This part of the store retains the empty, spaced-out feel from before the downsizing, while also still being a weird mixture of all sorts of different products! The refrigerated deli islands were all reconfigured, meaning they must have done quite a bit of work on the flooring, but unfortunately they kept the worn-out Lifestyle woodgrain instead of swapping it out for the new stuff that matches Modern much better.
Bing Beverages? Huh, who knew such a thing existed? I prefer Duckduckgo beverages, though I assume such a thing doesn't exist. Then again, I wouldn't have assumed someone would have named an energy drink after Bing unless it was in a corporate cafeteria in Redmond!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you would have preferred a Modern flooring of any kind over a Lifestyle floor! I don't think the floor here looks too worn, but it is hard to tell from a photo I suppose.
Maybe I've asked this before, but is Safeway still using plastic carts in your area? Those are long gone from here and not just at Randall's. My local Fiesta Mart just recently dumped the last of their relatively new, and mostly broken, plastic carts. I did use a plastic cart at the Price Chopper Market 32 near Crossgates Mall in Albany and it worked okay.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this Market 32 to you (I know AFB and I discussed it earlier), but it has the strange combination of dark grey vinyl floor tiles (yep, AFB, I can confirm that it does indeed have vinyl tiles and not concrete....it is hard to tell from the photos), dark grey and black walls, and dark grey ceiling tiles. While this might sound like it was even more of a dungeon than an early Lifestyle Safeway, it actually wasn't too bad when I went during the middle of the day at least. The store had sufficient lighting and it was more of a daylight color temperature. Generally I wouldn't prefer that color temperature, but if someone is going to go for an ultra-modern look, I suppose that color temperature is almost necessary. This is certainly one of the most different looking decor packages I've ever seen...in photos or in real-life! Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CxSa9e1QCs9WQjGv7
Ha! I take it they aren't a national brand, then. I've never tried them (unsurprisingly, considering I basically just drink water), but I've definitely seen them around.
DeleteTo be honest, I've never much liked the very grey woodgrain that Lifestyle used. And considering that Lifestyle has been around for two decades now, it's definitely wearing out at a lot of stores! It also seems that the exact color isn't being made anymore (or maybe the stuff in stores has faded over the decades), because when they patch the flooring, it never really matches!
Safeway's cart situation is very confusing around here. Most stores have plastic carts, but some have metal ones, and I have no idea what the current standard is for new carts. For years, it seemed like our local stores were exclusively getting random used carts of all different styles shipped in from somewhere (and there were some real oddities in there, like the Wegmans carts I showed at some point), but then last year they bought a bunch of brand-new red plastic carts. It seems like they've gone back to used carts, though, at least at my local Safeway -- it's now about half and half new red carts and old beige ones. I haven't seen them buy new metal carts except for the first few years after the Albertsons merger (and even those might have just been rebranded ones from all of the closed Albertsons stores, which all had black metal carts at that point).
That is a very interesting store design! It kind of reminds me of some of the stuff I've seen in Canada, but I don't think any of them had such dark floors or ceilings. I kind of like it, but I'd definitely have to see it in person to really figure out how I feel!
Ha, as we know from ceiling tiles at Safeway locations, Safeway is usually not all that concerned about getting matching tiles!
DeleteThose Lifestyle v1/v2 floors are getting up there, but Kroger is still using some Millennium/Script era floors around here, not to mention the 25 year old Grocery Palace Krogertsons floor, and they look okay if they are maintained well...which is certainly not always a given at Kroger locations.
The one thing I've noticed about the fake wood floors Kroger uses now and also Randall's with Colorful Lifestyle v2 remodels is that it has some kind of matte finish rather than the shiny vinyl that was common before. Perhaps it is a no-wax, reduced maintenance finish, I'm not sure. Maybe it also has better slip resistance. While I can't say I've seen it look bad at Randall's locations, the Kroger fake wood floors look like they aren't going to hold up nearly as well the old Lifestyle v1/v2 fake wood. They look like they stain very easily, perhaps because they are more porous, and I've seen them curl somewhat. Granted, as we know about Kroger, they're probably using the cheapest possible materials these days in their remodels.
