An anonymous commentor over on the Largo Albertsons post just tipped me off to this news. It's official, as of May 28, 2015, there will be only three Albertsons left in Florida: Largo, Oakland Park, and Altamonte Springs. News just broke about this today, and I don't have the time tonight to do a full post with complete information and commentary, but I should have a much more detailed post going up tomorrow evening about the news. In the mean time, here's a link to an article from the Tampa Bay Times about the closing, although details are vague at the moment.
Also, is there anybody out there who will be in the Clearwater area in the next month to get some photos of this store before it closes on May 28th? I doubt I'll be able to make it there in person, and this was the first Florida Albertsons that started it all.
Anyway, more to come on this soon,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
Damn. That sucks. Guess the "something's gonna give" finally came through?
ReplyDeletePossibly. For now the other three stores are safe, but for who knows how long. I think the closing of this store might have had something to do with a new Walmart Neighborhood Market opening up across the street early last year and taking away many of the Albertsons shoppers. The future isn't looking so good anymore, although it really hasn't looked very good with the four stores either.
DeleteI was holding out that they would snag a Winn Dixie or two. Guess not. Trivia question: what Albertsons owned food brand (not Safeway or SuperValu) is marketed to Winn Dixie and Kroger, but to almost no Albertsons family stores?
ReplyDeleteThe answer is Praters, a brand United owns but supplies to other stores.
ReplyDeleteI would have never guessed that. I've never heard of Praters before. Next time I'm at Winn-Dixie I have to look for that. I guess the only reason Albertsons still has that brand is because it came from United, who didn't come along until Supervalu was almost out of the picture. Who knows what Albertsons has planned for Florida at this point. Maybe they're now going to try to find a replacement site somewhere else in the state to have a fourth store once again. Either that or the other three stores are even closer to their doom.
DeleteThe other 3 stores will be remodeled!!
ReplyDeletehttp://m.bizjournals.com/tampabay/blog/morning-edition/2015/04/remaining-tampa-bay-albertsons-to-get-a-facelift.html
Finally, Albertsons is investing in Florida! I just put up a post about that article. I hope they'll give the three stores a decent remodel and give them the updated interiors after barely being touched since the early 2000's. Publix has remodeled most of their stores three times since then. This is going to be interesting. I wonder if this may be the beginning of something. That article also confirms that the remaining Florida stores are a part of New Albertsons' Houston Division. Sidney Hopper, although being mentioned in the article as being 'President of Albertsons Florida Division', is actually the president of the Houston Division.
DeleteI work in Pinellas and can swing by 4301. Specifically what pictures are you seeking of the store?
ReplyDeleteI'll see what I can do with my older dumbphone camera or perhaps I can borrow wife's camera. :)
Any photos you can provide of the exterior and/or interior of the store that you would like to provide would be great, whatever you feel comfortable taking.
DeleteWhat décor does tis store have? If I were to guess, I would say Marketplace, but I have never been here, so I wouldn't know.
ReplyDeleteIt has the Blue and Gray Marketplace interior from the late 80's/early 90's, however at some point it was repainted and made the 'Green and Yellow Marketplace' interior (walls were painted yellow and the letters were painted dark green).
DeleteIt was actually painted in 2006. I was the Store Director there at that time. I hired the painters and picked the colors. My DM told me to use colors similar to what Publix was using at that time. Sad to see it go. Spent a lot of good years there. 25 to be exact.
DeleteThanks for the info! Now that you point it out, the Publix interior from that time was very yellow with the green accents. In the few photos I've seen from the interior of that store, the new colors did make the store feel a bit classier, and it looked really nice. It is sad to see a store close after over forty years in business, especially since Clearwater was the first Albertsons in the state. I'm sure that store had a loyal customer base, but considering the current state of Albertsons Florida, it was a feat for that store to have held on this long.
Delete