Another surprise at these Portland-run Safeways was the return of the old "3's a Crowd" slogan, used by Albertsons long ago to promote short checkout lines. Even by 2019, Safeway in Seattle was already having problems with understaffing and extremely long lines, something that has only gotten worse over the years (though at least they've added more self checkouts to many of their stores to speed things up a little bit), so it was a little bit frustrating to see that the Oregon stores were actually interested in doing something about that. I haven't seen these signs in my more recent visits to Oregon, but I also don't remember the stores I've visited there having the same checkout line issue as the ones in Washington. Anyway, that rant aside, the checkout setup here is a bit unusual by both modern standards and those of the Proto-Lifestyle era: There are a lot of regular checkouts, with very few express lanes, no self checkouts, and odd generic register lights rather than
the proper Proto-Lifestyle ones. The express lane sign at the far end is from the Lifestyle era, so I'm guessing things were adjusted here at some point (probably removing the extra express lane on this side, if there was ever one), but I'm surprised self checkouts were never added -- probably another oddity caused by this store being managed from Portland rather than Seattle.
Ha, I went to a Randall's recently that I hadn't been to before, a Grocery Palace Randalbertsons (more on that later), and they certainly could have used a '3's a Crowd' policy there! The sole manned checkout line was 4-5 deep when I went to pay. Some Randall's are better at keeping multiple lanes open, but the one I usually shop at isn't really much better than this one I was at for the first time.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see those 1990s style register number lights with sponsor ad windows on them! Those are certainly a blast from the past. i think some Food Towns around here still use those, but they have Food Town logos where the sponsor ads would have gone so they look less tacky than the ones here. Oh well.
Back to the topic of staffing, I read an article from 1984 talking about Houston's supermarket labor issues at the time...mainly union vs. non-union supermarkets. Kroger, Safeway, Weingarten, Rice, and Eagle (Lucky) were the main unionized stores here at the time compared to the likes of Randall's and Fiesta Mart which were non-union. Anyway, the thing that jumped out at me, aside from the marketshare figures, was that full-time unionized grocery clerks in Houston were making $8-$11/hour, plus benefits, in 1984. Prior to just recently, supermarket clerks around here were making about that much and some places may still be paying less than $11/hour. It really goes to show how much labor rates for supermarket workers have fallen in nearly 40 years even with the recent uptick in wages. Hopefully the link works as these Newsbank URLs are tricky and hopefully you can find the article on the page: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=image/v2%3A14DB39C1C40322B4%40EANX-NB-1654CDB6541B779B%402445963-1654BDE73A161635%4044-1654BDE73A161635%40&f=basic
As for the Grocery Palace Randalbertsons...I was excited to go here. I've been planning on going here for about 3-4 years now, but something always seemed to come up to prevent me from visiting this store. As you can tell from the Google photos, it has a later installation of Lifestyle v2, but it is full-size unlike so many Randall's stores. The departments are mostly where Albertsons would have had them, but Safeway did remove the floating floral/pharmacy departments and they put them in more expected places (Floral went where the old video department was on the front wall and Pharmacy in the front right corner..customer service has their desk where the cart area would have been up front).
Safeway did wall over the niches on the back wall so that it is straight and smooth. I like this look much better. Safeway also carved out a seating area behind the deli which is quite large. Safeway kept the aisle cut throughs, but they are functionally better than similar Krogertsons. I'd still prefer straight though aisles, but this isn't too bad.
The strangest part, in the photos at least, is that Safeway installed a drop ceiling at this store, but then the ducts are still below the drop ceiling. It looks really strange in the photos, but I can say that the ceiling looks much nicer in person than in the photos. The exposed ducts are still a bit strange, but it's not as visible in person.
All in all, it's a very nice store. I like it. The register staffing issues aside, this seems like a smoothly operating store and I think the Google user reviews reflect that. One odd thing I can't explain is that the staff were wearing green aprons and green name tags. I don't know if this is a seasonal thing, but I don't think so. I've never seen this at other Randall's stores. Are green aprons and name tags a thing at certain Safeway stores?
Oh, on a recent topic, this Randall's had a large number of their GE light bulbs on sale for 50%. I'm not sure what was up with that. Is Albertsons changing to a new bulb supplier? Anyway, I did pick up some good deals on bulbs!
Here is the store on Google: https://goo.gl/maps/AXCrvDExibgLZPQa7
Yeah, it's pretty much the same way here -- which, when combined with Safeway's typically cramped front end, can lead to some significant problems for circulation around the checkouts! I hope your local stores have a bit more space for lines, at least.
DeleteIt's weird for me to think of these advertising register lights as being a rare find, since they were once ubiquitous around here (and Albertsons actually only started using them sometime in the 2000s -- I'm not sure exactly when they started, but Blue and Grey Market definitely had its own register lights), but you're right that they're almost all gone now! I imagine that, like the ad-insert aisle markers that were also a fad in some areas (I don't believe anyone used them around here) in the 90s, whatever company ran the advertising program is long gone these days.
That sure is an odd store! I can't think of anywhere else (in a modern store, at least -- some vintage stores have weird stuff going on since they probably didn't even have a proper HVAC system originally, as we recently saw at that Tacoma Safeway) with a drop ceiling and exposed ducts. That really seems like a strange thing to cheap out on when they were already going to the expense of adding a drop ceiling! Looking through the pictures, I noticed that the deli tile appears to be the Proto-Lifestyle design just like in this store, which seems very strange -- when did Randalls take over that store?
I have no clue about the green aprons or lightbulbs. The only time I've seen Safeway employees with green aprons is when they're working the Starbucks kiosk!
Safeway took over that Albertsons right after Albertsons left Houston so it would have been around 2002-3. I believe that was around the time that Safeway was using Proto-Lifestyle so that explains the tiles I suppose.
DeleteThis Randalbertsons has a decent amount of room in the front end, but with my local Randall's being from 1974, the front end is a bit cramped. I agree it is a bit strange that Safeway put in a drop ceiling, but then put the drop ceiling above the HVAC vents. That is very strange, but fortunately, it doesn't look as strange in person as it does in the photos.
I mentioned this on a recent comment at AFB, but check out this image from a Randalbertsons near the aforementioned Randalbertsons, but this one is a former Blue & Grey Market Albertsons. Here is an interesting aisle marker solution, lol. Also, the gift card clearly says Safeway instead of Randall's. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/qgXdUuKkRC342XVT7
It's pretty surprising that store kept its Proto-Lifestyle tile when it got its Lifestyle v2 remodel, but the timeline does line up, at least!
DeleteI've seen some hacked-together decor bits before, but that's a whole new level of cheap fixes! That's especially surprising since I'm sure compatible plaques are still available (since there are so many Colorful Lifestyle remodels in your area keeping the original aisle markers), and they probably would have been even more available in 2017 when that picture is from!