Former Albertsons #4402 - Largo, FL (Largo Mall)

 

Jewel-Osco #4101 / Albertsons #4402 / Safeway #4402 / Publix #1663

10500 Ulmerton Road #800, Largo, FL - Largo Mall

     Over the years Albertsons had operated a little over 150 stores in Florida. Of those roughly 150 Albertsons stores, some locations were well-loved by their respective communities and garnered a loyal following, while others crashed and burned early on before slipping away into the inky void of retail history. After nearly a decade of writing this blog and talking to others about Albertsons stores in Florida, I've come to the conclusion that one former Albertsons store stood out among the rest as the strongest contender for the title of most popular and famous Albertsons store to have existed in Florida.  What store would that be, you ask? That store would be the very one we're touring today - #4402 at Largo Mall. Albertsons #4402 has popped up a lot in retail discussions around the internet, more than any other former Floridian Albertsons store out there (although #4301 in Clearwater is a close runner up in the Floridian Albertsons popularity contest). People seemed to love the Largo Mall store, and I think that goes back to Pinellas County being Albertsons' strongest market in Florida through the years. I've had numerous requests to feature this store on the blog, and I have to apologize for it taking this long for me to get #4402 the proper AFB treatment. Over the years we've seen multiple blurbs about this store's transition from Albertsons to Safeway to Publix from various contributors (which you can see here, scrolling past this post), however my time to visit this store finally came in early 2022, after this store had already been a Publix for a few years. As much as I would have loved to see this place during the Albertsons or Safeway days, that never worked out for me, so I had to settle for this extremely funky Publixsons store - the world's only Jewel-Safelixsons, to be exact. But before we jump too far into the quirks of this store, let's recap the history of the Largo Mall Albertsons:

     Plans for the Largo Mall began to surface in 1988, which would transform a large, mostly vacant tract of land at the southeastern corner of Ulmerton Road and Seminole Boulevard into a new 600,000 square foot shopping complex. Unlike what the complex's name may imply, Largo Mall was never planned or intended to be a true enclosed mall, the word "mall" most likely being chosen for the site because of the complex's massive size and large draw it would bring to the area. Alongside original anchors Bealls, Marshalls, General Cinemas, and Service Merchandise, the Skaggs Company purchased 8.5 acres at the Largo Mall site for the first Florida location of the tentatively named "American Superstores" - a project that would mark Skaggs' return to Florida following the not-so-amicable split from their joint-venture with Albertsons the decade prior. It's been rumored that Skaggs' return to Florida was specifically out of revenge, wanting to get back at Albertsons for taking the lucrative Florida stores when the original partnership between the two companies dissolved. Whatever the reasons may have been, Skaggs wanted to come back to Florida and make a splash with a show-stopping new store, that newly designed 73,000 square foot "American Superstore".

Photo courtesy of Adam R.

     The "American Superstore" project would eventually be renamed Jewel-Osco, Skaggs choosing that name to appeal to the Tampa Bay area's large population of Midwestern transplants. The Floridian Jewel-Osco stores were nothing like their Midwestern counterparts though, the only similarity being the name. The Largo Jewel-Osco was the largest supermarket ever built in Florida when it opened in March 1989, its 73,000 square feet containing a newsstand, a pharmacy, an optical center, a video rental center, and "a heck of a lot of room for food" per the article two photos back. To this day the 7 Jewel-Osco stores that were built in Florida are still the largest supermarket buildings to have ever graced the Floridian landscape, as Florida has never been a place where really big grocery stores have ever caught on. The size of these stores ended up being part of the concept's eventual downfall, as the Jewel-Osco stores could never gain the volume needed to justify all the space and extra frills. While size was one lingering issue Jewel-Osco couldn't overcome, the chain's first day in Florida couldn't have been a more foreboding sign of things to come either, as recounted in this blurb from duckman66: "Grand opening week was a disaster. Among the many issues was a complete failure of the checkout system, requiring cashiers to ring up purchases by hand, with customers receiving crayons to mark prices on items." Plagued with problems and a concept Floridian shoppers just didn't embrace, only three years after its launch, Skaggs had to wave the flag of defeat in Florida yet again, selling its 7 Floridian Jewel-Osco stores to its longtime foe, Albertsons, in 1992. 

