Statesboro's Failed Supermarkets
Former Publix #460
University Commons
600 Northside Drive East
Statesboro, GA 30458
Welcome to the 'Boro! You might be asking yourself "why is he back from his holiday hiatus?" and the answer is that I couldn't resist publishing one more post before 2023 was a mere memory. As you can see, this is the well-deserved eighth entry into my When Publix Waves Goodbye series; furthermore, today's post is a bit outside of my typical territory, but the specimen we'll examine today was well worth the trip (it helps that work sent me to the area). Let's just say that this store has perplexed The Albertsons Florida Blogger and me both to the point where I figured I needed to take action . . .
This story begins on January 10, 1994, when Publix #460 opened as the sixteenth store in The Peach State and the first store of 1994. Things were looking up for the Lakeland-based company as it made a splash in Georgia several years earlier with stores #412 in Savannah & #33 in Marietta; the company was also looking to fill out smaller markets in the region such as Valdosta (#430), Brunswick (#431), Albany (#450), & Athens (#451). In total, Publix cut the ribbon on 22 Georgian locations that year which continues to hold the record for the most stores the company has ever opened in the state in a calendar year. Publix' aggressive entry into the market turned heads and smothered weakened competition, but any war doesn't come without its casualties.
Eight of the twenty-two in the Class of '94 no longer grace this Earth for reasons including demographic changes (#477), direct replacements (#476), or not-so-direct replacements (#471). All of those stores racked up at least a decade of service – except for good 'ole #460. Even the 2002 Publixity stunt of #790 or the duds of '03 (including #278, #283, #860, & #875) lasted six years before folding; however, Statesboro's first Publix closed its doors for good by 1999 without replacement, ending what may well be the shortest-lived new construction location to have ever existed.
Moreover, a store that opened and closed in the 1990's can only mean one thing: it had Wavy Pastels for its entire life. What adds to the intrigue is how this store has remained vacant ever since Plato left Bulloch County. Do you catch my drift?
We'll just say that AFB was thrilled when I first shared my photos of this store with him.
Despite me being in this hobby for close to three years now, I still get a bit spooked on occasion when photographing stores. I knew I had to find a way to blend in while glancing through the windows of the forgotten supermarket, so I naturally decided to dine at the Mexican restaurant next door. The food may have tasted like essentially every other Mexican restaurant I've been to in the rural Southeast, but is consistency ever a bad thing?
After my supper, I placed my head against the sliding glass doors and was greeted by . . .
An empty vestibule.
Unfortunately, all I could really see was a Big Lots cart, and possibly a big fixture from a department store in the middle of the checkout area. Either the front end skylight has been covered over, or it just didn't give enough light to let me see further in. Why couldn't the store have been just a little bit brighter?!
After all of this buildup, it was an anticlimactic ending to what I had hoped would answer so many questions. At least I didn't drive all the way to Statesboro just to see this store.
I'm going to guess that the windows to the left used to provide a glimpse into this store's photo lab, but I haven't been able to confirm what this area to the right of the customer service counter was originally used for.
While I was hoping to see a Wavy Pastel wonderland, I was probably left with more questions than I started with: Why were those traffic cones here? Why has the store remained vacant this long? Are there still Wavy Pastels signs on the walls? How could I tour the inside of this dang place?!
I wish I could provide more concrete answers to all of the above, but the best I can do is tell you that this store still remains a large mystery.
GeorgiaPubDude was able to narrow this location's closure down to sometime between 1995 and 1999: the corresponding pharmacy license was last renewed on June 7, 1995, and had an expiration date of June 30, 1999. Bulloch County otherwise doesn't have digitized newspaper databases online from the 1990's, and Publix doesn't exactly publicize its store closures. I've heard rumors that the reason this store closed so early on was due to its distant proximity to Publix' distribution centers in Jacksonville and Atlanta in conjunction with the low density of other Publix stores in the area. These factors allegedly made it too costly for the chain to continue to operate the store, forcing it to shutter.
