The front end is perhaps the strangest part of this store, with the Grocery Palace floral island in the background of a completely 80s front end setup. I'm quite surprised Albertsons didn't at least remove the raised ceiling when they remodeled and expanded the store, since they did quite a bit of work elsewhere. That being said, less time passed between this store's original construction and its expansion than has passed between the expansion and today! In the early 00s, a 20- or 30-year-old grocery store seemed so outdated... today, a similar-aged store, built in the 90s or 00s, hardly seems any different from a store built this decade.
As a side note, Save Mart's register lights are seriously ugly with the oversized black cube that the main register light sits on -- that part can light up to indicate the lane is an express lane, but it seems like they could have found a better-looking way to do that.
Speaking of a clash of eras, I was at my local Krogertsons today. It has Neighborhood decor, but it was supposed to get a renovation this summer. Well, it seems the renovation consisted of Kroger putting up a 'Thanks for Shopping, Y'all' sign at the front and painting up a giant Fresh Cart in the entryway. I suppose this is Kroger's version of a Neighborhood and a Fresh for Everyone hybrid! I would say it looks cheap, but then a full Fresh for Everyone remodel would likely look even more cheap!
ReplyDeleteA fellow Houston retail enthusiast went to another Kroger in my area recently had found a similar situation, but with a Remix store instead.
Ha, I guess Kroger's non-remodel remodels have made it to your area! They did a bunch of those at QFC (and a few at Fred Meyer, mostly at stores that closed in last year's wave) in the early 2020s, where they just rearranged everything, replaced some cases, and maybe installed a little bit of new signage depending on the store.
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