     After acquiring the 7 Jewel-Osco stores from Skaggs in January 1992, they were all swiftly converted to the Albertsons banner. From what I understand, Albertsons didn't bother to change much about the stores after purchasing them (at least in terms of decor), although I'm sure some of the frills (like the optical center) were killed off following the conversions. Albertsons would eventually remodel this store in the late 1990's to the Blue and Green Awnings interior, streamlining the store to look and feel more like an average (albeit slightly spacious) Albertsons.

Photo courtesy of Adam R.

     While Jewel-Osco couldn't make it here at Largo Mall, Albertsons sure could. The Largo Mall Albertsons survived through numerous sales and closure rounds in the late 2000's and early 2010's to become one of the last three Albertsons stores left in Florida. A lot of this store's popularity probably came from its longevity, although according to an article written by the Tampa Bay Times in 2015, locals had lots of reasons for liking this store. That article is a pretty neat write up about this store and shows the devotion a lot of Floridians had toward Albertsons, even all the way to the end. I was the same way myself - I liked Albertsons and shopped at my local store all the time until it closed in 2012, however, I wonder how Floridians would react to the Albertsons of 2023. From what I've read, Albertsons seems to be a very different company these days, and certainly isn't the same company I remember from the late 2000's/early 2010's. My few visits to Safeway in 2017 seemed comparable to what I remembered from Albertsons' better days here, but a lot can change between 2017 and now. I'd love to visit an Albertsons again just to compare it to what I remember, but I doubt I'll be in Albertsons territory anytime soon, so I digress...

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     However, at least from 2016 to 2018, we had Safeway to carry the torch of Albertsons' legacy in Florida. The Largo Mall Albertsons converted to Safeway in May 2016, and these three Florida Albertsons conversions were actually the first three stores to lay the footprint for other Albertsons to Safeway conversions elsewhere in the country. To this day I still have no idea what Albertsons was trying to do by converting their last three Florida stores to the Safeway brand, just to sell them all off two years later. Was it a last ditch effort to salvage a failing market? Was it a test to see how such conversions would work elsewhere in the country? Was it a ploy to clean up the stores to make them a more attractive target for a buyer? Did Publix just want to put Albertsons out of its misery once and for all? Much like the question of how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know, but it gives me something to think about.

     August 24, 2018 was the day  The Albertsons Company's time in Florida came to a close after 44 years, as Safeway Florida ceased operations at its three stores in preparations for their conversions into new Publix stores. As was the case with this store's siblings in Altamonte Springs and Oakland Park, Publix already had an existing store across the street from each of the three newly acquired Safeway stores, and those older locations would all end up co-existing with the converted Safeways. If it wasn't for a T-Mobile store that blocks the view, you'd be able to see Publix #1034 from the parking lot of the Largo Jewel-Safelixsons, it's that close. It somewhat bothers me that Publix bought these three Safeway stores just to add three more redundant locations to their roster, but that's Publix for you.

     Publix #1663 opened at the site of former Safeway #4402 on November 1, 2018, only a little over two months following the closure of Safeway. With such a fast turnaround time the amount of remodeling Publix did was rather minimal, and certainly left some interesting remnants of the past behind. Around the time the initial Publix conversions happened, I was told the plan for the three former Safeway stores would be much like what we've seen with the 49 stores Publix bought from Albertsons back in 2008 - the stores got cheap remodels at the start, with more extensive renovations to happen later on. The Oakland Park Safelixsons was extensively remodeled to Publix's current Evergreen decor in 2021, although I haven't seen anything recent about Altamonte Springs and Largo receiving more extensive remodels yet.

     Off to the left side of the building is the liquor store, which is original to Jewel-Osco and has transitioned through all the different names this building has carried over the years.

     Safeway added some stucco and new decorations (like the awnings) to the front of the building during their remodel, but otherwise the exterior of the building still retains the same basic design it did back when Jewel-Osco was here. Inside though, this store has received some major changes to the original floorplan, all of which were thanks to the Safeway remodel in 2016.

     Like all of these former Jewel-Osco stores, these buildings contain three sets of doors - a entrance at each side of the building under each tower, with one set of doors leading to the pharmacy and the other leading into produce and the grand aisle. In front of me is the center set of doors, which seems to act as the main entrance.

