The main entrance leads directly into the produce department, with this store adopting the Safeway practice of putting promotional produce displays right inside the doors. I kind of wonder if QFC was trying to catch up with Safeway with these new stores -- at the time, Safeway had recently remodeled pretty much all of their stores (which were, for the most part, already larger and newer than QFC's stores) to the Lifestyle format, inching in on QFC's slightly higher-end market segment (while Kroger was already starting to drag QFC down to a more typical mid-range marker segment, something that has only accelerated since then). Of course, the rather industrial look of this store is quite a contrast with the Lifestyle design Safeway went with!
Ha, well, hiring signs aren't the signs some Houston Krogers have up these days! It was officially confirmed this weekend, mainly because Kroger put up signs for it, but the two Krogways I featured during The Year of Kroger will be closing in a few weeks. This comes after Kroger closed two other Houston area locations a couple of months back and there is a strong rumor of another location closing. Kroger is certainly starting to wither away here in Houston much like Randall's has done over the years.
ReplyDeleteYeah, certainly so far at least, I'd much rather have a Lifestyle Safeway than what I'm seeing in this QFC! Sometimes the industrial look is just a given with modern urban stores, but still.
I keep expecting QFCs to show up on the closing lists, but so far there's just been one closure (and it isn't even one that I had been expecting to close!).
DeleteThis Mercer decor is cool in that it's rare and exclusive to Seattle... but all in all, it's not very good. Fresh Fare 2.0 (and even Bountiful), which came out around the same time, is way better than Mercer.