tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post2457970049549095561..comments2024-03-28T03:22:39.407-04:00Comments on Albertsons Florida Blog: Former Albertsons #4381 - Tamarac, FLAlbertsons Florida Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-26128842156726225642022-10-01T22:20:01.040-04:002022-10-01T22:20:01.040-04:00In terms of interiorIn terms of interiorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-42476559105281121362022-09-30T20:54:08.014-04:002022-09-30T20:54:08.014-04:00I think the Early 2000s remodel made the store loo...I think the Early 2000s remodel made the store look identical to TupeloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-2357436869163356242022-06-20T06:34:45.128-04:002022-06-20T06:34:45.128-04:00I do remember that North Fort Myers Family Mart/ K...I do remember that North Fort Myers Family Mart/ Kash n’Karry. It was home to a Flea Market some 20 years ago. I went inside it once and it had what appeared to be 90s K n’K department signage. I saw a commercial real estate listing for this building and from what I remember, it was built in 1985Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-36889970038999659972022-06-20T06:26:08.686-04:002022-06-20T06:26:08.686-04:00Yes. That Fort Myers Family Mart/ Kash n’ Karry bu...Yes. That Fort Myers Family Mart/ Kash n’ Karry building was home to a Flea Market for a few years. I went in there some 20 years ago and it still had what appeared to be 90s K n’ K department signage still on the walls. I remember seeing a commercial real estate listing for it and from what I remember, it was built in 1985.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-80582585764918964322022-06-18T15:08:19.820-04:002022-06-18T15:08:19.820-04:00It seems like this store did somewhat well to get ...It seems like this store did somewhat well to get as extensive of a remodel as it did in 2000, but maybe Winn-Dixie ended up pulling to much business from Albertsons after they opened, along with all the other factors plaguing the company in Florida at the time. If Albertsons was experimenting a lot with the colorful transition market decor, then it makes sense the signs were in a different font here, as explained by Anonymous in the comment above. Family Mart's decor was pretty bland compared to what Albertsons was using for decor at the time.<br /><br />I think Albertsons changed quite a bit inside the building during that remodel, if the changes to the exterior are any indication. Finding that admission by A&P that Family Mart was a rip-off of Albertsons makes a lot of sense, as the buildings were really similar to each other, so now we know why! The North Fort Myers ex-Family Mart is still there too (last I know), but sadly, even though the exterior is still pristine and original, the interior was fully gutted at some point.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-38713638007137493582022-06-18T15:01:38.230-04:002022-06-18T15:01:38.230-04:00That's very interesting you got to see the ins...That's very interesting you got to see the inside of this Albertsons in its original form! The colorful transition market decor is right for a 1989 opening, but the Bauhaus 93 font must have been the product from an older/rarer version. This interior photo of Family Mart shows plain all-caps text on the walls (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184374029@N02/49924037926), so the wall signs weren't a carry over from them, and Kroger's Bauhaus decor was long retired by 1989, so it had to be Albertsons who installed those signs. Very interesting information, and it's always nice to hear from people who actually got to experience these stores in person!Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-79625833665727136632022-06-18T14:56:22.367-04:002022-06-18T14:56:22.367-04:00I appreciate A&P's honesty, as I always th...I appreciate A&P's honesty, as I always thought the Family Mart buildings were weirdly reminiscent of Albertsons' buildings - now I know why! Still strange he was so blunt as to call Family Mart "plagarism", but I guess he felt if people liked Albertsons that much, that statement would entice people to try out Family Mart. That's funny Kmart's name lives on in the address of that Food Lion, and in a similar way, there's still a shopping center in Orlando with addresses on "Woolco Way" in reference to the strip's former anchor! See here: https://goo.gl/maps/zE3Wv2WbLbMKuBxL8Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-49604115368080547992022-06-18T14:50:48.229-04:002022-06-18T14:50:48.229-04:00I was surprised he made such a bold confession too...I was surprised he made such a bold confession too, but I guess you can't copyright or patent a supermarket format, so it's not like Albertsons could have legally come after A&P for any reason by him saying that. Even though these stores were a blatant rip-off, this was the only Floridian Family Mart that became an Albertsons, since Kash n' Karry snatched most of these buildings from Kroger. It would have been interesting to see what Albertsons did to this place following the conversion, but they were content to use the rip-off design nearly unaltered for 10 years after moving in! Certainly an interesting intersection, with all the strange supermarket stores to be found here.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-10140395318144439682022-06-18T14:44:34.311-04:002022-06-18T14:44:34.311-04:00A&P was in decline for much of their last 50 y...A&P was in decline for much of their last 50 years in operation, with better run competition squeezing out their outdated stores and lots of prototypes that didn't seem to stick (like "Future Store"). It was probably for the best Albertsons didn't buy A&P, even in the 1980's or 1990's when A&P had a larger footprint, as the company was in a downward spiral even then. A&P pulled out of New Orleans not long after buying those stores from Albertsons too, and I'm still amazed A&P kept that isolated New Orleans division for so long too.