     However, we'll head down to the far right side of the building to enter the store through the produce/grand aisle entrance, which is the door that lies ahead of me.

     Stepping inside and looking to the right, we see the deli in the front right corner of the store. However, this corner used to look much different when Albertsons was here:

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     The front right corner of the store was originally home to produce, just like it was in all the other stores built as Jewel-Osco. The deli was originally located in an island in the back right corner of the building, however the island was removed as part of this store's conversion to Safeway. Out of the three stores that converted to Safeway, this store received the most work, as this was the only store of the three that received a major relocation of the perimeter departments.

     Looking the other way from the right side entrance, we look across the building's front wall. Up ahead is the main entrance and the store's Starbucks kiosk, with some self-serve kiosks under the floral sign where Safeway's dining area used to be. While the placement of that floral sign seems a bit strange (unless one of those kiosks is a flower vending machine), let me zoom out a bit to shed a little more light on the floral arrangement:

     Floral is actually an island located between the right side entrance and the check lanes, with its own hanging sign above. The wall sign is additional, and its placement makes much more sense when viewed from this angle!

     As you can tell from the last few photos, this store is still seeping with remnants from Safeway. Some of the most obvious remnants from Safeway's old decor package (dubbed as "Modern" by most Albertsons circles) is the use of all the brown wood accents (or should I say, brown wood-textured product accents). Besides using some wood paneling back in the 1970's and 1980's when that was the groovy mod-look most supermarkets were using at the time, wood accents are something Publix has never embraced in modern times. These former Safeway stores are the only times you'll see a Publix with a wood-style floor like we see here in the deli, and the wood trim running above the service counters is also a Safeway remnant too. Thinking about it now, the three Safeway stores are the only three Publix conversions I can think of where Publix didn't rip out the floors and replace them with their usual tile pattern  or a faux terrazzo laminate prior to the store opening. The Oakland Park store had all of its old Safeway flooring ripped out when it remodeled to Evergreen, the Safeway flooring replaced with this gray tile (that matches the Evergreen decor rather well, better than the usual yellow/white speckle pattern will!) I suspect the same will hold true once this store and Altamonte Springs remodel to Evergreen as well, so we'll have to enjoy Publix's skimpiness while we can!

     Getting closer to the wall, here's a better look as the wood-patterned trim left over from Safeway. I'm pretty sure most of the coolers in this store were recycled from Safeway too, as Safeway used the same black coolers, and looking at before and after photos seems to show a lot of the fixtures in the same places they are today.

     With the deli relocated into produce's former home in the front right corner of the building, produce was brought out into the sales floor as the centerpiece for the store's new (and much wider) "grand aisle". Safeway had some interesting signage in the produce department, with the main department sign mounted to those coolers that line the left side of the department. It was a unique effect, even though Publix opted for a more traditional approach when they installed their super cheap version of Classy Market 3.0/Sienna in here!

     The bakery is located along the right side wall, and used to face the deli island in the store's original layout, creating a channel that funneled shoppers to the back wall of the store, like so:

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     

     You really can't get much more 90's than we see in the photo above, can we?! (Ok, maybe we can). While Blue and Green Awnings was used nationwide by Albertsons, it really captured the spirit of 1990's Floridian supermarket decor with all the pastel pink and teal used on the walls. Albertsons #4402 kept this decor as-is until the conversion to Safeway began in late 2015. While Grocery Palace will always be my favorite Albertsons decor, Blue and Green Awnings is a solid second place from me, especially these funky 1990's installations!

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     Safeway added their new decor to the walls and changed around the styling of the bakery, but otherwise it was one of the only departments on this side of the building to not get a complete major overhaul.

     As far as Publix was concerned, a little blue paint on the wall and the bakery was good to go!

     If you ignore the Classy Market 3.0/Sienna decor on the upper walls, you can easily feel like you're still shopping in a Safeway. All the wood accents in this part of the store were really throwing me off, as wood and Publix are two things that are typically not associated with each other!

     While this store is 73,000 square feet, making this one of the largest Publix stores in the entire chain, there weren't may super barren spots in the store where it seemed like Publix didn't know what to do with all the extra space they inherited. Publix did use some of their usual tricks in this store (such as making the aisles super wide and putting filler displays along the front end), although Safeway's somewhat spacious floorplan helped Publix hide this store's actual size better than they have at some of the other former Jewel-Osco stores they occupy.

