The register lights here are the same generic style with advertisements that many stores used from at least the 80s through the 00s, and I've seen completely identical ones at vintage Safeways and probably other chains too. The giant express lane sign is interesting -- it mentions "cash or ATM" as payment options, presumably intending to exclude checks, but it's quite odd for a package from the mid-00s (which I'm pretty sure is when the purple arch package came out) to ignore credit cards, and to refer to debit cards as ATM cards! At least they didn't include credit card company logos, as Safeway did around that time -- those signs look super outdated in the stores where they're still hanging on.
While I believe most supermarkets were accepting credit cards by the 2000s, supermarkets were some of the last retailers to regularly accept credit cards. I can't remember exactly when credit card acceptance became normal at supermarkets, but it might have been as late as the mid-to-late 1990s. With that, perhaps Save Mart was a bit slow in accepting credit cards. Given the low margins on grocery purchases, perhaps there were some holdouts. Heck, WinCo does not accept credit cards, or at least they don't anymore, even here in 2023! As if there weren't enough reasons to skip shopping at WinCo, lol!
ReplyDeleteI took a look at a random Save Mart Fresno ad (I'm not sure if this is for this exact location, but it doesn't really matter I don't think). Not only does it have logos for the four credit cards they accept, but there is a lot of room in the ad given to the Monopoly game they are offering right now! In addition to that Safeway-like oddity, Save Mart has Tender Lovin' Tuesdays promotion for chicken tenders! I guess Save Mart is trying their best to imitate Safeway-Albertsons! Link: https://savemart.com/flyers/54
I know pretty much everywhere I went took credit cards by the 00s, but perhaps Save Mart was a late adopter! I had no idea Winco didn't take credit cards -- definitely a reason for me not to bother shopping there.
DeleteHa! I guess now that Albertsons gave up on the Monopoly promotion (it was an Albertsons thing for a few years leading up to the Safeway merger), it ended up with Save Mart! Feels rather fitting, seeing as Save Mart took over a ton of former Albertsons stores back in the purple arch decor era.
A lot of this may be due to common 1980's design trends, but this store really looks and feels like a 1980's Winn-Dixie in a lot of ways. The ceiling over the checklanes, the raised ceiling over the center store, the design of the frozen foods aisle, and the floor tile patterns are all similar. I know during that time period grocery stores were known for blatently ripping off each others designs (like A&P's Family Mart division admitting to knocking off Albertsons), so maybe Save Mart inspired some of Winn-Dixie's designs (or vice versa).
ReplyDeleteIt really does! All of the wood paneling gives it a very different feel, but the bones are pretty similar. It's also fairly reminiscent of QFC from that era. Since Save Mart would have been quite a small chain in the 80s, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they took a lot of inspiration from other chains, or maybe even modified an off-the-shelf design rather than coming up with something completely of their own.
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