I don't have much to say here other than that I absolutely love the way this store looks. The overall feel of this view is much closer to vintage photos of classy grocery stores from the 70s or 80s than to any other picture I've ever taken. The overall aesthetic of this store isn't explicitly retro -- it feels distinctly modern and of this era -- but there's just something about shopping here that makes it feel like you're being transported to an older, better time. I know you've noticed how negative I feel about the future of grocery shopping, based on trends like the downgrading of Safeway following the Albertsons merger and the further proposed consolidation from the Albertsons-Kroger merger... this store made me feel hopeful and optimistic about these matters in a way that I haven't for a long time.
Ha, you're probably more optimistic about supermarket decor, at least pertaining to what we can expect from Kroger and Albertsons/Safeway even if they remain separate, than I am! There are some supermarket chains which still put a lot of money into their appearances, but unfortunately, Albertsons and Kroger even more so are not chains who fit into that category. Maybe that'll change and there will be at least spurts where Kroger/Albertsons leadership will take store appearances seriously, as Safeway did with Lifestyle and as Kroger did some years before that, but I'm not seeing that happening anytime soon!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for both of us, we don't have good looking supermarkets around us, but I guess we have been both traveling lately and so that always opens up new opportunities to see neat things like this place and what I saw at Market 32/Price Chopper and Market Basket (though certainly what Market 32 had to offer is certainly more fitting of the 'modern' title than Market Basket!). Hopefully one day you'll be able to go to some chains in your general area, like Rosauers and Roth's, which are certainly more interesting looking than just about anything Kroger or Safeway in modern times! The smaller chains are probably your only hope in your area, though maybe it is hard to call anything owned by Pattison 'small' these days, lol.
Ha, I'm definitely not optimistic about anything good coming from Kroger! But there has been some neat stuff coming out of Safeway/Albertsons in recent years -- Ultra-Premium and Ultra-Premium 2 (both of which have made appearances in the Seattle area recently) are pretty neat, and the special custom decors seen at some of their brands (including Haggen, Andronico's, and Acme) are particularly neat. They aren't quite at the level of this store, but they're still better than a lot of what we've seen in recent decades.
DeleteI keep hoping Pattison will expand into the Seattle area, but I don't really see any obvious way for that to happen (apart from picking up the pieces if the Albertsons-Kroger merger happens and C&S implodes as expected). QFC would be a good fit for them, but I don't see Kroger selling off big parts of their business (even ones they don't seem to care about) unless they're forced to.