     Produce prep was relocated to this island during the Safeway conversion, this island sitting in the space where the former deli island once stood.

Photo courtesy of duckman66

     Switching back to the Safeway days for a moment, we can see Publix didn't do much to this counter following the conversion besides removing Safeway's signs from the top.

     Before we leave the grand aisle, here's a look back at what we've covered so far, as seen from the back right corner of the store.

     The back right corner is home to wine, with beer getting small billing signage wise, although that occupies all the coolers along the perimeter wall.

     Turning the corner, here's a look across the back of the store. The meat and seafood counter is to my right, with a few short aisles of chips and snacks to my left (a strange placement that came about due to the location of the produce prep island). I didn't manage to get any photos of those short aisles for some reason, but they are there!

     Here's a look at the meat and seafood counter from the opposite angle, with the wine signage sneaking its way into this photo too.

     Like most other Jewel-Osco stores, the meat coolers are located in this alcove along the store's back wall, immediately after the meat and seafood service counter. What's quite interesting is the shade of beige used in the alcove looks pretty close to the wall color used by the previous Modern decor, another example of how this store still feels so much like a Safeway inside if you look the right way!

     Moving along to the grocery aisles, here's a look down aisle 1. The shiny gray tile floor back here denotes Safeway's former Natural Foods department. Since Publix doesn't have special dedicated Greenwise departments in-store anymore, the former natural foods department was absorbed back into the space for the regular grocery aisles. However, since Publix never ripped out the floors, it's pretty easy to tell where that department used to be.

     A very spacious front actionway separates the check lanes from the grocery aisles. The arrangement we see above is definitely one of Publix's tricks to fluff the floor space, but width of the aisle was the perfect balance of spaciousness without looking like a desperate way to fill extra space..

     Returning to the grocery aisles, we find enough room for two carts to pass by comfortably, with an extra lane down the middle of the aisle too!

     As we've seen at other former Jewel-Osco stores, the ceiling over the center aisles raises up a few feet, much like we've seen at Publix stores from the same era.

     I really do appreciate grocery stores with extra wide aisles, as they make it so much easier to maneuver around those folks who have to stand in the middle of the aisle for 20 minutes contemplating which of the 17 varieties of mayonnaise to choose from. 

     Aisle 6 is the cat's meow, as this aisle is home to pet foods.

     For some reason I feel like I'm being pulled toward that Starbucks at the end of the aisle...

     ...so I guess this a good time to showcase the store's Starbucks counter. Publix inherited this Starbucks kiosks from Safeway, who installed these brand new in each store during the conversions in 2016 (although Albertsons had Starbucks kiosks of their own back in the early 2000's, but those were all removed by the end of that decade). Since Publix also operates a small number of in-store Starbucks kiosks of their own, they let these carry over following their conversion as well. With Publix's shift toward opening their own POURS branded bars/cafes in newer stores, we probably won't see Publix opening too many more Starbucks kiosks going forward, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the existing Starbucks kiosks get ripped out for POURS in future remodels too.

     The front half of aisle 8 is home to magazines and greeting cards, with the back half of the aisle transitioning to frozen foods and baby supplies - quite an eclectic assortment of products in this aisle to say the least!

     Here's a photo from the back half of aisle 8 to show the transition. Sometimes when you inherit someone else's building, you end up with weird arrangements like this. It's quite crazy to think that Publix is the 4th supermarket brand to set up shop in this building too, so this store is no stranger to change!

     From the left side of the store, here's a look across the back of the building. It's pretty spacious back here, especially compared to how Publix arranged some of the other former Jewel-Osco stores they've inherited from Albertsons.

     Frozen foods are located in the back left corner of the store, behind health and beauty. The frozen food aisles are pretty short, so therefore frozen foods occupy two and a half aisles instead of Publix's usual arrangement of two full-length aisles.

     Things get a little weird as we get close to the left side of the store. The health and beauty aisles don't quite line up right with the frozen foods coolers behind them, so Publix had to get creative with the aisle numbering on this side of the store. Due to the alignment issue, you see the aisle markers in front of me go 8, 9, 11, 12, skipping aisle 10 because that's the frozen food aisle I was standing in to take this photo.

