Just beyond all that, the floral department is at the point where the front actionway splits in two, with one running along the grocery aisles and the other running through the deli zone. The Sees Candies on display here, while obviously not a Northwest-focused product, are another thing that Haggen sells and Safeway doesn't; it really is interesting to see them allowed to go off on their own like this.
I guess Haggen is considered high-end or exclusive enough to be able to sell See's Candies. There was probably a time when Randall's could have sold See's Candies, at least the Randall's Flagship stores, but unfortunately I think the stores are too 'Safewayified' for that now. Although Haggen is pretty Safewayified themselves, I suppose they have enough higher-end features to separate themselves from Safeway and Fred Meyer/QFC.
ReplyDeleteRice Epicurean sold See's Candies here in Houston for many years and they were certainly a similar type of store to Randall's Flagship in the pre-Safeway days, but the last Rice Epicurean closed in 2022. Spec's Liquors took over that Rice Epicurean building, which started out as a Safeway a long time ago, and now they sell See's Candies there. It's a bit of an odd combination, liquor and candy! Mike did a post about that Spec's: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2022/11/16/specs-epicurean-experience-more-groceries-than-you-might-think/
This is one of the only times I've ever seen See's Candies being sold outside of a See's store -- I have seen it before, but it's definitely not common!
DeleteHaggen is definitely an odd hybrid between being independent and being just part of Safeway, and if this set has any real point (beyond "look at this cool store", which is really the only point of any of this), that would be it. They sell Signature-brand products and use Safeway's systems, but they have their own decor and seem to still make most of their own decisions on what products to stock. It's hard to imagine the Safeway of old doing something like this, but I guess their post-merger management is a bit more open to it!