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| The Tallahassee Democrat (Newspapers.com) - August 31, 1997 |
Update: Thanks to research by The Seaway Project, we now have a better idea of when this store closed. The ad above from The Tallahassee Democrat above is the last item on Newspapers.com to mention the store, and the same flyer seemed to be used for all stores in the Jacksonville Division.
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| Screenshot courtesy The Seaway Project (Facebook) - December 25, 2023 |
While the Labor Day 1997 circular may have been the last one to feature #460, it looks like Publix officially announced the store would close on April 1st, 1998. That's quite the cruel April Fool's joke! Another former employee confirmed that the store only survived three-four years, adding to this crazy story.
Let's just hope that history won't repeat itself. On December 14, 2022, the grocer opened the doors to Statesboro's second Publix, ending the over two decade hiatus. Is it fair to say that the new store #1733 across town ultimately served as #460's replacement?
Regardless, this 47N still looks like an old Publix from the outside, and probably still looks like one on the inside, too. Does anyone want to call for a property tour?
Food World (Homeland) #792
Former Food Lion #443 / Harveys #2374
603 Northside Drive West
Statesboro, GA 30458
Jumping to the north side of town, we'll take a brief look at one of Statesboro's five Food Lions. This location was particularly interesting to me since all of the Google Maps photos show it still sporting the nearly-extinct Harveys Grid interior. Unfortunately, it didn't take long upon my arrival for me to realize Homeland had already remodeled the store earlier this year, ruining my hopes and dreams of photographing the package in the 'Boro. I was pissed.
Oh well, at least I could still see the original Food Lion sign post and Deli / Bakery lettering.
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| Courtesy Charles Burgess Jr (Flickr) - Harveys #2374 - June 22, 2013 |
Charles Burgess has a nice photo on Flickr of how this store looked as a Harveys, along with a shot of the road sign back in 2013. At least I was able to photograph the old Bruno's interior in the East Dublin Food World the following day as a consolation prize.
Former Winn-Dixie #147
Gentilly Square
602 Brannen Street
Statesboro, GA 30458
Our final stop of the day will be Statesboro's former Winn-Dixie. This store is located just behind University Commons and the Statesboro Mall and seems to have suffered the same fate as the former Publix. According to Charles Burgess, this store shuttered in 2005, following Winn-Dixie's first bankruptcy, and appears to have been vacant ever since.
The Bulloch County Property Records indicate this building was built in 1970 with an effective year built of 1985. I'm personally leaning toward the latter since this store has a quintessential 1980's WD façade, but you can never know for sure with county property records alone. I'm also going to guess that The Beef People rearranged the entryway for this store in the mid-1990's as part of a Marketplace remodel.
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| Courtesy Bulloch County Property Records - Former Winn-Dixie #147 |
Much to my surprise, the Bulloch County Property Records still have a vintage photograph of the building from over 10-years ago. Even when Google Street View fails me, the property records can come to the rescue.
The outside may have been painted over, but let's see if there is anything interesting hiding inside . . .
Oh, would you look at that–Rose & Teal Marketplace! Had I not already photographed active stores with this package, I probably would have been a bit giddier, but it is cool to see a store that has been vacant for close to 20-years still holding on to all of its decor. This reminds me a bit of the old Thomasville Food Lion, except a little less creepy.
On top of the signs still being on the walls, this store also used the "cheaper" variant of Rose & Teal Marketplace rather than the deluxe version that I've come across more often. It seems like the cheap version was primarily used in 1980's stores that were expanded and upgraded to the Marketplace format during the mid-1990's.
The next tell-tale indication that this store was built in the 1980's is the faux skylight fixture over the registers. WD swapped to a similar structure with solid surface of dropped ceiling tiles in the 1990's.
I do wonder why somebody went through the effort to move the old check stands out of the way, only to leave them piled up on either side of the old space. Maybe this was to provide a lane for forklifts to move around? The building seems like it is just used to store random odds and ends now, so I'm not exactly sure what is going on here. I'd just advise against moving those buckets and cones because they probably cover the old electric connections for the registers.
I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but the window glare was killing me! Even without the glare, though, it was still difficult to see any signs besides the one for the old meat department on the far wall. I also have a feeling that those Christmas decorations and curtain rods (?) weren't left by The Beef People.
