The faux produce crates on the back wall look surprisingly nice at this store, with the printing still nice and vibrant compared to what I've seen at other stores. These sit on the wall above the old produce service area, which (like most Grocery Palaces) has since been closed off with shelving -- it seems like having produce service/prep areas on the salesfloor was a short-lived trend in the 00s that you hardly ever see any longer.
The title was inspired by Anonymous in Houston's amazing Lifestyle retrospective, centered on the produce department and its endless Fresh from the Fields signs. Definitely check that out if you haven't already seen it -- there are a lot of stores that you will recognize!
Thanks for the plug! At least for me, when I think of Lifestyle, I think of the produce departments above all else! This was especially true in the spotlighting/X-light era. The bakeries and delis are pretty memorable as well, but there is something about those 'fresh from the fields' departments. Safeway wanted people to think about perishables with Lifestyle and maybe that strategy worked. Meanwhile, when I think of Grocery Palace Albertsons, the fresh from the farm department is certainly not the first thing that comes to mind. I probably think of Beverage Boulevard or Snack Central. I guess we know that between Grocery Palace Albertsons and Lifestyle Safeways, Safeway is the place to go for a healthy diet, lol.
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone didn't get tired of seeing all those Safeway produce departments, but I guess those photos prove that Lifestyle isn't exactly as cookie-cutter as it is sometimes said to be!
Yeah, the floral-produce side of the store is definitely the most distinctive part of Lifestyle! It's not until somewhat later in the package's life, long after most stores around here had already been remodeled, that other departments got distinctive treatments, and even then it was generally only new-builds that got the fanciest features. That monotony, where all of the departments (except the deli) were the same color and looked pretty much the same, was definitely one of the downsides of Lifestyle (which the Colorful packages fixed, though as you know I don't particularly like Lifestyle v3 for other reasons).
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