Width-wise, this store is about the size of a modern Safeway, and actually has more aisles than most (15, including the aisle marker for produce). The bakery alcove continues into the first part of the back actionway, with lunch meat cases marking the transition into the meat department.
This ceiling might not be quite the wedding cake design that we saw at 1980s-1990s Randall's and 1990s Kroger Signature stores, but it is interesting to see a wedding cake design at a non-Randall's Safeway! The paneling on the wedding cake fascia is interesting as well for a Safeway!
ReplyDeleteThere are some interesting categories on those aisle markers. 'Can prepared'? I'm not sure what that would be. I assume the one in aisle 11 is referring to 'convenient breakfast', but then what about inconvenient breakfast?
This sort of ceiling design is pretty common in Safeways from this era, but there aren't very many of those left! The paneling really reminds me of the checkout-area ceiling in 80s/90s Albertsons.
DeleteI'm surprised those are surprises to you -- both "can prepared" and "convenient breakfast" are Safeway staples, at least around here, going back decades! They are kind of weird phrases, but I guess I'm just used to them (unlike the weird Albertsons categories!).
I don't think 'can prepared' and 'convenient breakfast' are used at the older Lifestyle v2 aisle markers which survived my local Randall's Colorful Lifestyle v2 renovation. I looked at some photos of another Randall's I shop at occasionally which has newer Lifestyle v2 aisle markers and it does indeed seem that 'convenient breakfast' is in use, but I don't see any 'sign' of 'can prepared' being used on the aisle markets at least. I still don't even know what that means (though I'm still not sure what 'convenient breakfast' means either, though it is easier to make guesses about that one!).
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Huh, our older Safeways most certainly did not use this type of wedding cake ceiling! The ones here had the typical design of a raised front end and a lower main part of the store, but nothing was raised on the sides or the backside aside from the areas (dairy, etc.) which existed under a soffit in a semi-enclosed area. This looks a bit different! Maybe some of the tiny older (probably older than this store) Safeways that existed in Dallas had something like this, but I'm not sure about that.
Hmm, I've definitely visited some other Safeways with this type of ceiling. Of course, I don't have a very large sample size since most of their stores are from the 90s or newer, and most of their older stores are from the Marina era. Maybe it was a regional thing (we certainly don't have many stores around here with the same sort of exterior design as your ones), or maybe it's just a fluke in the ones that still survive!
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