tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post8407807657430398799..comments2024-03-28T03:22:39.407-04:00Comments on Albertsons Florida Blog: Former Albertsons #4484 - Palmetto, FLAlbertsons Florida Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-36201726785463778672021-03-10T21:11:30.241-05:002021-03-10T21:11:30.241-05:00Interesting! Looking at pictures of the Orange-Eas...Interesting! Looking at pictures of the Orange-East Chapman store on Google Maps, the Blue and Green Awnings décor doesn’t look too bad in one of these early 2000’s Albertsons stores. That décor is a bit dated by modern standards, but it still looks presentable in that store. Albertsons #4495 in Orlando would have been identical to the East Chapman store when it opened, as that one used the Jewel-Osco layout and opened with Blue and Green Awnings too.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-43969894760379185522021-03-10T21:11:10.069-05:002021-03-10T21:11:10.069-05:00Yes – I remember those photos (and the cake too!)....Yes – I remember those photos (and the cake too!). While early Grocery Palace stores typically averaged in the 55,000 square foot range, getting into the 2002-2004 timeframe, the stores began to get larger, hitting 60,000+ square feet on average. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Palmetto Albertsons had 23 aisles originally, with Publix spreading out the aisles after the conversion to hide the extra space they couldn’t fill.<br /><br />I’d be surprised if this wasn’t a successful store for Albertsons. The location was great and competition was minimal on this side of town, and I think Albertsons success is what may have drawn Publix to this building in the end. Up until the big purge in 2012, Bradenton/Sarasota was home to 3 of the 17 remaining Albertsons stores in Florida, which is a decent presence for a company down to so few stores at the time. Albertsons had quite a bit of success on this piece of the Gulf Coast, although it still wasn’t enough to save the Florida division in the end.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-83055834429917048792021-03-10T21:10:45.450-05:002021-03-10T21:10:45.450-05:00Albertsons opened a lot of new stores at the turn ...Albertsons opened a lot of new stores at the turn of the 2000’s, with the growth beginning to drop after many of the divisions began to fail come 2002 or so (like Memphis, Houston, Oklahoma, etc.) I think Albertsons was opening so many stores at the time come 2002, with many divisions teetering on the edge, that Grocery Palace simply became too expensive to install on such a widespread basis. I don’t know this for sure, but that’s my theory as to why Blue and Green Awnings had its brief revival.<br /><br />It's really hard to know for sure if an Albertsons opened in 2002 had Grocery Palace or Blue and Green Awnings without seeing a picture from the time the store was open. I only know this store had Blue and Green Awnings because the stores opened both before and after it had that décor, and YonWoo may have tracked down a picture of this store with Blue and Green Awnings visible in it. The exterior designs and layouts in these Blue and Green Awning stores were identical to their Grocery Palace counterparts, so that doesn’t leave any clues either. It looks like Big Lots and 99 Cents Only completely rebuilt the interior of that building, so the décor from Albertsons will have to remain a mystery for now.<br /><br />When it comes to running large stores, Kroger and Publix are polar opposites. Kroger loves to build their stores as big as possible, with non-Marketplace stores going over 100,000 square feet. That being said, Kroger can find plenty to cram into a 60,000 square foot former Albertsons, with the store possibly feeling small to Kroger! Publix hates big stores, as they rarely build anything over 55,000 square feet themselves. Since Publix prefers a smaller building, you can sometimes tell Publix is really overwhelmed by all the extra space. That HEBertsons was quite interesting, especially since it still retains the Grocery Palace layout too!<br /><br />The flooring in the Publixsons is really nice, as I like the border Publix installed into the perimeter, which transitions into the fake terrazzo. As for those independent grocers you mention, all I’ll say about Detwiler’s is that store is really neat, and come back for my next post!<br /><br />Those are some interesting clips you found there! I haven’t seen those before. The one with the Colorful Transition Market Albertsons is interesting, as there isn’t a lot of documentation of that décor out there since it disappeared so long ago. It was basically a modified version of Blue and Gray Market with more colors and some different fonts. The Skaggs-Albertsons footage and the interior video of the Marina Safeway was interesting too. You don’t ever see much from Sam’s Club’s early days, so that was an interesting video too!Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-61211567368045659432021-03-10T21:09:26.520-05:002021-03-10T21:09:26.520-05:00Hey, if you can’t beat writer’s block, I guess wri...Hey, if you can’t beat writer’s block, I guess writing about writer’s block is the next best thing! 😊 But yes, besides a few very minor tweaks, the layout of this store is identical to what Albertsons had. Publix reopened this store after only a few months’ transition period, so there wasn’t time to do anything crazy here. As far as conversions are concerned, it’s actually fairly common for Publix to take over a competitor’s store and do practically nothing to the layout. The vast majority of the Albertsons stores Publix has taken over have seen very little modification to the original layout, even after all these years (as usually tear downs and rebuilds will happen if Publix is really that unhappy with one of these stores). Publix might change the look of a department (like what happened with the bakery here), but rarely will they bother to move a department somewhere else.<br /><br />It would have really thrown me off stepping into this store when Albertsons was here, seeing Blue and Green Awnings instead of Grocery Palace. This design was developed specifically for Grocery Palace, so anything but that décor would have been really odd to see with this layout! I still find it weird how that décor had the short-lived early 2000’s revival, as you rarely hear of a décor package getting revived like that.Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-50511430243128776952021-03-10T21:08:58.520-05:002021-03-10T21:08:58.520-05:00Thanks! Besides this store, the only other time I’...Thanks! Besides this store, the only other time I’ve experienced a Publix with 20 or more aisles was at the Parrish Publixsons, which is right down the road from here and essentially an exact clone of this store. 15-17 aisles seems to be Publix’s sweet spot, with any counts higher than that only being found in buildings acquired from someone else. I’ll keep those other places in mind next time I’m out that way, although the Bradenton Common store will a definite stop for me, as that’s an old Jewel-Osco and Albertsons!Albertsons Florida Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350708223049245195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-4661059266127878432021-03-10T02:59:44.759-05:002021-03-10T02:59:44.759-05:00Here's just a quick addition to my earlier com...Here's just a quick addition to my earlier comments. I did some searching on a great website that has an archive of all kinds of media from the North Texas (Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex) area including news clips from decades ago. In there, I found some old TV news clips involving Albertsons which might be of interest to you and your readers since I know old videos from inside Albertsons are kind of rare.<br /><br />1. Here's a great clip from 1991 showing many parts of an Albertsons store. I'm not familiar with this decor package, but I'm guessing this is Colorful Transitions given the gradients? Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc993713/m1/<br /><br />2. Here's some indoor video from 2001 of a Blue & Grey Market Albertsons. Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1505305/m1/<br /><br />3. Here's some extended outdoor video from the outside of a Skaggs Albertsons in 1977. Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1128656/m1/<br /><br />Here are some non-Albertsons videos which might be of interest:<br /><br />4. Here's a 1984 news clip about Kmart selling banking services in Texas. There's a line in the clip that these were not doing as well in Texas as they did in Florida. I suppose Sears wasn't the only one with a 'Socks & Stocks' retail strategy in the 1980s! Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1175842/m1/<br /><br />5. Here are some interior views of a Safeway Marina store in 1984. Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1244550/m1/<br /><br />6. A Sam's Club store...in 1983! Link: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1162064/m1/<br /><br />Anyway, I hope you enjoy these. I'm sure you'll like the Albertsons clips if nothing else if you have not seen them before! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-52893707743476924602021-03-09T18:48:04.207-05:002021-03-09T18:48:04.207-05:00619_mitch, cool! I didn't spend too much time ...619_mitch, cool! I didn't spend too much time at that store and didn't even notice the abandoned Garden Center. I think I might be wrong about the opening date of central point's store , #3595, only being two digits from the Ross Ln. store in Medford makes me think it opened at nearly the same time, in 2000 maybe.YonWooRetail2https://www.blogger.com/profile/08255107904539545011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-73359325315901537592021-03-09T14:44:37.443-05:002021-03-09T14:44:37.443-05:00Central Point had a now-abandoned garden center. Central Point had a now-abandoned garden center. 619_mitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07305454301726669911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-86008452454253490672021-03-08T17:16:00.226-05:002021-03-08T17:16:00.226-05:00There were 2 early 2000's Albertsons built in ...There were 2 early 2000's Albertsons built in SoCal with Blue & Green Awnings: <br />San Diego-City Heights was built as part of an "urban renewal" project in 2001. It closed in 2014 and is now an El Super (Mexican supermarket). It had the same layout as 4466. <br />Orange-East Chapman was built in 2002. It it still open with its original decor. Interior layout is similar to a Jewel-Osco built around the same time. 619_mitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07305454301726669911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-8886755024935218782021-03-08T09:21:07.876-05:002021-03-08T09:21:07.876-05:00*Out*OutRetail Foreverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15673462441621235045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-32833246141043751842021-03-07T22:59:14.754-05:002021-03-07T22:59:14.754-05:00What a nice Publixsons! You may recall on my trip ...What a nice Publixsons! You may recall on my trip to Oregon and Utah in 2018, I visited 2 stores in the Medford area. The one on Ross Ln (store #3593) in Medford opened in 1999 with Grocery Palace. I also visited store #3595 in neighboring Central Point seen here:https://flic.kr/p/26yxFav. I have a feeling that store opened in either 2001 or 2002 like this Palmetto Albertsons, and must have had the Blue and Green Awnings decor package. The reason I point that Oregon store out is that it had 23 aisles! Those Albertsons stores were huge in the early 2000's. I think it's odd that Publix cant figure out a way to utilize that space, but they do. <br />Man was this store busy as an Albertsons (all the way up to 2008)! I really think it sucks that Albertsons couldn't figure out a better distribution network to keep obviously profitable stores like this one, #4304, #4466, and Largo opened longer. The Tampa Bay Region, especially Pinellas and Manatee Counties were Albertsons two best regions in Florida from what I have been able to tell. These areas had so much competition too-from not only Publix, but Winn-Dixie and Kash 'n Karry (Sweetbay). The fact that Albertsons held what I think was the number 2 grocery position in Pinellas County during the early 2000's tells me that they were very strong at one time. Ian Woodshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02890075405168867484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-59545045605141068432021-03-07T20:11:50.269-05:002021-03-07T20:11:50.269-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Retail Foreverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15673462441621235045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-74037626002688165582021-03-07T19:46:55.647-05:002021-03-07T19:46:55.647-05:00It is interesting to see a Publixsons of this age ...It is interesting to see a Publixsons of this age because 2002 would be the last year that Albertsons opened a new location in Houston. Technically, I think Albertsons only opened one store here in 2002 (they left town in 2003 I think), but there were several store openings in 2000-2001. With that in mind, I didn't realize that Albertsons went back to the Blue & Green Awnings decor after the Grocery Palace came out. I wonder why that happened. Perhaps the Grocery Palace decor was just too expensive and/or not well-received by the public? <br /><br />I did think that maybe the Grocery Palace was the wrong decor for Albertsons at the time in Houston because the biggest problem Albertsons had in this market is a perception that their prices were too high. Around that same time, HEB was expanding in Houston and were building some of their first regular, non-Pantry stores here in Houston. HEB used decor that was the definition of austere, which they still use today, and I think that helped communicate their low price message. Poor Albertsons, they just couldn't get it right with decor here in Houston. The Blue & Grey Market was just too plain compared to the Randall's and neon Kroger stores they competed with and the Grocery Palace might have been too much. Perhaps Albertsons thought Awnings was the right compromise between the two. It's hard to say.