Yesterday, Alberstons made an official announcement that its new Signature brands are being rolled out to all of its 2,286 stores. Store signage featuring the new brands has been going into Acme stores for the past couple of weeks. The Signature brands, which are Safeway's rebranded private label products, have been arriving on shelves for months now. Supervalu's Essential Everyday products have been fading away, at a painfully slow pace, for just as long. The day I don't see any Essential Everyday products on Acme's shelves can't come soon enough! The display show here, with brochures are available for shoppers to take with them, arrived at the Weehawken store this past weekend. You can read details of Alberston's announcement at SupermarketNews.com by clicking here.
A closer look at the brochure...
"Signature [fill in the blank]" began replacing "Safeway [fill in the blank]" at VONS stores last year. I've always liked the Safeway brand and the Signature brand is every bit as good: they simply swapped out "Safeway" and swapped in "Signature."
ReplyDeleteDo you know whether "The Snack Artist" has begun appearing in ACME stores?
Oh yes, The Snack Artist was one of the first brands to appear along with O Organics and Open Nature.
DeleteAcme has all the new brands but there are still lots of Essential Everyday products mixed in throughout the store.
DeleteAhh, OK. I recently tried The Snack Artist pretzels and dry roasted peanuts. Found them better than the national brands I used to buy.
DeleteFunny you mentioned O Organics. Yesterday at one of the larger VONS I saw a store-made display that said "Exclusively at VONS." I thought, "Hmm...wonder if the folks at the Albertsons down the way knows about this "exclusivity?"
Another thing I noticed, which you might be interested in...lighting changes and less clutter. When I walked into the "big" VONS something looked different. It took a while for me to notice that some of the entryway cutter was gone, the lighting in the produce department was brighter, and two of the six self-checkouts were replaced with staffed express lanes. The Albertsonization of VONS is underway.
PS: My local VONS is a "little" VONS and, due to the nature of the neighborhood, the lighting has always been on the bright side. Since the ABS acquisition the assortment of freshly prepared foods has improved.
I used to go to Safeway when I lived in Maryland. Their Safeway brand cookies and pretzels were delicious. I think CVS carried them, too. Can't wait to get them at Acme.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious whether Signature will start appearing at Haggen once Albertsons' acquistion is finalized. Right now they have a combination of Haggen, Essential Everyday and Full Circle (Topco) private label products. It doesn't make sense to buy private label from other suppliers, but Albertsons is apparently trying to maintain an upscale image for the Haggen stores that they are acquiring. Haggen currently carries some very good local brands.
ReplyDeleteIf Abertsons manages Haggen the way it did Jewel (before Supervalu came in and screwed things up), they will keep the local brands and substitute Signature for Haggen/EE/Topco. They did a nice job maintaining Jewel's quality and focus on service departments and fresh foods. Sadly, SV came in and completely messed things up. Once Albertsons took over again, things began to improve.
DeleteI have to say, as a Safeway person, that I find it sad how Safeway branded items are going away to be replaced by generic Signature branded stuff... it kind of feels like when SuperValu took over Albertsons and got rid of all the Albertsons brand stuff.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, the Essential Everyday roll-out also redesigned the entire line as well, giving the whole thing a Walmart Great Value vibe. The Signature brands, at least for now, seem to be largely keeping the Safeway-designed appearances.
DeleteFar more Publix than Walmart. The Essential Everyday packaging is an absolute rip-off of Publix's far superior design.
DeleteHowever, in the actual Safeway stores, all they are doing really is changing names (or more precisely removing the Safeway name for the Signature one), not really changing the items or way they are made at all?
ReplyDeleteSo unlike the Acme (and other Albertsons brands) where they are switching one brand for another, the Safeway locations items are the same, just a slight label change (to make it easier to use them in stores that are not known as Safeway).
No. Some comparison photos of when the Signature brand was being rolled out was almost identical except for the name and the contact information (to Better Living Brands, but same phone number).
ReplyDeleteThe very first time I bought a signature product from our Acme in Blairstown, NJ and it will be the last. I purchased the winter blend vegetables (broccoli & cauliflower) frozen 16oz bag. The broccoli was all step cuts (except for 1 small piece) and the cauliflower had freezer burn. I tossed the entire bag in the trash. Beware of this brand customers!
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