It looks like I shifted a bit to the left to take this shot, but we otherwise see the same stuff. There was something interesting that caught my eye though . . .
Okay, I'll admit that I cheated and saw Charles' 2013 picture of this sign before I drove up, but I was still thrilled to see this old pharmacy sign hanging 10-years later! I thought this sign was so cool! The fact that I've never seen one in an active Winn-Dixie makes me believe the chain got rid of these shortly following the bankruptcy; at least this one survived. It still seems odd that this was hanging above the old cart storage area which leads me to believe this store's pharmacy used to be in the area that's often home to seasonal displays in "modern" stores. I'd love to be able to save some of this old signage!
It looks like this store was first issued a pharmacy license on June 16, 1997, which leads me to believe that's when it was formally expanded into a Marketplace; the last renewal was on June 9, 2005.
Turning to the left, we also find the old space for the customer service counter along with a buggy full of junk. (I initially thought the buggy came from Publix, but it looks like a different model than the company uses).
Back out front, we find the shopping center sign which seems like it has seen better days . . .
. . . and we find an old Sears hometown store sign posted just outside the mall across the street.
I also originally forgot to mention Retail Retell's Flickr series on the Statesboro Office Depot located just across the street from former Publix #460 and the Statesboro Mall.
Current and Former Statesboro Supermarkets
All in all, Statesboro has several interesting retail sites with many stories to tell. While this tale may be over, I wouldn't be surprised if we find ourselves back in the area later on down the line. I hope you enjoyed this little adventure, and I'd like to take this time to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Until next year,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
Cool photos - it's always fun to catch a glimpse inside some long-abandoned supermarkets! I wish your look at #460 proved more fruitful, but I guess the mystery of that store lives on for now. The vestibule, if nothing else, is nice and original though! I feel like I've seen some of those interior windows get covered over for various reasons in later remodels, so it's nice to see everything in original form. I'm not super familiar with Statesboro, but I really wonder what's kept #460 and the old WD vacant for so long too. #460 is not only the shortest lived newbuild namesake Publix store, but it's also the longest currently abandoned one too. I've said this before, but it would have been interesting to see Publix return to #460's building for their return to town, but that area on the south side of the college near the bypass must be the new up and coming area. However, I would really want to see just what Publix would have done if they decided to move back into a building they vacated almost 25 years ago!
ReplyDeleteEven if #460 and the Food World were a bit of a let down, at least the old WD proved to be pretty interesting! It's always fun to see the Rose & Teal Marketplace decor, and I can't say I've ever seen that pharmacy sign myself (however, I did see a similar "Welcome" sign placed in the vestibule like that before, and that was in a store that kept Rose & Teal until it remodeled to Winn Win a few years ago). I also don't recall ever seeing the pharmacy in that spot before, but if WD expanded the building, it's possibly a funky placement like that could happen depending on the building's constraints.
Even if these photos raised more questions then they answered, it was still fun to see these stores in their current form!
Thank you! While the Publix was a bit of a let down, you've got a good point about how original the vestibule was. Other than getting a tour of the building as it is, I suppose the best we can hope for is Nam Dae Mun to open a new location in Statesboro! It does seem like many of the stores have lost the interior windows as well. The old WD is a bit off the beaten path so I'm not as surprised to see it remain vacant; however, you would think Harbor Freight or Ollie's would have moved into the old Publix by now. The same developer owned both buildings until a year or two ago, so maybe they were asking too much or had some strange clauses in the lease? I also forgot to explicitly say this store is the longest abandoned location, so thanks for the reminder! I bet that title comes with a lot of baggage regarding deferred maintenance too. At least it sounds like #1733 is faring better than #460 did and I'm sure Publix would much rather operate a new store than inherit an old one. That would make a fun story though!
DeleteI'd love to see that "Welcome" sign if you have a picture! I don't think I've seen a pharmacy before in that spot either (even in similarly expanded stores). As we know with Winn-Dixie, nothing really surprises me at this point.