<br /><br />Speaking of all of this, I assumed that the lastest-built Albertsons in town (that I know of) would have had the Grocery Palace decor, but maybe that isn't the case. That Albertsons is now a Big Lots and a 99 Cents Only location. While the Big Lots very much looks like an Albertsons on the outside, I don't see much evidence of it looking like Albertsons on the inside: https://goo.gl/maps/7Sq2GT3imE7yZ9ENA<br /><br />As far as this Palmetto Publixsons goes, it does look like. I agree with you and Retail Retell that the CM3.0 decor looks nice here and it probably looks nice just about anywhere. It's a little strange to me to see an ex-Albertsons of this vintage looking spaced out as Publix keeps it because Krogertsons of similar vintage are usually the opposite. Krogertsons are usually smaller than the stores Kroger built themselves in the 1990s-early 2000s. At least it feels that way. The same is true with HEBertsons. In case you have not seen an HEBertsons, here's one. This is a rare Houston HEB with floor covering: https://goo.gl/maps/ivL5nc5BDoJcGEKJ7<br /><br />About the only trace of Albertsons I could find inside is this tiled wall: https://goo.gl/maps/HhPde8bZnhfR4FBFA<br /><br />The local Grocery Palace Krogertsons more or less has the somewhat limited selection of products that one usually finds at surviving Greenhouse Krogers. Oddly enough, the local Blue & Grey era Krogertsons has a slightly more expanded selection of offerings, in frozen food especially, as compared to the ex-Grocery Palace store.<br /><br />I really like the flooring pattern Publix uses at the Palmetto store near the customer service desk and in other corners of the store. That's pretty neat. I really miss grocers who take flooring seriously! <br /><br />Although I didn't remember the name specifically, I did end up in Palmetto while exploring interesting independent grocers in Florida several months ago. The Detwiler's Farm Market there looks like a knockoff Sprouts with their early 2010s decor (or maybe Srrouts knocked off Detwiler's, lol): https://g.page/detwilersmarketpalmetto?share<br /><br />Check out those outstanding user ratings for Detwiler's! They make Publix's Google ratings look like a dumpy Winn-Dixie in comparison!<br /><br />The Ellenton Acapulco Tropical y Mas is pretty neat, but you've done a MFR post about that recently. For some reason, their website says that location is in Bradenton. I don't know why.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-67537994444302375842021-03-07T18:23:40.003-05:002021-03-07T18:23:40.003-05:00I don't know, even with your writer's bloc...I don't know, even with your writer's block, your intro talking about your writer's block was pretty good, haha! And as for the store itself -- it's very cool to see this one, because (having been in a few former Albertsons stores built in the same era) it's neat to see just how intact Publix kept the layout here. It feels like aside from the décor, this could still easily pass as an Albertsons. Isn't it kind of unusual for Publix to change so little, layout-wise? I'm thinking of the bakery and especially the pharmacy/floral island specifically. Either way, it allows for several Publix scenes we don't often get to experience, so I dig it (as well as the "budget-conscious gourmet" aisle!).<br /><br />I agree with your comment about CM3.0 being a very nice adaptable décor -- it looks very good in here, even with those nontraditional department placements like I just mentioned (as well as frozen, which it seems we don't always get to see signage for in a Publix). And as for the original décor of this store -- I know you've mentioned the Blue & Green Awnings revival before, but it's still just a little weird to me to know that décor was slapped on what is otherwise very clearly a completely unaltered Grocery Palace layout! I think that would have been pretty crazy to see, back in the day.Retail Retellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12636351832804174132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628100700550321985.post-75319207825411914732021-03-07T13:30:14.014-05:002021-03-07T13:30:14.014-05:00Nice post, The only other (now closed) store I kno...Nice post, The only other (now closed) store I know that topped 20 or so is the old Bay Pointe Plaza. I seen stores top off 19 aisles before. I don't think you will get enough info or have any footage for new tenants and other stuff but I have an idea suggestion cause you're by Bradenton/Sarasota. 1. Publix Parkwood Square and Bradenton Commons and their older stores they replaced North River Village and Cortez Commons. 2. Cortez Plaza possibly, as Publix was there before. 3. The vacant Sarasota Commons.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00337266333328556930noreply@blogger.com