Oddly, upon entering the store, the first thing you find used to be a bunch of displays spilling out of the clothing department -- I guess clothing was still somewhat of a big thing for Fred Meyer in 2010, unlike today when, despite having gone to the trouble of creating their own brand, Kroger seems to have largely given up on apparel. Decor-wise, from this angle this looks like standard Northwest, but there are some interesting surprises coming later...
Hopefully this comment works because I've been having so many problems with the comments box on Blogger lately! Ugh! This was supposed to go in the 'Front Entry' post, but it isn't working there.
ReplyDeleteThat old 1980s Ford truck looks fitting at an old Fred Meyer! Of course, the Fred Meyer looks newer than the truck in a way, but OTOH, that truck looks immaculate! I don't see a dent or any rust! It's not common to see Ford trucks like that around here these days and if you do see one, they are all beat up. Those trucks are about old enough that they might become collectors items and perhaps people will restore them. However, around here at least, people seem more interested in restoring 1980s GM trucks. Those 1980s trucks were some of the last trucks before trucks became 'cowboy Cadillacs'.
Based on the other post with the ugly concrete floors here, I think that Ford truck is aging much more blissfully than the Fred Meyer even with that renovated facade!
I know this post is about a big 'ole Fred Meyer, but tiny Safeways are always the rage and I discovered two Tom Thumbs in Dallas which take tiny to the next level. One is about 15k sq. ft. and the other is about 17 sq. ft. and both are boomerang Safeways! Believe it or not, both are heavy on the service departments as well! The 15k one was a Safeway until Safeway left Dallas in 1987 and then Tom Thumb bought the location. After Randall's bought Tom Thumb, it was converted into a Simon David store. Simon David was Tom Thumb's high-end banner. Safeway bought Randall's and the Simon David name was eliminated so it became a Tom Thumb again. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/pmiWN18ByL6ovrrK8
The 17k one was bought by a now-defunct Dallas chain, Minyard, after Safeway left Dallas. Somewhere in the 1990s or 2000s, it became a Tom Thumb. This store, which is about the size of a Walgreens, has a pharmacy along with food service departments! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/zT1Es9q3qKQywKPr6
I know that these Walgreens-sized stores are small even by NW standards so I think you'll enjoy them. As I always say, everything is bigger in Texas...except for the Safeways! Do note that these stores have high user ratings. Safeway knows how to run these small stores. Kroger will probably destroy that if they get their hands on these stores. Who the heck goes to Kroger for hot deli items?!
Ugh, it had been working so well...
DeleteThose 80s-era Ford trucks were all over the place in Port Angeles when I was growing up, and I feel like they're still relatively common (which shouldn't be a big surprise, seeing as how old cars are much more common up here than in most of the country!).
Wow! Those stores rival the two mini QFCs that Seattle used to have. Around here, the situation with Safeway versus Kroger is the opposite of what you're saying -- it's QFC that knows what to do with small stores and has better service departments and hot deli items; it's Safeway that hardly anyone goes to for the hot deli! Safeway does operate some small, old stores as I've been posting about lately, but almost all of them have few or no service departments, unlike the now-closed QFCs or those two Tom Thumbs.
Argh, the first time I tried to post that comment, I got the new error! At least it doesn't immediately lose your comment text like it used to...
DeleteThat's unfortunate that other people are getting the error as well, but at least I know that it isn't just me! Ugh, I don't know why Blogger gets these errors and why they linger around for so long. I had gotten so used to the errors with the previous version of the Blogger comment box that I started copying all my comments before posting them just in case Blogger decided to eat them. I still do that even with the new system.
DeleteI wonder if QFC has different, better hot foods in their delis than Fred Meyer and regular Krogers like we have here. While I do see people buying fried chicken from Randall's, I rarely see people buy that from Kroger even though they do sell it and other things. Some of the Krogers around here have fancy looking pizzerias and such (though, admittedly, I shop at these stores less frequently), but I still rarely see people buy those items from there and I'm at Kroger quite a bit given how common they are around here.
Back in the Greenhouse Kroger days when there was an obvious dining room in Kroger stores, I would see a few people eating at Kroger, but those dining rooms were usually underutilized which probably helps explain why they were de-emphasized later on.
QFC did have those small stores, but it seems like Kroger has been eliminating small stores across the country. The QFC ones were nice, but many of the other small stores were very basic small-town stores in places such as Arkansas where the stores hadn't been updated in decades. The current Kroger administration seems to be anti-small stores...which then makes their potential control over Safeway properties very problematic. Those Tom Thumb stores look like viable, well-liked parts of their communities and I'm not sure if Kroger as we know it now is capable of continuing that unless they leave Safeway's people in charge.
Fred Meyer has pretty nice delis too, though not at the level of QFC except at exceptionally fancy stores. Most Fred Meyers have an in-store dining area too (QFCs typically don't, since even their normal-size stores are a bit small by modern standards).
DeleteSmall towns are something I'm quite concerned about if current Kroger management takes over Safeway. Around here, Safeway has stores in a lot of small towns that are more or less the only option for groceries, and Kroger has been infamous for axing stores like that lately...