While this store most likely never had a floral arbor due to the lowered ceiling over that department, it does still have the original Lifestyle X-lights over the produce department, which are very rare south of the border! While the chalkboard sign on top of the produce cases is a Sobeys addition, the cases themselves still retain their single-deck configuration with price signs up top, something Albertsons ditched shortly after taking over Safeway. At first I thought the non-diagonal configuration of the produce displays was something that had been changed in recent years (similar to Washington Safeways), but the X-lights are also not on a diagonal, which I think is a sign that this was how Safeway always had the department arranged. Off to the left is the ultramodern Infarm display, which looks rather out of place in this early-00s time capsule of a store!
While I'm typically not a fan of dimly lit stores, I think the Lifestyle decor looks a lot nicer with the original dim lighting compared to when Albertsons intalled the new bright lights in all the stores with this decor.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the overly bright lighting certainly clashes with Lifestyle! That being said, I think this store is still somewhat brighter than it would have been when Lifestyle was new; I'm not sure if that's something that would have happened before or after the Safeway Canada sale, but I believe Safeway started making Lifestyle stores a bit brighter sometime in the late 00s or early 2010s.
DeleteWow, I've got to say that this produce department looks interesting and unlike most I'm accustomed to seeing. I always associate the "ambiance" of dimly-lit stores like this with Fresh Market or a Rutherfordton Food Lion (neither of which have ever made it close to the West Coast), so it is interesting to see a different interpretation of it. The "X" lights do look rustic, but they add some interesting character to the space and I feel like they work with the vinyl wood floors and faux-chalk signs.
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