I guess the point in saying all of this is that I think when Lifestyle was still new, the expectation was the tiles in that era would/could last well over 25 years if maintained. I'm not so sure about the modern stuff.
Huh, Safeway uses recycled carts in your area? That is pretty crazy! Randall's almost exclusively uses new metal carts here, usually the fully black ones with the raised basket design or the ones with kind of a dark grey painted finish with a more standard looking basket. I think the Seattle Division must be especially cheap, but perhaps cart theft is a much bigger problem in your area than they would be here...especially where Randall's are typically located since they are wealthier areas for the most part (though I'm sure the Midtown Randall's has some issues with cart thefts just based on where it is as an urban store that is otherwise in a food desert near downtown Houston).
That Market 32 certainly has a design I've never seen before. I agree, it is something which must be seen in-person to truly evaluate it. I will say that the really dark colors probably did make it feel smaller than the store really was. I think it was about the same size as the Hannaford I shopped at a day or two earlier, but it felt smaller. Then again, maybe it was smaller in the sense that Market 32 has some really huge service departments, especially the hot deli, so maybe the center part of the store was smaller than what Hannaford had (not that Hannaford's service departments were small, but I think Market 32's were bigger...the stark difference in colors actually makes it a bit hard to evaluate!).
Hmm, I've always thought of Lifestyle's woodgrain vinyl as having a particularly matte look! Meanwhile, the new stuff they installed in the U District store (the only one so far to get updated woodgrain, since every other store either kept its existing flooring or went for concrete) looks quite a bit shinier. I'll note that other Lifestyle floors (the white and beige vinyl parts) have aged pretty well (certainly better than the white vinyl Safeway has installed in recent years) -- it's just the woodgrain stuff that's looking pretty bad.
DeleteYeah, those red plastic carts last year were the first ones in a long time that they ordered brand new (at least a large order -- there were some unusual black plastic carts that showed up a few years back at a couple stores, but most just got random used ones). I think the ones this store had were the last big new order prior to that, coming just a few years after the merger (shortly after the black metal kind). For years, it seemed like Safeway was shipping in any random old carts that any Albertsons division had laying around, considering how many different banners showed up! (Most of the time they did replace the logos with Safeway ones, but they clearly forgot a few.) I have quite a few posts from that era showing some of the weirder carts I found, with the Wegmans ones being the weirdest! Cart theft is definitely a problem around here, along with people just not treating them well (almost all of the new red carts at my local store are already missing the plastic part of their handles...).
I guess I'll have to take a close look at an older Lifestyle floor to see (though they are starting to become rare around here!), but I think the older grey fake wood is still waxed. Now, maybe it is possible that the stores around you are/weren't waxed as often as the ones here? I'm not sure! Here is a photo from my local Randall's with the original Lifestyle floor before it was remodeled to the Colorful Lifestyle fake wood. While the wood isn't as shiny as the beige floor, it is still a bit shiny: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Randalls-Champions-Forest_3014-scaled.jpeg
DeleteThat Modern floor in that photo is certainly shiny! It is too bad they don't use that more often. This is what the Colorful Lifestyle fake wood looks like here: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_6967-jpeg.webp
In comparison to that, the Kroger fake wood is even more matte. It looks more like plastic than a vinyl floor: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_1105.jpeg
We don't have any Wegmans carts around here that I know of, but Shoppers World is apparently using recycled Publix carts (as spotted by Retail Regents) at their sole Houston location which is not far from me. Of course, Shoppers World is most certainly not a supermarket! The Ollie's next to the Shoppers World has recycled Kmart carts (the Ollie's itself is in a former Target)!
Huh, yeah, that flooring is different from what the U District store got -- I had been thinking they were the same!
DeleteI don't think I've ever seen/noticed the floors at our Safeways getting waxed, outside of a remodel/major reset where they have to clean up around the removed shelving! I'm sure it happens from time to time, but it doesn't seem to be super common or super noticeable.