BFD Dept.: Albertson’s Closing Three Local Stores
BFD= Bland Food Depot. What did you think I meant?
As Betsy has already written, Albertson’s, unquestionably the most soporific of all the large supermarket chains, is closing three of their local stores. Eliminating marginal performers after their June sale to Supervalu of Minneapolis. Hundreds will be out of work in September, and I am sorry for that.
The to-be-shuttered Portland stores are at 1350 N.E. 122nd Ave. and 4140 S.E. 82nd Ave. Neither street is known for an abundance of gourmet home cooks of the type that hang out at Sur La Table or Kitchen Kaboodle. Meth cooks, here and there, but not too many gourmet cooks.
The Beaverton store is situated at 1295 N.W. 185th Ave. at Walker Road. That’s a better neighborhood, but a cool Haggen’s is just up the street and across, and there’s a Safeway up the road, too.
I just got back from the Beaverton Albertson’s. No carts to spare. Long lines. 10%-30% markdowns on bland, processed food. No savings, hardly not worth my time and certainly not worth the gas. Whatever dinosaur died to make the fuel I wasted going up and back from that store, I am truly sorry for having disgraced your memory.
While you readers are more likely to find me at New Seasons, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, I am not entirely a supermarket snob. I actually like Safeway.
But Albertson’s? Bland presentation, bland food, confusing layout. Boring, boring, boring.
Related posts:
I had a feeling of deja vu… http://portland.metblogs.com/archives/2006/07/three_local_alb.phtml
Sur La Table and Kitchen Kaboodle are the dullest of all possible food joints, each in their own way. How odd of you to mention the tritest of the most trite destinations in all of Portland. It’s like reading yet another pulpvertorial from Portland Monthly. Yech.
If you can’t see outside your “east of the Vera Katz floating sidewalk park” mentality, please please please stop entertaining us with your food reviews. You apparently have no idea what wonderful concoctions lurk beyond 97201.
Your loss. You need to get out.
I hate Albertson’s. Crap selection, and absolutely impossible to get in and out quickly. The Albertson’s near me on State Street is the refuge for elderly ladies who love to have extensive chats with the check-out clerks - even in the express lines or even when there’s just one lane open and a long line of people waiting! While I suppose something can be said for friendly check-out clerks, some of us are trying to get in and out of the store in under an hour! Perhaps instead of “10 items or less”, the express lane can say “10 minutes of conversation or less”.
So, I avoid Albertsons (and the local Safeway which has exactly the same problem) and drive over to a nearby Freddies’. Nothing can beat Fred Meyer for sheer diversity - I can get my groceries, a hammer, underwear, flowers, a DVD, and get some film developed all in the same place. If I get thirsty, they even have a Starbucks. You’ll find it at Freddies’!
I’d argue that real gourmet home cooks don’t hang out at either place - and you’ll definitely find some living east of 82nd. I can think of a few right off the top of my head, in fact…
I’d bet that the reason(s) the stores are closing has nothing (or little) to do with the neighborhoods they serve, and I wonder why you felt the need to take a swipe at them in passing.
I live near the 82nd store that will be closing. This is the second time Albertsons is leaving Eastport Plaza (sometime in the 80’s, Albertsons left their outdated store right on the corner of 82nd and Holgate for a new one on 82nd and Division).
In the late 90’s, the Eastport Plaza mall was demolished and the property was converted to a strip center, and Albertsons built a new store as an anchor. It’s one of the newer Albertsons stores in the area.
Whenever I visited the store (rarely, since Safeway and Fred Meyer have better deals 95% of the time), the place always had a few customers, but was never busy. It was no problem getting a close parking space. Meanwhile, the Wal-Mart next to it is always packed with shoppers, and a car circling the lot looking for the best parking space available isn’t a rare sight. And that was another problem for the Eastport Plaza store: being right next to Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart may not be a supercenter, but it has a decent grocery section, complete with a refrigerated case.
Like I said earlier, Albertsons didn’t have the best prices. But it’ll still be sad to see them go. If Eastport Plaza can’t attract another supermarket chain, it will leave the Fred Meyer on 82nd and Foster and the Food 4 Less on Powell as the only supermarkets directly in the area. I also liked the Deli’s fried chicken, which imo was better than Safeway’s or Fred Meyer’s.
Another thing: I wonder how long I’ll be hearing rumors that Albertsons decided to close the store because of that idiot that exchanged gunfire with the police and killed himself at the Army Recruiting Center last month. Ugh.