I was pleasantly surprised to see that this store kept its 90s-era turntable checkouts during the remodel. This is a real classic Albertsons thing in my mind -- sure, Safeway and other chains also used them extensively (and there's even still a Safeway in Seattle with them), but Albertsons is the store where I normally saw them growing up. But Albertsons stores are rare around here these days, and even in the remaining Albertsons, turntable checkouts are becoming increasingly rare, so it's cool to see them still hanging on here. Also, the new register lights -- numbers carved into a wooden box -- look really nice! It's nice to see something other than a glowing plastic cube or cylinder.
Off the top of my head, I don't think too many supermarkets used the turntables around here other than Albertsons. I could be forgetting someone though. Heck, some Krogers around here still have the short checkstands which have no belt/turntable and which require the checker to pull items directly off the cart.
ReplyDeleteSome of the Albertsons that became Food Towns and such still have the old Albertsons turntables. Check out this Albertsons Town not too far from me which still has the turntables. Also, amazingly, that is a new photo and one can see that Food Town now has self-checkouts! It's kind of strange seeing self-checkouts at Food Town. They seemed like an unlikely grocer to put those in, but I guess even they're getting in on the self-checkout bandwagon. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/18YZNbc4ws143Z2F9
Speaking of that Albertsons Town, they are still using the old video rental room there as a leased barber shop/nail salon type thing. I wonder how many old Albertsons video rental rooms are still being used around the country! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/EBLNcHkwqHXfy4SG7
Back to Kroger for a second, I noticed today they put up some new billboards around town with that new logo that is of a spoon looking thing that also looks like half a lemon. Half a lemon describes my thought about that logo. Well, maybe 2/3rds of a lemon is a more accurate description of my thoughts, lol. Why does Kroger need another logo?!
Yeah, the only stores I've ever seen turntable checkouts in are Safeway and Albertsons. I thought they were more common than that, but perhaps not. QFC historically used the small checkouts, and Fred Meyer has used conveyor belt checkouts for a long time.
DeleteIt's funny seeing that picture with the self checkouts -- not only are those the same turntable checkouts as this store has, but it has the same self checkouts too! Those are the ones that Safeway/Albertsons installed circa 2019 in virtually all stores that still lacked self checkouts (there's only one local store that I know of that still doesn't have them, and it's one that's supposed to be replaced in the near future).
Ugh, yes, that "fresh cart" logo. It was thoroughly roasted over on Discord when it first came out! Strangely, both QFC and Fred Meyer are using it, even though Kroger normally goes to great lengths to avoid cross-branding between the two. It's also sparked a lot of rumors about Kroger consolidating brands, which seems like it would be a terrible idea, but who knows what they'll do these days.