In the only major layout change for this store, the majority of the floral department was cut out and replaced with a new Starbucks kiosk! As with essentially every Safeway, this one did have a Starbucks prior to the remodel, but it was on the other side of the store, in line with the checkouts. Quite a few stores with Starbucks kiosks in that location have had them replaced with new ones in other locations in the store in recent years, seemingly so that Safeway could add more checkouts -- which sounds good, but since they never seem to have enough staff to keep more than a small percentage of checkouts open, it seems a bit pointless. Anyway, in the Lifestyle era, Safeways around here had incredible floral departments, with quality product, a large selection, and nearly full-time staffing of the service counter; sadly, that went downhill extremely fast after the Albertsons merger and the ensuing cuts to staffing in all local Safeways, and while most stores haven't had the department physically downsized like this, I feel like that's just because Albertsons doesn't want to put that much effort into remodeling our local Safeways, since the quality, selection, and staffing are quite poor compared to the old days.
If anything, I think Houston's Randall's stores have improved in operations since the Albertsons merger. I don't know if Albertsons has anything to do with that though. I think the biggest difference was Albertsons closing the Houston Division and running everything out of the Dallas Division. While that might seem like a disadvantage not having a local division, it seems to me that the Dallas Division is a bit more competent than the old Houston Division was.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't know is if old Albertsons people are running the Dallas Division or old Safeway people. Maybe they are new people in general, I don't know. Some of the recent decisions, like dropping the card at Randall's stores and using signage very similar to what Albertsons used in the past to advertise that might indicate that Albertsons people are in charge. Things might be different in the NW though.
Good to hear that it worked out well for your area! Locally, I'm sure it's mostly Safeway people in charge, but they seem to have taken an Albertsons mindset on some things, unfortunately.
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