Now here is a Christmas shocker, a renovated Homeland store! Homeland and renovations are two words which usually do not belong in the same sentence unless one is describing a lack of renovations! Oh well, that's too bad, but at least some Food Lion aspects linger on the outside.
ReplyDeleteHuh, I wonder why this Publix had such a short life. Was the Winn-Dixie close enough to the Publix to maybe be the competition which helped cause the Publix to fail? I guessing Publix falling to the pressure of The Beef People, and maybe even to the pressure of Food Lion (don't laugh!), was enough to cause the Publix to close. Who knows! It is a bit funny that out of these three dead supermarkets, it is the Food Lion which still lives on!
That Sears Hometown sign is surely a reuse of some older sign. Then again, with Sears Hometowns, it is hard to tell. It is a neat find!
It does appear that the El Sombrero Restaurant actually has a sombrero. Did you wear it while dining there? I think that would have been a neat experience. Then again, maybe not!
Who knows, Homeland may be stepping up its game for these obviously lucrative Georgia Food World stores! This one may have remodeled, but there were still several Georgia Homeland stores with vintage interiors as of several months ago. The Piggly Wiggly in Gordon, GA, seems to hands down take the cake for the oldest décor of the bunch. Even though the old #443 was remodeled, the fact that I didn’t find what I was looking for motivated me to drive to the East Dublin store!
DeleteInterestingly, Statesboro is just under 3 hours from Jacksonville while Panama City is over 4. Both seem to have been in Publix’ Jacksonville Division, but I guess Statesboro was still too isolated to make the drive worthwhile. The competition from likely five established grocery stores in the immediate area didn’t help. I added a map to the end of the post showing Statesboro’s supermarkets mentioned in the post and you can see how the area around #460 was saturated. Food Lion acquired stores #1432 (Now Dunham’s Sports) and #1433 (Now Homeland) from Bruno’s at some point during the 1990’s, so there is a chance that FL #388 (Now Big Lots) was still in operation along with the FoodMax store #1432 replaced and the BI-LO store that Food Lion #2825 ultimately replaced. For Statesboro having five Food Lion stores over the years, only #2825 remains to this day. Food Lion must have done well during the 1990’s, though, considering how the chain likely operated three simultaneous stores across the city. It’s still weird to think that the pressure of Food Lion, along with a new Walmart Supercenter opening nearby, may be the reason Publix #460 failed!
For all I know, Sears could have operated a full department store in Statesboro Mall at one point!
I did not wear a sombrero while eating at El Sombrero; that sounds like the perfect way to get head lice!
Oh my! Dang, Publix was approaching Albertsons' worst failed stores with this location. 4 years for a Publix is equal to an Albertsons that closed after 6 months (and there was a store or two in Miami or Hialeah that lasted only 6-9 months, but I can't remember which one).
ReplyDeleteFunny story: My uncle who's a distributor for Little Debbie products (since 1988), started his career in grocery related retail and sales in Statesboro back in 1977. He was attending Georgia Southern and had a job at a local Winn Dixie (probably #147 seen in this post). Anyhow, he talked about how hard he had to work and the store manager was always riding his back. He described the guy as a "redneck jerk". I suspect Winn Dixie had quite a few jerks working for them over the years, which has led to the place of where they are now.
I did distributing myself for 8 years, and I can tell you, Publix has some big shots working as department managers in their stores too. It's real easy for some people to get big headed when they gain a big title at a highly successful and well run company.
I think Publix is more forgivable though, because at least you get squeaky clean stores and excellent service. Winn Dixie still falls behind.
Sorry, got off on a tangent. I'm stunned about the failure of this Publix. Considering that Food Lion had 5 stores here at one time, it seems they were the winner for the popularity contest. Apparently Statesboro has been price conscious in the past, and regardless of how good Publix was, most residents evidently were put out by the higher prices Publix had. I'm saying this not as a fan of Food Lion at all, but that's my only explanation for why this Publix failed so quickly.. It's like the new Albertsons in mostly low-middle income Callaway, FL in 1996, that closed 3 years later.