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-65021342374142684872022-06-18T14:38:03.789-04:002022-06-18T14:38:03.789-04:00Kroger only had 9 months or so with this building,...Kroger only had 9 months or so with this building, so I doubt they had much time to change a whole lot around. Family Mart and Albertsons are definitely more grocery stores than anything, not really trying to be a true supercenter but more of a "grocery store with a little more to offer". Albertsons and Family Mart never sold clothing as far as I'm aware, and instead offered small (but on the larger side for a supermarket) automotive, electronics, and pharmacy departments. Kroger Family Center seemed to skew more toward being something like a Fred Meyer than Family Mart/Albertsons, as that old Kroger Family Center store looks to be the size of a Kmart! I know Kroger runs some large 100,000+ sqft. stores these days, but that must have been a crazy big grocery store back when it first opened!<br /><br />I don't know enough about Kroger to know how far beyond TX/LA the Family Centers went (if at all), but much like how Family Mart store the concept from Albertsons, they could very well have stolen their name from Kroger's concept! The "Kroger's" thing is weird, but maybe they were just trying to make some memorable marketing material based on what a lot of people tend to call the stores on their own (even though is isn't really the correct name of the store). Target probably wasn't large enough at the time that ad was printed to care if a company had a similar logo, but these days someone using that logo would certainly get in trouble from them!<br /><br />I wonder if Albertsons tried entering Houston at the same time as they did Dallas, if they'd have fared better. I know a lot of grocery chains failed in Houston even back then, but who knows, back in the 1970's Albertsons was different enough to have been somewhat memorable, so maybe they would have lasted longer than the actual expansion into Houston did!<br /><br />Aldi has remodeled just about every one of their remaining Florida stores to the new design like we saw here, with only one that I know of that still has yet to adopt it. I know the new design is rolling out nationally, but maybe Florida was a priority market to roll out the new model to since the stores do really well here. The drop ceiling here is just a vestige of the building's age, and would have been ripped out in the last remodel if there was a way to.<br /><br />Pretty much every one of my experiences with dd's has been through photographing a former Albertsons store while on the road. I really don't know how the pricing compares to Ross, but the products the stores carry are pretty similar overall, just with different price stickers. dd's is probably a way for Ross to weed out some of the junkier product from their own namesake stores, and clear it out of their system faster. Like with Ross the dd's stores tend to vary a bit in cleanliness, but this one wasn't bad.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-81892631525055937172022-06-13T14:31:12.106-04:002022-06-13T14:31:12.106-04:00It looks like this store did very good business, a...It looks like this store did very good business, at least until about the early 2000's when they did that remodel; trying to redeem themselves. It would have been very interesting to have been able to visit here in January 1989 then this Family Mart/ Florida Choice reopened as Albertsons. I know from that one Family Mart interior photo I found from the newspapers, that Family Mart's interior decor was pretty blah. <br />During the Late 80's, to even the very early 90's, Albertsons was experimenting with that "colorful transition market' decor with the wooden borders around a color scheme for each department. <br /><br />Looking at those ceiling tiles and track lighting in your photos from the DD's side of the store, you would never have been able to distinguish between if this place had always been an Albertsons or started out as a Family Mart (not knowing either's history), because the early skaggs and trapezoid Albertsons stores all had that look. Apparently those guys at A&P were very interested in mirroring their Family Mart stores after Albertsons. That is an interesting bit of information that I had not realized prior to you sharing this post. Makes a lot of sense now though! Also, it is amazing at how long that Family Mart in North Fort Myers has been abandoned without being altered! (Hope I didn't jinx that one!). YonWooRetail2https://www.blogger.com/profile/08255107904539545011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-87848202371507948982022-06-13T03:11:43.615-04:002022-06-13T03:11:43.615-04:00Yes, I remember this Albertsons. When I lived in S...Yes, I remember this Albertsons. When I lived in South Florida, I passed by it many times in my childhood. I did go inside it one time in the late 90s…and I got a little tidbit of information for you…it had the multicolored “transformational market decor, but the lettering was in a different font (Bauhaus 93) that the other Albertsons locations. I actually did see the progress when they were renovating the store too…they did leave half of the river rock bands on the side of the building (where Aldi is now) intact when they remodeled (this is probably why there is still kind of a remnant of it present)<br /><br />As for that Winn Dixie across the street, I remember when they were building it and it just opened. