In addition to being one of the last Fred Meyers from their days of rapid expansion (something that seems so foreign these days), this must have been one of the last to get the old, more italic (but still boring as heck) Fred Meyer logo, which was replaced with the even more boring current one in 1999. It's surprising (but not unique) that the logos weren't swapped out when the store was remodeled, which I'm guessing must have been an early Northwest remodel since this isn't
the store's original paint scheme, but it's also not the green/earth tones one introduced in the late 2000s.
Huh, I think I like the original paint scheme better than the current one! The current one doesn't necessarily look bad, but it is a bit more plain than that old one. It would probably help if the Fred Meyer sign in the current picture wasn't partially faded like Sears signs often got towards the end. I never could figure out why some letters faded more than others!
ReplyDeleteDo Fred Meyers usually have Chase Banks in them? I'm noticing that it seems like Krogers here in Houston seem to be losing their in-store banks. The ones they have/had were a chain of banks I'm not familiar with called First Convenience Bank or something like that. Oddly enough, while the banks might be closing at the larger Krogers, some of them are hanging in at older, smaller Krogers. Here's a really awkward looking in-store bank at an old Houston Greenhouse Kroger: https://goo.gl/maps/qNgwnBemxaRWVqqe7
That particular store has a rather unusual front facade. Kroger tried to redesign the front to remove the Greenhouse look and so this is what they came up with: https://goo.gl/maps/nTqC5CriTwPMGsny7
The store probably has some of the smallest 2012 decor signage around. This small text is the kind of thing I'd expect at a QFC, lol. They say everything is bigger in Texas, but as you saw before with some small Randall's Lifestyle v2 department signage and now this with this Kroger, that's not always true! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/TxBZ69UPUU6wocCq5
Here's something kind of neat you might be interested in. I found a newspaper ad in that Texas History database from 1983 that was run by the Texas Super Foods chain of supermarkets. Texas Super Foods was a division of the local grocery chain Minimax that basically ceased to exist not too long after the ad came out. But, anyway, the ad has a list of 200 popular grocery items and compares their prices to Kroger, Safeway, and Eagle. Eagle was a division of discount supermarkets owned by Lucky Stores of California that was only here in Houston for a pretty brief period of time.
DeleteNow, I don't know how much we can infer about Seattle-area grocery prices in 2021 from Houston-area grocery prices in 1983, lol, but it's quite easy to see that Kroger was almost universally cheaper than Safeway here in Houston in 1983. Sometimes the price differences weren't much, but sometimes they were quite significant. When looking at all these prices, I think you can get a pretty good sense for why Kroger is still around with a large presence in Houston and Safeway left...only to come back via Randall's, but I think the differences in prices between Kroger and Randall's in 2021 would be oddly similar to what they were in 1983!
Here's the link to the ad. The ad spills over into the next page, but you can easily hit the right arrow button on the link to get that next page: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth912804/m1/10/
That ad came from a community newspaper in Southeast Houston. The Texas Super Foods in that area opened in 1983 and then was sold to another local grocer called Holiday Foods in 1984. The old Texas Super Foods store in that area today is now an Asian supermarket called Hong Kong Food Market and they still have 1980s decor up presumably from the original 1983 Texas Super Foods! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/1LVo5nhno7S1kyKy7
Here's a good shot showing some retro features including an interesting design for the two-way mirrors for the upstairs offices: https://goo.gl/maps/GezbWoBb72eppRcm6
Checkout those vintage aisle markers! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/f5pJZi7kEqnHTZ4P8
Anyway, I wonder if QFC and especially Fred Meyer shoppers might find those prices differences relative to Safeway to also be present in the NW.
Yeah, I think I like the original paint scheme better too, but the 2020 version is much better than either old one in my opinion.
DeleteIt's fairly common (but far from universal) to see banks (especially Chase banks) in Fred Meyer branches. It seems like there was a big push to put banks in grocery stores in the early 2000s (Safeway even had its own "Safeway Select Bank" for a very brief time), but following the recession, many of them either closed down or moved to full-size branches. The concept clearly isn't completely dead, though, as the Roosevelt Safeway got a brand-new bank installed where there wasn't one previously just a few years ago.
At this point, I'd say Fred Meyer and Safeway have fairly similar prices. At least for the things I buy, Fred Meyer tends to have higher regular prices, but they sometimes have better sales. QFC, on the other hand, pretty much always has higher prices!
Supermarkets started putting banks in their stores well before the early 2000s around here. Randall's was the first that I know of as they had Commonwealth Savings banks in their 1980s stores. Kroger followed not too long after as you can see in this 1983 video about the Kroger Financial Center at a Bauhaus Kroger. It may not seem so now, but having an ATM with a color screen, or an ATM machine in general, was extremely fancy by 1983 standards!
Deletehttps://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1227099/m1/
Randall's around here these days have Wells Fargo bank branches. They're a pretty big bank around here so they certainly have an edge over Kroger and Wal-Mart in terms of having a known bank at their stores. I didn't realize that Safeway had their own bank! I wonder if it was operated by a different bank.
That's odd that Fred Meyer has similar/higher prices than Safeway. I'm guessing Kroger charges people in the NW more than they do here whereas maybe Randall's has pretty typical Safeway prices. It's hard to say, but Kroger is certainly considered a cheaper store than Randall's. That said, both have a lot of sales. Kroger's digital coupons and 'Buy 5' sales are quite a bit more confusing than similar sales from Randall's though.
Well, hey, the northwest is always behind on retail trends! 🙂 I remember the Safeway banks seeming high-tech at the time, but I was also around 4 when they existed, and I suspect whatever they had is commonplace if not outdated by today's standards. And according to this article, they were operated by CIBC out of Canada, oddly enough (though apparently they do have a US presence still, just not around here).
DeleteI feel like we discussed Safeway versus Kroger pricing a while back, and it seemed like Safeway around here was similar to Kroger in your area, rather than the other way around. Even when compared to stores like Walmart or Target, Safeway's pricing around here tends to be fairly reasonable, particularly for fresh items.