Ha, 4 years is an eternity compared to some of the spectacular retail failures here in Houston. Albertsons and Food Lion had their share of short-lived locations here, but Safeway had a new-build neon decor location near me that opened in the spring of 1987 and closed in the summer of 1987. It lasted about three months. Safeway was looking to exit Texas at the time and they did end up selling the Houston division to what ended up becoming AppleTree in a Homeland-like deal, but this location closed even before Safeway sold their Houston stores off. It didn't have to end like that, Safeway had another similarly-designed brand new 1987 location (one featured in November's The Year of Kroger post at HHR: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2023/11/01/two-westside-kroger-stores-with-unique-safeway-and-appletree-designs/) which did become an AppleTree and eventually what it is now, a Kroger with a most bizarre layout.
DeleteI did shop at that neon Safeway during the very brief time it was open. It eventually became a Gerland's Food Fair until Gerland's took over a nearby Albertsons during Albertsons' Houston exit and Gerland's converted it to the Food Town format. Now that old Safeway is a 24 Hour Fitness I think so, anyway, at least it didn't sit unused like that Publix.
There have been short-lived HEB and Krogers here too, but that 3 month old new-build Safeway closure is the closest thing I can think of to a record aside from new-build Eckerds which opened or were under construction when CVS bought them in 2004...which is an entirely different story which consists of stores that were opened for mere days which closed permanently if there was another CVS nearby or stores which were completed, but then never opened by CVS. Maybe Florida had some similar circumstances.
There is the curious case of one Safeway/AppleTree in my area which was purchased by Kroger in 1994 even though Kroger had a Greenhouse store across the street which they kept open. That Krogway stayed in business as a Kroger for 3-6 months before closing. It never even had a permanent Kroger sign! I suspect Kroger bought that store simply so no other grocer moved in there and competed against the Greenhouse store. Sneaky, sneaky, and I think that is the closest we've come to a Publix-like store-across-from-a-store type situation as far as supermarkets go.
4 years is really bad for Publix, but I couldn’t imagine an Albertsons lasting less than a year! I suppose I’d be remiss in not mentioning Publix’ two GreenWise Markets in South Carolina and the one in Georgia: #1689 lasted 18 months, but #1654 only survived 13 months while #1710 made it a meager 9 months! Talk about uncharacteristic for the company! I’d be curious to see if your dad remembers where the Winn-Dixie was that he worked at. There’s a chance that #147 dates back to the 1970’s, but I also came across what looks like an old TG&Y shopping center on Fair Road that could’ve hosted an old WD. I’m also not surprised to hear that his manager was a jerk.
DeleteIt's not good for any manager to get a big head and be rude to suppliers, but you have a point that at least Publix runs a tight ship worthy of a little praise.
Like I mentioned to Anonymous in Houston, Food Lion has never simultaneously operated 5 stores in Statesboro. It’s still impressive that the company managed to operate 2-3 stores at one time in the town, though. At least it seems like Publix is doing better this time around.
@Anonymous in Houston: Wow, a Safeway that didn’t even last 3 months! That’s impressive! I admit that I’m behind on reading other posts, but that Krogertree has an insane layout!
DeleteI know AFB has some photos on Flickr of an abandoned Eckerd that either only operated for a matter of months before CVS took over or the store just never opened. As far as I know, the location still has its Eckerd road sign out front and everything! I’m sure there are similar stories of stores going through a revolving door of open and close cycles with Bruno’s, as the Belle Foods conversions hardly lasted a year (if I remember correctly). It’s also impressive that Kroger managed to operate that old Safeway for 6 months rather than just sitting on it like Publix did with several old Albertsons stores.
Sing Oil: We can only guess, but one guess is that since AppleTree and Kroger were both union stores and since Kroger simply transferred the employees of Safeway/AppleTree to Kroger when they bought the AppleTree stores that they bought, maybe they didn't want to risk making the union employees at the Greenhouse store mad by merely shutting down the old AppleTree store and laying everyone off. Thus, perhaps they evaluated the old AppleTree employees for a few months, picked the best ones and sent them to the Greenhouse store since that store would be more busy once the Krogway was closed, and then laid off the rest. Mike has also found evidence that Kroger was required to buy that AppleTree to get the other ones they really wanted and that they mentioned early on that they really didn't want to keep that AppleTree open so perhaps it was used to liquidate AppleTree stuff they acquired from the other stores. It is hard to tell, it was a very strange situation to say the least!
