Front end

This picture doesn't show all that much, but I'm keeping it in because it goes along with a discussion I was having with Anonymous in Houston last time I showed the front end, about the security catwalk with windows/mirrors looking out onto the salesfloor. Apparently, stores of this model that were purpose-built typically had an office above the salesfloor around where the floral department is here; I don't believe there's enough space for that here, which was probably a sacrifice made to fit the store into a larger mixed-use building. This store also got self checkouts installed at some point, perhaps during the remodel or perhaps earlier. Safeway seems to be really leaning into self checkouts these days, and it's extremely rare to find one without them these days (though one of the extremely tiny stores in Eastern Washington that I recently visited still doesn't have them despite a recent remodel). I've signed up for surveys from Safeway to get a sense of what sort of things they're considering; just the other day, I got one that seemed to be testing the waters for all-self-checkout stores -- I doubt that will actually happen (especially since Walmart abandoned that idea very quickly), but it will be interesting to see what happens!