     The alignment issue is something that doesn't capture well in photos, as you'd need to be up on a ladder looking down at the salesfloor to truly capture the funky layout. The photo above was my best attempt at showing how the coolers in the back don't line up with the health and beauty aisles up front, as you can see how the shelf with the sun screen endcap ends where aisle 10 begins.

     Essentially, aisles 9 and 11 only exist in the front half of the store, with aisle 10 behind those. Aisle 12 (which we see here) is full-length, with a portion in health and beauty and the rest in frozen foods. Aisle 13 is a short health and beauty aisle up front, with aisle 14 being the store's last aisle along the left wall.

     If nothing else, I did manage to capture this odd sight of the aisle numbers skipping by 2's in the back of the store. Back in the 1980's, Publix used to give each aisle two separate numbers, the fronts being even and the back being odd if I remember right, so this arrangement seems to call back to that bygone era of Publix!

     Dairy is located in the store's last aisle, number 14, with the remainder of this department wrapping around to the back wall. With the brown color Publix used behind the dairy sign, this scene looks like a Safeway Modern decor store from an alternate universe!

     The dairy aisle ends at the pharmacy counter, which we're making our way toward next.

     The pharmacy counter is located in the front left corner of the store, and besides a few decor swaps, has looked mostly the same through the years. For fun, how about we compare some of the various pharmacy decor from this store's many lives?

     The modern Publix pharmacy is built off the bones of the previous Safeway design, and still featured the old Publix Pharmacy logo (which was replaced by this logo in 2019).

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     The pink pastel wonderland of the Albertsons Blue and Green Awnings pharmacy was probably one of the bolder design attempts at this pharmacy counter!

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     Safeway's shiny yet refined pharmacy decor, a visually pleasing take on modern supermarket design.

Photo Courtesy of Mindy Skaggs Benkenstein on Facebook

     And last but not least, I think the Golden Girls would approve of the original pharmacy decor from Jewel-Osco! (Unfortunately, I don't know which Florida Jewel-Osco store is pictured in the above photo, but all 7 stores were nearly identical inside, so Largo Mall's pharmacy would have looked just like that).

     That tour through decor history aside, let's keep going as we begin to wrap up our interior tour of this Jewel-Safelixsons:

     Customer service is located in an island between the pharmacy and the check lanes. The service desk was moved to this location from the front wall as part of the Safeway remodel, and also happened to fit Publix's preference for having customer service in an island for most of the 2010's. Prior to the Safeway remodel, customer service looked like this:

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     Customer service was relocated to the island to make room for Safeway's dining area, The Citrus City Cafe, if I have the placement of this counter correct (between the produce entrance and the center doors).

     Between the pharmacy and the new customer service island were some random space filler displays. I actually took this photo to capture the bicycle on top of that display with all the cases of water, as I couldn't figure out why it was there! I'm pretty sure that display was entirely of water, and the bicycle didn't look like it was for sale, so who knows. I guess it's a good reminder to stay hydrated while riding your bike though!

     The modern Jewel-Safelixsons front end can be seen here...

Photo courtesy of Ross T.

     …but I thought it would be more fun to end this post with a look at the front end from back in the Albertsons days. In front of the check lanes were some empty spaces where some of this store's long gone services used to be located, such as the video rental department. All of those spaces were ripped out during the Safeway conversion for the new Starbucks kiosk and room for more vending machines.

     And there you have it folks - former Albertsons #4402! Even though I wasn't able to visit this store during the Albertsons or Safeway days, at least Publix left a lot of oddities behind to remind me of what used to be here! Even though we've finished our tour of today's primary subject, since we're here, lets take a quick look at the rest of Largo Mall, starting with a few maps of the complex to get an idea of the lay of the land:

Photo courtesy of Adam R.

     As you can see in the map above, Largo Mall is a big place, with the main strip of stores along the perimeter of the property measuring a half mile long if you walked it end to end. That being the case, it's quite fitting this shopping center is named Largo Mall, as "largo" is the Spanish word meaning "long". (And in case you were curious, the city of Largo took its name from the former Lake Largo it sat adjacent to, which was a long lake that was drained during the early 1900's to make room for more valuable farmland). The map above show the original arrangement of the shopping center and its anchors, and surprisingly, besides Jewel-Osco now being a Publix and Service Merchandise going out of business, is still fairly accurate today.