DeleteI recently discovered a video clip online that the Greenhouse Kroger in question was the top story in the news in December 1995, a year or so after the Krogway closed. I don't think the events which caused it to be in the news had anything to do with the Krogway closure a year and a half earlier, but who knows! There are some nice images of Bauhaus pill signs if nothing else and some Kroger Neon era remodeling aspects to a Greenhouse store, Link (go to 2:45 if you want to skip the opening commercials): https://archive.org/details/khou-10p-news-dec-161995wm
FWIW, the store was replaced with a Kroger Signature location down the street in the early 2000s and it is still around. The Greenhouse store is now a 99 Cents Only and the Krogway is a thrift store.
Those both seem like plausible explanations as to why Kroger ran the old AppleTree store for such a short time. In the end, I'm sure a larger business plan was at play, and it could have even been an easy way to write off a loss. Those are some nice exterior shots of the Greenhouse store too.
DeleteThrift & discount stores seem to be a common reuse of "antique" supermarkets!
Sing Oil Bells! Interesting to see a city like that with two of Florida's most prominent supermarkets left in the dust.
ReplyDeleteFor sure!
Delete@Anonymous in Houston: Wow! 3 months is a record! For some reason, I can't even picture a possible way for Safeway to have ever been successful in Texas. When I was a distributor, 3 years ago I fellow distributor I was talking with happened to be from Arkansas originally. l remember him telling me hoe he remembered when Safeway was in Little Rock in the early 80's. He said he remembered his parents saying they were expensive, and eventually pulled out of Arkansas.
ReplyDeleteThe Apple Tree stores were also intriguing to me. I've never actually seen a photo of one.
Yeah, Safeway was considered to be a bit more expensive than Kroger which is probably a good reason why Kroger was able to outperform Safeway here in Houston. In Dallas, where Safeway had a much longer history than here in Houston, Safeway was a bit stronger than here just because they were in a lot of older neighborhoods, but Safeway kind of flamed out in Houston after a good initial start. Once Kroger started building Superstores, Safeway started to struggle even with their super stores. Safeway did briefly overtake Kroger at the top of Houston's marketshare list in around 1984 when Safeway bought a number of old Weingarten's stores when Grand Union was leaving town, but that was very short-lived and Kroger zoomed past Safeway once again and didn't look back even when Safeway re-entered Houston via the Randall's purchase in 1999.
DeleteHere's a detailed pricing report from 1983 comparing prices at a Houston Kroger, Safeway, Eagle (Lucky's discount format in Houston which failed and left town a year or so after this report), and Texas Super Foods, a failed mid-tier attempt from the Minimax operation here in Houston which is also now long gone. As you can see here, more often than not, Kroger had Safeway beat. Link (continues on the next page): https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth912804/m1/10/
The best photos of an AppleTree are from Pseudo3D. AppleTree lived on in Bryan, TX (near Texas A&M University, Pseudo3D used to live there) until the mid-2010s when the building became an Aldi. In the late 2000s, AppleTree in Bryan became Village Foods, but it was still the same store really. This Safeway is designed similarly to that Krogway I discussed in that aforementioned November The Year of Kroger post. Here is the link to Pseudo3D's AppleTree photos: https://safewayalbertsonstexas.blogspot.com/2014/10/village-foods.html
Mike over at HHR has some historic photos from inside an AppleTree in Austin: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/grocery/appletree-markets/
AppleTree didn't have much money for renovations so in many cases, they re-used a lot of Safeway's decor where they could. It should also be noted that for a couple of years, the AppleTree people operated the old Safeway stores under the Safeway name, under license, until they established the AppleTree name. It was kind of a weird situation where for a while, Safeway had nothing to do with stores which operated with the Safeway name and logo!
