This store has a full-size service meat department, pretty nice for such a rural store. I'm guessing this was significantly upgraded during the Lifestyle remodel, since Safeway didn't generally start doing full-service meat departments until the late 90s from what I've seen.
I suppose now that you mention it, Kroger did have the meat service counters much earlier than Safeway did. Safeway was still using the self-serve meat displays with the glassed-in butcher rooms and the 'push for service' buttons into the 1980s at least. It was probably when Safeway left Houston that Safeway started to switch to the model Kroger was using. The funny thing is that today, Randall's still has the meat service counters while Kroger has started severely downsizing and de-emphasizing theirs at least here in Houston!
ReplyDeleteAlthough this store clearly has Safeway Superstore elements to it, it is also clear how much more upscale Safeway made these stores during the Lifestyle renovations. When I think of my local 1980-built Safeway, which is now a Food Town, it is really hard to fathom it looking like this when, in reality, the two stores probably looked very similar in 1980 and still have a lot of design elements in common!
Of course, that folding table with no tablecloth doesn't exactly fit this upscale image that I just mentioned, lol.
Yeah, around here, Albertsons and QFC seem to have had full-service meat departments long before Safeway did. I'm not sure when they started installing them in new-build stores (likely the early 90s), but it wasn't until the Lifestyle era that they started retrofitting them into a lot of older stores.
DeleteSafeway really did make a lot of their stores look quite upscale in the Lifestyle era, despite generally being in sort of a lower-midrange position in the local grocery market. Their displays fit in more with that market position! 😃