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-60256431858220128402022-06-12T19:01:25.957-04:002022-06-12T19:01:25.957-04:00I find it crazy how the A&P executive blatantl...I find it crazy how the A&P executive blatantly called the Family Mart project "plagiarism"! It seems like stores will often come up with some excuse and not be that blunt.<br /><br />It's also funny how the plaza is still referred to as "Family Mart Shopping Center". I'm sure it doesn't help that the two anchors in the center are discount stores, but I've come across several Kmart centers which are still referred to as such. Just look at the address for <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/hMTeED8PqPNuTGmK7" rel="nofollow">this Food Lion</a>!<br /><br />As some of the others mentioned too, I'm surprised how Winn-Dixie went through the effort to begin a remodel just to stop halfway. What a waste!Sing Oil Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04329997295075025626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-4509045625843958252022-06-12T12:13:12.374-04:002022-06-12T12:13:12.374-04:00That's pretty bold for the A&P exec to adm...That's pretty bold for the A&P exec to admit Family Mart was a blatant ripoff of Albertsons! I guess it's fitting, then, that this location did indeed become an Albertsons in the end. That's also interesting that each of the big three Florida supermarket chains operated on this corner, but not all three at the same time! Very strange to see the aborted remodel at Winn-Dixie, and looking forward to the next post to see what all the Publix has to show us also...Retail Retellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12636351832804174132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-30216146808655385042022-06-12T11:32:26.604-04:002022-06-12T11:32:26.604-04:00A&P really dropped the ball over the years. Wh...A&P really dropped the ball over the years. While they were pushing out The Family Mart they still had hundreds of outdated stores that would never go anywhere for years. While this wasn't the last time Albertsons and A&P crossed paths with each other--A&P would buy Albertsons' stores when they left New Orleans in 2004...Albertsons almost bought A&P and its family of brands but ultimately went for about 80 stores or so that closed for a three-day reset.Pseudo3Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848368606946150471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-49842446893861862412022-06-12T01:25:24.180-04:002022-06-12T01:25:24.180-04:00This is a Krogertsons of a different kind! The Fa...This is a Krogertsons of a different kind! The Family Mart name reminds me a bit of Fed Mart and also more so of the old Kroger Family Center stores that we had in Houston. They were kind of an early Kroger Marketplace/Fred Meyer type store with clothing, automotive items, and so forth. Kroger gave up on the proto-supercenters in the 1980s only to return to the concept later on in part by buying out Fred Meyer. There are still some old Kroger Family Center stores in the eastern part of the Houston area and in East Texas which were converted into regular Kroger stores. Here is one in industrial east Houston suburb of Baytown which most certainly does not look like the average Kroger: https://goo.gl/maps/xA1WMKMowrAuvK9z6<br /><br />Here's a Kroger Family Center ad for Christmas toys in 1979 (it actually continues on for a few pages). There are a few strange things of note here. One, notice how Kroger is repeatedly referring to themselves as 'Kroger's' in the ad. I'm sure Retail Retell will be gasping about that! I suppose Kroger was having an identity crisis back then, lol. Also notice the toy whose maker's logo looks just like the Target logo! Finally, this ad has a listing of Texas and Louisiana Kroger Family Centers at the time (which might have been all of them in the country at that time, I'm not sure). Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1065763/m1/43/<br /><br />The concept of a plagiarized Albertsons is rather interesting! It does show how the Skaggs-Albertsons/Albertsons model was rather revolutionary at the time. I'm sure shoppers in Dallas knew this, but by the time Albertsons came to Houston, about the only thing revolutionary they had was their circular turntable 'conveyor belts'. Well, there was Grocery Palace later on I suppose!<br /><br />Once again, I must say that this Florida Aldi looks quite different from our usual Aldis. This one looks more spacious with more spaced out aisles and a drop ceiling to make the store look brighter than our very dark looking stores. This Aldi looks like an upgrade over our Aldis, but maybe this helps explain some of the success that Aldi has in Florida. It's not that Aldi isn't a success here, but they seem like a grocer nobody really talks about here in town. Aldi might be more useful in Florida to help combat against Publix and Winn-Dixie's very high prices.<br /><br />On the topic of low prices, I've never actually been to a dd's before, but we certainly do have them here. It does not appear that I am missing much by not shopping there. The idea of a downmarket Ross seems almost hard to believe. It's possible for something to be downmarket from Ross and not be one of those Amazon returned item stores? I guess so! That said, the dd's in your post looks better organized and less picked over than most of the Rosses I've seen around here so at least they have that going for them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com