Come on Safeway, you know what to call this neighborhood -- it's in giant letters on the front of the store!

I'm always disappointed when Safeway makes these signs just say "Seattle" instead of the neighborhood name, but it's particularly weird in this case, since Safeway clearly already knows the name of this neighborhood... 

 

Those stairs off to the right are the route up from the parking garage, wrapping around the elevator with those signs on it. One thing that's notably missing over here -- any sort of cart corral! The only cart corral on the main level (inside or outside the store) is all the way on the other side of the elevator. There's a lot weird about this store, but as a regular shopper, this is the most annoying part for two (somewhat petty) reasons: First, to get a cart when you arrive at the store, you have to walk beyond a good chunk of merchandise (floral and most of the bakery), and then if you're buying something from that area, you have to double back. Second, when leaving, if you're parked on the main level (or, like me, you're using the bike rack), if you want to return your cart properly, you have to walk all the way back in to the store and past all this to get to the cart corral. This leads to a lot of carts being left behind in random spots outside -- and I'm part of the problem there, to be honest, since there's no way I'm leaving my purchases unsecured on my bike for the several minutes required to get back to the cart corral.

Comments

  1. I was doing some research for a reply on AFB's blog when I found something I think you'd like to see: a carpeted Albertsons! Ok, it's technically an Albertsons Market, but most New Mexico Albertsons Markets look like normal Albertsons. Not this one in Roswell, NM though. It seems Albertsons acquired this location from an independent grocer operating under the IGA banner, but I wonder if this was previously a Lowe's Market before that as Lowe's does like carpeted supermarkets. I don't know, but Albertsons clearly kept the carpet around even after they put up Legacy decor here. It's pretty neat looking! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/ym38i6TDMB7WmrER7

    Also, I know I shared with you a few weeks ago a new Albertsons that opened in El Paso, TX using Safeway Lifestyle v3 decor. I did some research and it seems that most El Paso Albertsons has received Lifestyle v3 decor. I thought you might like to take a look at such a store that has had it for a while even though I know you don't like Lifestyle v3, lol.

    It's strange seeing the Albertsons name there, isn't it? Link: https://goo.gl/maps/yAGNkPJphHyXSG8E7

    It looks like whatever Albertsons decor package (Legacy?) this store had before it was renovated with Lifestyle v3 was not very old when it was replaced. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/B851uos5AAhJS7z58

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, that's super weird! And looking at those Google Maps photos, it actually looks like the carpet was installed fairly recently (around 2018), replacing a fancy vinyl floor. I wonder what's up with that -- hopefully it won't become a trend.

      And yeah, it's weird seeing an Albertsons-branded store with any version of Lifestyle in it! I wonder how many Albertsons/Safeway divisions still use Lifestyle v3 -- I think it might still be in use in Oregon, too.

      Delete
    2. Huh, you're right, all the carpeted photos are from 2018 or newer. Albertsons must have put that carpet in themselves and it's not like the vinyl floor from before was worn out. Huh, this is very odd! I wonder if we'll see some more carpeted Albertsons stores in the future. Maybe you wouldn't like that, but that seems interesting to me!

      Supermarket carpets have to be cleaned quite frequently since onion peels and stuff like that will get stuck to it. I'm surprised Albertsons decided to put in that kind of effort, but maybe they felt the shoppers in that area would like it.

      Delete

Post a Comment