Photo courtesy of Google Earth

     Once the large strip of stores around the perimeter of the property was constructed, the large hole at the center of the property was filled in with a new Target and some more small storefronts, creating the modern Largo Mall.

     Starting from the Publix end of the plaza, we'll take a nice long walk down the main strip before looping back around toward Target and then back to where we began. All in all I had to have walked a mile throughout this complex, between the loop around the plaza and all the meandering through the 73,000 square foot Publix. I got some photos and a refreshing walk in for the day, so it was a win win (although I probably shouldn't use that expression in a post about a Publix!).

     The first anchor we find as we put Publix behind us is Bealls, or should I say, Bealls Florida, following the company's recent rebranding effort. There really aren't many of these older 1980's Bealls Florida department stores left in the chain, as the company closed or expanded most of these smaller stores in the 1990's and 2000's in favor of larger department stores pushing 100,000 square feet. Bealls Florida has since backtracked on that endeavor, opting for smaller stores and even subletting some space in those larger stores to other merchants in the last few years, so this older location is modern again in regard to size!

     Here's a look across the storefronts following Bealls Florida. The brick style of Largo Mall is an unusual design choice for a large shopping center in the Floridian Peninsula, as brick isn't a particularly popular style in this part of the state. For that reason Largo Mall has a quaint charm to it, looking more like a shopping center you'd find in suburban Washington, DC than in tropical stucco-pastel Florida!

     Largo Mall's 8-screen movie theater is still in operation today, but as a Regal Cinema (it originally opened as a General Cinema).

     For the car fans in the room, here's a somewhat unusual sight for you in the United States. While I was meandering through the parking lot for photos, I spotted this Nissan Skyline parked over by the movie theater. While the Skyline is a popular sports car coveted by fans of muscle cars and racing enthusiasts, the Skyline was never allowed to be sold in the United States due to changes in automotive import laws in the late 1980's, causing the vehicle to not meet the new US safety regulations imposed at the time. Eventually those import laws were relaxed to allow vehicles 25 years or older to be brought into the United States from other countries, hence why I occasionally see Skylines zip by me from time to time, but it's still rare to see one. This car must have been imported from Japan, as I did notice it was setup for right hand drive.

     Zipping away from the car, we'll turn our attention to the remaining portion of the main shopping center we've yet to see, the portion closest to Seminole Blvd. The white signs on the brick facade give that Dollar Tree store a rather refined and classy look, words I typically would never associate with Dollar Tree! However, beyond Dollar Tree, I spy something interesting...

     The last two anchors in the main strip are Bed Bath & Beyond (now closed), with Petsmart next door. When this post goes live, Bed Bath & Beyond will be very close to entering the great beyond of retail, as the company's last day in business was expected to occur around June 30, 2023 (although it seems that date may have gotten pushed back). The Bed Bath & Beyond we see here closed in one of the company's mass closure rounds issued in early 2023, and was not one of the stores that made it all the way to the end. Bed Bath & Beyond's space still sits vacant (and is the only vacant anchor space in Largo Mall at the moment), however, with how busy this place is, I feel the landlords will be able to find a new tenant for the Bed Bath & Beyond space rather easily. Hopefully that new tenant will preserve the one really neat retail relic from Bed Bath & Beyond too, that entryway. As you probably noticed, that glass arch design is not the typical Bed Bath & Beyond facade - that's because it's the typical entryway design for Service Merchandise! (That linked photo I found was one of the first photos of a Service Merchandise to pop up on Google, but oddly enough, it looks like that store could very well be the Largo Mall Service Merchandise back in the day! The buildings look identical). The old Service Merchandise store was split between Bed Bath & Beyond and Petsmart shortly after Service Merchandise closed, and resulted in one of the more interesting Bed Bath & Beyond facades I can think of.

     In the very middle of the Largo Mall property we find the complex's largest anchor - Target - which is surrounded by a strip of smaller stores on both sides and in the back.

