I'm mostly skipping over the exterior photos from the 2018 visit, since the ones from my recent revisit are so much better, and virtually nothing on the exterior changed in the remodel. Heading in the main entrance, the elevator to the rooftop parking deck is right in front of you, and it's interestingly clad in the same brick veneer as the store's exterior; the main salesfloor extends off to the left, forcing a somewhat zigzag-y route through the vestibule and then this little alcove.
Ha, back in 2018, the signage at Safeway might have said that the customers are sunshine, but by the 2020s, the signs were asking customers not to attack the employees!
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit surprising to see a relatively new Safeway with Lifestyle v2, albeit a more modern implementation of it, drop ceilings, and proper flooring! This feels a bit more like 2008 than anything relatively new, but heck, Colorful Lifestyle v2 is Randall's decor package of choice for renovations in current times so I suppose it isn't too odd that this store has a bit more of a traditional look. I'm certainly not complaining and I think Lifestyle v2 looks quite nice when a store has sufficient lighting as this store appears to have. Of course, it no longer as Lifestyle v2 if I'm reading this correctly, but hopefully it still has real floor covering if nothing else or this store won't be my sunshine!
For something a little different, Mike from HHR found a photo one one of the Randall's around me from 2012 when the store closed. I'm sure this decor package will be completely foreign to you as it is actually an original Randall's decor package which Safeway never replaced in this store even though Safeway took over Randall's in 1999. I'm sure you'll be surprised to see something like in a Safeway property in the 2010s! I last went to this store in 2011 and I remember it feeling quite strange and retro even then compared to Lifestyle...not that it looked bad. Link: https://fastly.4sqi.net/img/general/width960/hYD-sLjLZQu_sXKyShFZTq027Bk4blhiIJkBINsy3Rg.jpg
That is true... COVID really brought out the worst in everyone. It's been a while since I last saw one of those signs, so hopefully people are starting to behave better.
DeleteI think Lifestyle v2 was Safeway's standard decor package all the way up until the Albertsons merger! Concrete floors weren't common until then, either (at least around here). Drop ceilings are something Safeway seems to have gone back and forth on for decades -- I've seen stores from the 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s with both open and drop ceilings. I'm honestly not entirely sure if they're using open ceilings in all of their stores built these days, since they've built so few since the merger.
Cool! I'm getting a bit of an Albertsons feel from that picture... it almost looks like an upscale version of Blue and Grey Market.