Safeway remodels of acquired chains

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Ephrata1966
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Safeway remodels of acquired chains

Post by Ephrata1966 »

I would really like to know what Safeway's procedure was for remodeling Genuardi's, Randalls, Vons and other stores soon after those acquisitions. Which Genuardi's were selected for upgrades? Some that were brand new around 1999-2000 (like the old Food Fair in Cherry Hill, NJ) seem to have had their practically new decor scrapped. These same ones never got the Lifestyle package! And a couple stores with the standard late 90's Genuardi's look still have the last family decor today. Take the one in Feasterville, PA for example. With a couple circa 1996 stores it still seems like a mix of old and new, but no Lifestyle (like the Edgemont/Newtown Square unit that just closed). And the older batch (Glen Mills/Lansdale and earlier) seems to have been passed over, strangely. The Chesterbrook store from 1981 and the early Jeffersonville/North Wales stores have been sorely neglected. Chesterbrook just closed.
Super S
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Re: Safeway remodels of acquired chains

Post by Super S »

I can't speak of acquired chains, but where I live, two of the three local Safeway stores began life as something else, and they retain bits of the previous layout despite being converted to the Lifestyle format.

The Kelso, WA Safeway began life in 1989 as TOP Food & Drug (part of Haggen) The location of the Pharmacy, Bakery, and Deli are original to the TOP layout and did not change during the remodel a few years ago. Also worth noting is that this store retained its exposed beam "warehouse" ceiling instead of having a suspended ceiling installed during the remodel, but installed the updated lighting.

The Longview, WA Safeway on Ocean Beach Highway began life in the 1970s as PayLess Drug, and was a Keil's for a while. Safeway took over here in the mid-80s, and retained much of the Keil's interior with the exception of wall repainting, etc. until a few years ago when the store was expanded to the east, and completely gutted. Most of the store layout changed, however, the Pharmacy remains in the left front (as you enter) corner of the store. I believe this is due to the fact that this location has a drive-thru Pharmacy window which is somewhat uncommon for Safeway. This store had the old suspended ceiling removed, and a completely new one installed.
klkla
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Re: Safeway remodels of acquired chains

Post by klkla »

Ephrata1966 wrote:I would really like to know what Safeway's procedure was for remodeling Genuardi's, Randalls, Vons and other stores soon after those acquisitions.
The Vons acquisition was made many years before the others. Vons had been pretty aggressive remodeling the stores before the acquisition so they didn't need to do very many initially, especially considering they were not going to rename the stores. As time progressed and remodels became due they simply remodeled them using existing Safeway protypes with the exception of Pavilions. Later, when the lifestyle format debuted even the Pavilions stores assumed the Safeway protoype design.

Safeway greatly overpaid for Dominick's and Randall's/Tom Thumb stores and both investments went sour pretty quickly due largely to Safeway's mismanagement. As a result the vast majority of stores did not get remodeled for a long period of time as Safeway tried unsuccessfully to unload both chains. Once Safeway finally weeded out the stores that were unprofitable and resigned themselves to keeping the rest of the stores they began to remodel them into the lifestyle format (a process that is ongoing) with Safeway moving all three brands to a more upscale position in the market.

Genuardi's was acquired just as the Dominick's/Randall's/Tom Thumb fiasco began and I understand they initially decided not to make too many changes and risk angering existing customers as they had done in Illinois and Texas. What happened after that I don't know but I would assume they are gradually phasing in lifestylye remodels by now.
Ephrata1966
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Re: Safeway remodels of acquired chains

Post by Ephrata1966 »

I thought Safeway bought part of Vons in 1988 or something. Around the same time, the Safeways in Southern California became Vons. The full acquisition was in 1997. Randalls/Tom Thumb was added in 1999. Genuardi's was in 2000-2001.
klkla
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Re: Safeway remodels of acquired chains

Post by klkla »

Ephrata1966 wrote:I thought Safeway bought part of Vons in 1988 or something. Around the same time, the Safeways in Southern California became Vons. The full acquisition was in 1997. Randalls/Tom Thumb was added in 1999. Genuardi's was in 2000-2001.
Vons bought Safeway's Southern California division in 1988 for around $250,000,000 plus 30% of Vons outstanding shares with an agreement not to buy more than 5% additional shares for five years. In 1993 they began buying more stock and took some seats on the Vons board. Vons also began carrying Safeway private label items (offered in addition to or replacing Vons items, especially Safeway Select) in these years and Safeway continually increased it's influence in the management of the company. By 1997 they acquired all the stock and Vons offifically became part of Safeway.

Dominick's was bought later in 1998. As you mention Randalls/Tom Thumb was added in 1999. Safeway had already owned a small interest in Genuardi's for five years when they officially acquired the chain in 2000.
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