@ Anonymous in Houston, Thanks for all those links! As you may know I am a fan of Albertsons, mainly because of their bakery. I always found there baked goods to be extra good and had a lot of variety. Albertsons still has an issue on pricing. They've been expensive for a long time. The only good deals they really had when they were last in my city 12 1/2 years ago, were the 10 for 10 and Buy One Get Two Free deals. A lot of the other merchandise in the store at regular price was 20-30% higher than Publix or Winn Dixie.
ReplyDeleteKroger is a bit more competitive on pricing than Albertsons/Safeway. I get the feeling that they will push through this merger no matter how much damage it does. It would be crazy to see C&S-run Albertsons stores, much like Apple Tree-ran Safeway stores! I can see how that wouldn't have lasted long.
Here in Houston, Albertsons' pricing here in 2023 at Randall's stores is higher than HEB and Kroger. HEB is the price leader on center store items and Kroger and HEB are pretty equal on perishables. Kroger has aggressive sales so sometimes that closes the gap to HEB on the center store stuff. Randall's is semi-competitive on perishables, but the center store stuff is quite a bit more expensive than HEB and Kroger. Randall's does have aggressive sales as well, sometimes on perishables, so it is possible to get good deals at Randall's, but that's only if someone buys what it is on sale or what has digital coupons.
DeleteNot surprisingly, Randall's in Houston are mostly only in wealthier areas of town...mostly in older areas which are built-out so it is not easy for competitors to come into those areas and so Randall's has less competition than what exists in typical suburban areas where Randall's has closed most of their stores. Randall's stores are nice compared to the typical Kroger and HEB. Most Randall's stores have actual flooring cover, a drop ceiling, and Colorful Lifestyle decor. Randall's has, IMO, the best bakery out of the three main mid-tier grocers here. Even when Randall's has to compete with Kroger in a wealthier area, Randall's seems to have a loyal niche of shoppers who will accept paying more for the better Randall's experience, but there are only so many places in town where Randall's can survive on such a business model.
Things weren't much different when Albertsons was here the first time in the 1990s/early 2000s, but the difference is back then, Albertsons was largely in suburban areas with lots of competition from Kroger and others including Randall's/Safeway and they just never carved out a niche for themselves. At least now with Randall's, Albertsons does have those niche stores in wealthier areas, but it is a niche. Randall's marketshare in Houston is quite low. Randall's does better in Austin since Kroger isn't there.
In Dallas, where HEB is only just starting to grow, Tom Thumb/Albertsons/United Marketstreet is a bit more mainstream as they really only compete against Kroger for the most part (DFW does have some WinCo and Brookshire's stores). For whatever reason, the Dallas division of Kroger has long been known for being a bit sloppier in their operations than the Houston Kroger division (for a while in the 1990s/early 2000s, Kroger merged the two divisions and ran them out of Houston, but they were separated again at some point) so that probably helps Albertsons a bit in Dallas. The funny thing is that the Dallas division was the good one for Albertsons/Safeway and the Houston division was the sloppy one in the 2000s-2010s and so Albertsons eventually decided to have Dallas run the Houston stores. It was the opposite case of Kroger!
We'll have to see what happens with the merger. I'm guessing the FTC will block it (we should know by Jan. 17th), but then it'll go to court. I don't know if Albertsons has an out-clause for the merger if it has to go to court or if they would even want to exit the merger if it has to go to court. It is hard to say how the courts will decide things so that'll probably be the big retail drama for a lot of us out west in 2024. The C&S aspect is messy because C&S has a history of being a poor operator of supermarkets and they'll likely want to sell their retail holdings off to independents so they can focus on being a supplier. It has failure written all over it and it would probably be better for Albertsons' Texas stores to become Krogerized than go under C&S. Whether Kroger would keep Tom Thumb/Randall's separate from their Kroger bannered stores is completely unknown. They might have to since the Albertsons stores are non-union in Texas (I'm not sure about the United Division stores, but I think they are also non-union) and Kroger stores are union.
Thanks for the shout-out and link, and cool find with that Pharmacy sign!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, and I agree!
Delete