     The Target portion of Largo Mall was part of the complex's second phase, and opened two years after the main strip of stores along the perimeter of the property. The Largo Target store, store #654, opened on July 24, 1991, and is a typical Target build from that era. The only quirk about this store was that its garden center was placed along the front of the building, just to the left of the entryway (you can see the fencing for that in the background of the above image). However, since Target closed all their garden centers back in 2010, that area has been inaccessible to shoppers (or "guests" if we want to use Target's words), so these days you don't even know the garden center is there when walking around the store.

     As you probably assumed from the recently updated facade, this store was remodeled in the last few years to Target's P17 decor, aka "the grayscale look". Since that's the case we'll just do a quick loop around the salesfloor to get the gist of the store (and I believe the only reason I came in here was to do a quick lap in the air conditioning before taking the walk back to my car, which was parked over by Publix at the other end of the plaza).

     This store has the entryway on the right side of the building, with housewares and hardgoods on the left side, and grocery along the left wall. The interior layout of this store is nothing super unusual for a modern Target store, with this view from the back right corner of the building looking from men's clothing toward toys and electronics.

     Electronics provides us with the only splash of red, or any other non-grayscale color, on the walls, giving this department more of the classic Target feel.

     Officially, the decor we see in this store, dubbed "P17" or "Prototype 2017" by corporate, has been retired. However, before you get too excited by that news, I don't want you to think the gray is gone for good! Target debuted a new store prototype in Katy, TX last fall (which you can read about in more detail at that link), which debuted many new and improved concepts for the chain's newbuild and remodeled stores going forward. In addition to debuting a new building design, the Katy store also debuted Target's new interior decor - P22. P22 isn't so much a departure from the grayscale look of P17, but an evolution of it. P22 introduces some new elements like lighted department signs (grocery style ones too) and some new colorful wall signage and texturing being the major changes from P17 that I've noticed. The P22 newbuild stores like the one in Katy actually look like pretty nice, and Florida is on track to get two new prototype stores just like the one in Katy, located in Wesley Chapel and The Villages (amongst some smaller-size stores opening in the near future too, which will be scaled down versions of those two and the already open one in Katy, TX).

     While there are some nicer P17 remodels out there, the remodel this store in Largo received was fairly plain, as it lacks a lot of the fancy lighting and reconfigured departments seen in more deluxe remodels from that era. The P-Fresh department was one of the fanciest looking areas in this store, with its decorative hanging wood fixtures above the store's small selection of produce, meat, and baked goods.

     I could blow bubbles about how the decorative soap display wasn't doing me any favors with framing this shot, but this is a (partially obstructed) look across the store's from actionway from grocery back toward the check lanes.

     The beauty department was reconfigured into the department-store like arrangement Target rolled out with the debut of P17, with beauty typically getting the most rearranging of any department in these cheaper remodels (electronics comes in second, although most of that change stems from the selection of merchandise in that department shrinking, while beauty expands). 

     The check lanes are visible here, which completes our short interior circuit of the Largo Target store.

     Back outside, here's a look across the front of Target's former garden center. Most of the pieces of fencing were covered over so people couldn't peek in, but Target usually uses the old garden centers to store old fixtures and carts, or just leaves them empty (it's varied the few times I've remember to look behind the cover and see what's back there).

     Leaving Target, we'll complete our tour of Largo Mall with this last, pulled back photo of the famous Largo Jewel-Safelixsons. I know a lot of people have been waiting for this post to go live on the blog, so hopefully I did a good job covering the former Largo Mall Albertsons after all this time. While it's no longer a Safeway, Publix managed to leave enough of Safeway behind to give me a small glimpse back at that strange Floridian supermarket experiment. I think the Safeway feel was stronger here than it was in Altamonte Springs following its conversion, however Oakland Park was mostly Evergreen'd by the time I visited that one so most of the obvious Safeway decor remnants were already gone. I'm sure this store will get Evergreen'd before long too, and hopefully Publix will keep this store going for many more years to come, a funky and oversized reminder of some strange experiments by others to make a name for themselves in Florida.

     And with that, I'll bring this post to an end. I'll be taking off the vast majority of July for my "summer break", with posting on AFB to resume on July 30th. Have a good few weeks everyone, and I'll see you all again at the end of the month!

So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger