As the near-duplicate photo implies, I've decided to make this an integrated before-and-after set (which may prove to be a terrible idea, since I clearly wasn't considering that when I took my after pictures, but the before set was already bizarrely choppy anyway). The exterior didn't really change, except for one major surprise -- instead of removing or ignoring the existing local flair (flags from various Scandinavian countries, alluding to Ballard's (Crown Hill is basically North Ballard) long-gone Scandinavian heritage), they replaced the extremely-faded flags with new ones! I'm very happy to see Safeway do that here, since locally, Safeway seems to have abandoned local flair altogether in recent years. (This store was probably a last stand for it in the Washington Division, for the time being at least.)
The Scandinavian flags are a neat touch! Actually, it's hard to say if Iceland and Finland are considered Scandinavian or not. Sometimes they are lumped in, but usually Scandinavia is considered Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and the label Nordic is used to also describe those three along with Iceland and Finland. Well, anyway, the flags are a nice touch!
ReplyDeleteI saw today on Retail Watchers that someone has uploaded a couple of photos showing the conversion of a North Dallas Albertsons into a Tom Thumb. We've discussed this conversion before, but our discussion was during the early stages of the conversion. The link also shows a renovated Market Street store (run by the United division of Albertsons) in the Dallas area as well. In all likelihood, that Market Street store has decor which you probably have not seen before. Whether it'll remain exclusive to Market Street or not is hard to say, but you might like looking at that.
https://www.retailwatchers.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1049&start=100
Here's how that Tom Thumb looked when it was an Albertsons: https://goo.gl/maps/8pkuCiEnb7EypYSM8
In other supermarket news, it looks like the labor issues for Kroger's Houston division are continuing and there are new threats of strikes: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/Kroger-Houston-workers-again-weigh-strike-in-16620131.php
Ha, I didn't even think about that, though I believe the local Nordic Museum does include those countries.
DeleteHonestly, that Albertsons to Tom Thumb conversion doesn't look that great from those pictures. But that's similar to local older Albertsons that were turned into Safeways.
The Market Street decor is actually something I've seen before -- it's the one from the Idaho Market Street stores, which might be officially called "Market Street Broadway" (though a better name, seeing it extend to Texas, might be Market Street v2). So far, it does seem to be only used at Market Street branded stores, but I also haven't made any progress on my Safeway decor list lately, so I suppose it's possible that it's out there in some market. Safeway has some very nice new decor packages, including that one, but sadly they haven't been used in the Northwest yet (except for those two Idaho Market Street Albertsons).
Ha, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you've seen that Market Street decor already! I would say that the decor is new to me, but maybe you gave me a link to that Idaho store before. It's hard to tell. Certainly it's not something I've seen often!
DeleteThe Albertsons-to-Tom Thumb conversion really doesn't look all that remarkable on the inside. In fact, I consider the concrete floor to be a bit of a dud (though I do give them credit for at least seemingly removing any possible tile scar). The work they did on the outside looks pretty good though.