Today we have another checkup on the progress of the Albertsons Florida remodels thanks to AFB contributor Dave M., who has kindly sent in a few more pictures of the remodel at the Largo store. According to Dave, most of the major work inside the store has been completed except for some work around the deli island (my guess is that it is going to be removed). The other new development is that the exterior of the store has been wrapped with scaffolding, which you can see in the above photo. I don't know what they plan on doing to the exterior other than replacing the signage, and maybe doing some touch up work and a coat of fresh paint over the stuccoed areas, but all of that scaffolding seems like a bit of overkill for just that! I don't recall a major exterior overhaul being planned, so this will be something to watch.
Now for a few updates from the inside. Most of the new decor has been installed, which we can see a sample from the dairy department in the photo above. The new decor isn't as dark as I was fearing, and doesn't look that bad actually now that I'm seeing the real thing. Hopefully Albertsons/Safeway gets around to replacing that stained ceiling tile above the Dairy sign where the ceiling angles upward.
A sample of some of the new category markers in the grocery aisles.
The new Thank You sign over one of the side entrances to this store. I like the font they chose for "your Largo". I guess at this point it doesn't matter if the Safeway logo isn't covered up yet, as the store is beginning to feel more Safeway than Albertsons anyway. Who knows, future Albertsons may be getting this brown interior as well.
In only three months, Safeway Florida becomes official, and AFB will be here with any more updates that come out as we get closer to the transition. Thanks again Dave for sending in these pictures!
So until the next time,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
What a difference from the previous look! If this doesn't breathe new life into these lone rangers, I'm not sure what will... hopefully lots of good comes out of this!
ReplyDeleteThis is a big jump from the pastel 90's interior to this modern one. Like I keep saying, I really hope this pays off, and hopefully Safeway's store count will grow to more than 3 Florida locations!
DeleteThe pictures don't do it justice. It's really starting to look nice in there, and I like the new interior signage. The island that had the deli on one side and the beer cooler on the other, is now gone. I'm not sure what will go in there, but it is the only part of the store that has major work to do.
ReplyDeleteThe front sign is gone, and now there is an Albertsons banner hanging from the scaffolding.
I think these stores might have a fighting chance to take on Publix. Even though I've only seen pictures so far, the results are looking really good. A refresh like this is what these stores have needed for years. I don't know what the plan is for the former deli area, but supposedly this store is getting a Jamba Juice location, and I don't know where else it could go other than around there. Thanks for that update!
Deletewonder how long till we we see new Safeways opening after these 3 get started? It will happen if these locations do well
ReplyDeleteIf all goes well and more locations do appear (although nothing about that has been confirmed yet), I'd say sometime early next year would be the earliest new stores could potentially pop up.
DeleteThey do look rather nice! Makes me wonder if Safeway will open any new stores if these stores end up doing well.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems like Florida is the state that chains open in away from their home base. You don't see many other places that had an over 500 mile gap in the nearest store. First Ames and now Safeway.
I think Safeway will open more stores if this goes well. It doesn't make much sense to invest $10 million dollars into three isolated stores if there isn't some kind of potential expansion plan in the works. I'm hoping that an expansion of some sort will happen.
DeleteThere are many other chains that have/had isolated Florida divisions. Wawa is probably one of the most famous current ones, with their next closest locations being in Virginia. Cumberland Farms, Western Beef, Foodtown, and Skyline Chili are other examples as well, and there are many others.
A new review on Yelp mentions the Oakland Park store (which now has the Starbucks open) has had prices jump by 40%. Yikes...I hope it isn't permanent, and even if it is, that will definitely screw over any plans to buy and remodel any Winn-Dixie stores.
ReplyDeleteI found that review you mentioned. That same person also wrote a review of the Oakland Park Albertsons in 2014 also complaining about prices and "shady tactics to make up for lost revenue". Hopefully this isn't the standard throughout the rest of the store, as it will be the death of this whole thing. The Altamonte store had much better recent reviews in regard to prices (and in general), at least as recent as March on Google Reviews.
Delete