At the beer end of the department, the bar setup had been shut down for COVID, with a pile of "wine advent calendars" (a concept that sounds extremely tacky!) blocking it off but all of the equipment still in place. I wouldn't be surprised if this quietly turned into a permanent closure since the whole in-store bar concept seems to have been a massive flop. All of the christmasy stuff here is a bit surprising since it wasn't even halloween yet -- seems a bit early even by modern standards!
I've heard of Krobars before (I think Kroger uses/used that name in Georgia at least), but I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Safebar before! I think these things are illegal in Texas, not that I'm complaining about it if it is. Still, it is strange to see something like this at a Safeway, it seems like the kind of thing they would have done in the earliest of the Lifestyle era when they were really pushing Lifestyle as being an upscale format.
ReplyDeleteKroger had lots of these in-store bars for a while, including some in Fred Meyer/QFC stores around here, but Safeway never was really into that. Though if this one dates back to this store's 2007 opening, that would make it a bit ahead of its time. I wouldn't be surprised if Safeway's upscale formats (such as Pavilions) had these, but they seem rather out of place around here where Safeway has never been an upscale brand.
DeletePublix seems to be having some success with their in-store bar concept POURS, as they still pop up in new stores (although almost exclusively in their highest-end prototype or stores in really well-off areas). Unlike what Safeway appears to have/had here, Publix does offer coffee, tea, smoothies, craft sodas, and acai bowls in their POURS bars, so there's a little more selection for everyone than just alcohol, which probably helps drive more business than something exclusively dedicated to alcohol (like Winn-Dixie's in-store bar concept, which stalled in progress following the Aldi debacle).
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Safeway has Starbucks to handle most non-alcoholic beverages (which does seem to be popular in most stores, though they've pulled the Starbucks kiosks from some stores in recent years).
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