a Skaggs Drug Store, which became Osco, then PayLess took over the Boise Osco stores and Payless moved across the street.

Also in Boise, there was (not sure if still there) a former marina-style Safeway across from the original Albertsons location which for a number of years was a Skaggs, then Osco, PayLess, and Rite Aid.

If I recall, Albertsons at one time would never put a pharmacy in their store if it was in a strip mall with PayLess or another drug store, whether chain or independent.
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Albertsons/Payless

Post by storeliker »

For years and years there was a big Payless House of values on one side of the mall and an Albertsons at the other end. Ehe Albertsons closed in early seventies and became a JC Penny later while the Payless lasted and lasted and thrived for years. It was a big store and really was a House Of Values. It was the last store to vacate the mall in the late eighties. and move across the street to the other redone mall and Payless was then very very small which I think was because it was a different corp. It later became a Rite Aid I think next door to the where an Albertsons is thriving that was later built in the early nineties across from where it went out of business in the seventies. Weird to watch both stores evenetually go across the street.
Standing where Payless House of values was is a Walmart that is ten years old and is now moving across the freeway to open a Superstore and spot where Albersons was was also tore down and Safeway from the other end of street moved there to have a stand alone store next door to Walmart. The Safeway too was only about ten years old before it moved to new locale where Albertsons once was. ( It is the fifth move and think it was in at least two more locales since it says serving since 23 out front. I think they were banking on all the Canadians to come down and shop since the stores up there are so huge now near the borders. Also Dennys, Taco Bell, KFC have all moved to new locales, across the streets from where they were.
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Post by storewanderer »

I thought of a few more:

Watt/Elkhorn, North Highlands. RAD is still open. Albertsons closed as Ralphs in mid 2005.

Folsom/Zinfandel, Rancho Cordova. RAD closed in 1999. Albertsons is long closed and is now a Ross. Similar L set up to Woodland.
norcalraclerk

Post by norcalraclerk »

storewanderer wrote:I thought of a few more:

Watt/Elkhorn, North Highlands. RAD is still open. Albertsons closed as Ralphs in mid 2005.

Folsom/Zinfandel, Rancho Cordova. RAD closed in 1999. Albertsons is long closed and is now a Ross. Similar L set up to Woodland.
I've been wondering about the Folsom/Zinfandel one myself.Would that make the now-defunct Ralphs on Sunrise/Coloma an ABS-days relocation(1970's or early 1980's)?
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Post by storewanderer »

I'm also thinking East Stanley in Livermore for a combo... present Nob Hill/Rite Aid center.

Not sure when that Sunrise/Colma Albertsons came to be. What grocer was at Sunrise and Winding? Was that an Albertsons?
norcalraclerk

Post by norcalraclerk »

storewanderer wrote:I'm also thinking East Stanley in Livermore for a combo... present Nob Hill/Rite Aid center.

Not sure when that Sunrise/Colma Albertsons came to be. What grocer was at Sunrise and Winding? Was that an Albertsons?
As far as I know,I don't know if there was ever a supermarket at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard at Winding Way in Fair Oaks.I could be wrong...

As for Livermore,I initially had doubts about it;as none of the current Livermore Rite Aid locations(at least 2 in the city,IIRC)have Stanley Boulevard street addys(though the current Nob Hill,initially ABS and later Ralphs does)according to its online store locator database.Upon finding that one had a Murietta Boulevard address in the "Peppertree Plaza"(I'm sure Stanley doesn't intersect with Vasco Road.),I decided to do some research offline:Upon consulting my copy of the 2005 Bay Area Metro Thomas Guide and finding that the Peppertree Plaza is on the SE corner of Stanley and Murietta boulevards,I do now believe that ABS and PayLess were in that center.Additionally,I remember that in either a news story or press release announcing the relocation of the Nob Hill from its former location in at the old Lucky on Pacific and Railroad avenues,it stated that the now-current Nob Hill location(the ex-ABS/Ralphs)is 33,000 SF in size,which would likely put a 1970's construction/opening date on the Peppertree Plaza...

As for North Highlands,I didn't initally mention it because that shopping center was built around 1984-1985(after the formerly-separate PayLess chains in California and the Pacific Northwest had merged).Ditto for the current 80's era ABS/Rite Aid center on Tupelo @ Antelope off I-80 in NW Citrus Heights(similar status to,though obviously newer than,the still-intact Rohnert Park twin from the 70's)...
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Post by TheStranger »

Super S wrote:
Also in Boise, there was (not sure if still there) a former marina-style Safeway across from the original Albertsons location which for a number of years was a Skaggs, then Osco, PayLess, and Rite Aid.
This looks like the building:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... 4&t=h&om=1
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Sunrise/Winding

Post by J-Man »

What grocer was at Sunrise and Winding? Was that an Albertsons?


As far as I know,I don't know if there was ever a supermarket at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard at Winding Way in Fair Oaks.I could be wrong.
Do you mean Sunrise and Winding or Sunrise and Fair Oaks? I believe the building on the southwest corner of Sunrise and Fair Oaks began as a Safeway, but didn't last very long as a supermarket. I can't even think of where Winding intersects with Sunrise. I thought Winding dead-ended at San Juan, where there's a fairly old Raley's.
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Livermore, Calif.-Albertson's/Pay Less Drug combo.

Post by Jason B. »

As discussed in previous replies, there was a Albertson's/Pay Less Drug combination at Stanley Blvd./Murietta Blvd. in Livermore, Calif. from the early 1980s to late 1990s.

Until the late 1970s, the Holdener Drive-In Dairy was located at the site of the shopping center. I believe that the Albertson's was the first business to locate in the new shopping center that replaced the Holdener dairy. The Albertson's opened in 1981 and was the first Albertson's in Livermore. Eventually the Pay Less Drug building was constructed in the shopping center; this occurred sometime in the early 1980s. When Pay Less opened next to the Albertson's, the former Pay Less closed in the shopping center at the southeasterly corner of Chestnut Ave. and P Street. The old Pay Less (at Chestnut/P) was previously a "Value Giant" store.

The Pay Less at Stanley/Murietta became a Rite-Aid in the late 1990s. Circa 1999, the Albertson's at Stanley/Murietta became a Ralphs (Albertson's divested this location at the time of the Albertson's/Lucky merger). In late 2002, the Ralphs closed and was immediately replaced with Nob Hill Foods (Raley's chain), which re-located from the shopping center at Pacific/S. Livermore Ave., where it had been located since April 1983.
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Fremont ABS/Payless

Post by TheQuestioner »

Two questions:

Was the Payless drug chain that teamed up with Albertsons the California chain or the Pacific Northwest chain? I know there were two Payless chains that eventually merged before being absorbed by Rite-Aid.

The State St. ABS store building in Fremont has been gone for at least five years. I think that has been a vacant lot since at least 2000. Note sure why it hasn't been put to some use since then. I was told that it used to be Alpha-Beta. I am not sure if A-B took over any of those NorCal ABS stores, I had heard Lucky took most of them. Nob Hill Foods seems a little unlikely to me for that spot, since there is a Raley's (that has been there a while) in a nearby shopping center about a block north of there. Raley's and Nob Hill have been one chain for a while, so it seems unlikely they would have two stores so close to one another.

ANyone know for sure on this location? I don't know too many people who have lived near Fremont earlier than the early 90's, so I doubt I'll be able to get any more clarification on any of this.
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