I had a hard time getting a picture of the bakery oval sign due to the cramped conditions here (and all of the employees hanging around the customer service counter -- like Oregon but unlike Washington, it seems that both of Safeway's California divisions still properly staff their stores), but I'm still not thrilled with how this came out! Oh well, it's pretty much identical to
what you would once have found in so many Safeways, just with silver rather than beige as the background. On a side note, I never noticed until just now that Lifestyle v1's oval signs had a two-layer design, with the photo being on top of the background! It's much less noticeable in the final version of Lifestyle v1, and seems a little unnecessary given how bland their overall design is.
Huh, it appears that is a local flair photo of PacBell Park, or whatever they call it these days, which is the stadium where the San Francisco Giants baseball team plays. Local flair in Proto Lifestyle is a bit strange, of course, but there is actually an even more odd story to tell about Safeway and PacBell Park which might make that photo more than just local flair!
ReplyDeletePacBell Park would have been pretty new when this Safeway opened. At the time, the Giants were owned by Peter Magowan. Magowan was the son of a Safeway CEO. Peter Magowan himself became head of the Safeway Houston Division and then eventually CEO of Safeway in the 1980s. The Giants were threatening to move to Tampa Bay so Magowan bought the team to keep them in San Francisco and he eventually got PacBell Park built. Magowan left Safeway to run the Giants, but perhaps they felt motivated to put a photo of the Giants' stadium in one of their San Francisco stores given the connection between the team and the company. Granted, Safeway was/is based nearby as well.
I wonder if that beige is the same shade of beige as what was used in Lifestyle v1. If so, perhaps this might be the earliest example of Safeway using that color!
Interesting! Oracle Park (as it's called these days) is less than a block away from this store, which I'm assuming is the main reason for all the local flair (similar to how my local store, a couple blocks from Climate Pledge, has Kraken banners inside), but I wasn't aware of the connection between Safeway and the Giants!
DeleteHmm, could be! Who knows how many weird transitional decors there were between Proto-Lifestyle and Lifestyle v1, though...