This is one of those Safeways with an in-store Quest Diagnostics location (which still seems like a weird concept to me), and amusingly, the sign was installed within the dairy department, and even on the dairy blue wall paint! I wonder what's up with all of the "family packs" of coffee surrounding these cases (at least, I'm pretty sure it's coffee -- unfortunately, basically all of my photos of this store turned out with a very soft focus, something that was frustratingly common with my old iPod camera).
I've heard that some of these Quest Diagnostics spaces that were carved out in Safeway locations (including Randall's locations here) were initially intended to be Theranos locations before that business blew up in spectacular fashion that has been well-documented in various media forms. I'm not sure how true that is, but it's not hard to find information about Safeway's plans for Theranos locations.
ReplyDeleteYikes -- I had forgotten about all that! I'm not entirely convinced they're connected, though -- the Theranos thing was way before the Albertsons merger, but Quest Diagnostics didn't start appearing until well after the merger. I'm pretty sure the Quest spaces that I've seen took over the space originally designated for consultations/vaccinations... unless those spaces were originally intended to be used for Theranos?
DeleteIt's hard to say, but it might be reasonable to guess that the same thinking that made Safeway think it was a good idea to let Theranos use the extra pharmacy space was behind the decision to let Quest Diagnostics use the space. I think that in places like here in Houston especially, having services like Quest Diagnostics might help the grocery side of the business since Randall's isn't a marketshare leader here and so Quest might bring in some people who ordinary wouldn't shop at Randall's. Safeway is more ubiquitous in the NW though so I don't know how much that helps.
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