It wasn't open on Xmas Day though - unlike the old BP/Safeway :roll:fusionlad wrote:No it's a Tesco branded petrol station too. The BP branding has completley gone. Quite smart actually, and very busy, as it's the only Tesco that's open 24hrs a day 7 days a week.
RIP Safeway: 1962-2005 - Morrisons have finally done it
well yes, two hours it says.
Well I use (as does everyone else) their carpark to go to the cinema from. So I parked there at about 7.35 and got back at just after ten. The shop shuts at Ten so I don't see their problem.
Well I use (as does everyone else) their carpark to go to the cinema from. So I parked there at about 7.35 and got back at just after ten. The shop shuts at Ten so I don't see their problem.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
I wondered in another thread a while back about what would become of the former Safeway Megastore Plymouth. This was a brand new store which opened less than 5 years ago and which really was amazing in terms of choice and layout. It was one of the last new stores which Safeway opened, and also one of the last stores to actually trade as Safeway, doing so until November 2005. At the time I mused that the inevitable Morrisons rebranding would feature the wonderful illuminated frontage of fresh fruit and vegetables being replaced with stick on 'Morrisons'
I was wrong. No, Morrisions thought it a much better idea to just build an unfaced blockwork wall over the Safeway stuff. So now the front of this virtually brand new unit looks like an old converted factory which has stood there for 30 years. Great move Morrisons. Internally, it now sells less stuff than Safeway did and is also much less busy (in March 2002 when the store was new you'd have to hunt for a parking space pretty much all of the time. In March 2006 you've pretty much got the entire run of the car park at all but the apex of peak hours)
I was wrong. No, Morrisions thought it a much better idea to just build an unfaced blockwork wall over the Safeway stuff. So now the front of this virtually brand new unit looks like an old converted factory which has stood there for 30 years. Great move Morrisons. Internally, it now sells less stuff than Safeway did and is also much less busy (in March 2002 when the store was new you'd have to hunt for a parking space pretty much all of the time. In March 2006 you've pretty much got the entire run of the car park at all but the apex of peak hours)
Well 20 years ago, the idea of buying your music and videos from a supermarket sounded just as ridiculous as the idea of buying paint from it now. The ultimate evolution of the supermaket ideal is to sell absolutely everything, so that you truly do not ever need to go elsewhere. This is a pretty much unstoppable eventuality.Oh I know that my old man works for them (although doesn't speak very highly of them). I just think Tesco's Paint is taking it one step too far. I mean is it really neccessary, Wickes, Homebase, B&Q, etc have supplied paint for many years, I can't really see many people thinking "ooh, I'll go to Tesco's for my paint"
There was very little consistency in the way Morrisons decimated all the Safeway stores. It's as if some bloke with a clipboard (probably Sir Ken) walked round every store saying "leave that, get rid of that, leave that..." without any understanding of corporate branding.cwathen wrote:I wondered in another thread a while back about what would become of the former Safeway Megastore Plymouth. This was a brand new store which opened less than 5 years ago and which really was amazing in terms of choice and layout. It was one of the last new stores which Safeway opened, and also one of the last stores to actually trade as Safeway, doing so until November 2005. At the time I mused that the inevitable Morrisons rebranding would feature the wonderful illuminated frontage of fresh fruit and vegetables being replaced with stick on 'Morrisons'
I was wrong. No, Morrisions thought it a much better idea to just build an unfaced blockwork wall over the Safeway stuff. So now the front of this virtually brand new unit looks like an old converted factory which has stood there for 30 years. Great move Morrisons.
Safeway in Chester was only the second one in the country to get converted, and surprisingly much of the Safeway branding survived the assault. It had been extended and modernised about 5 years earlier by Safeway (so it had a similar kind of look to the Plymouth store), yet Morrisons left the illuminated frontage showing the fruit and veg photos.
They also let a lot of the Safeway corporate typography survive on the frontage - words like 'Pharmacy' are still in that italicised handwriting font Safeway had (which is called 'Chatter' if any font anoraks are interested!). Perhaps most surprising was that Safeway's very posh mediterranean-looking Coffee Shop totally survived the refit and still has elements of Safeway's branding and typeface all over the window blinds - but Morrisons left their insignia by plonking those vile plastic flowers on every table, which are like something out of a greasy spoon truck driver's café.
Interesting thing they've done at Plymouth - the Safeway megastore had a covered wine section done out in wood with a low ceiling and softer lighting to try and make it seem more classy than piling bottles of wine on standard steel shelves in a standard supermarket isle with a high ceiling and harsh flourescent lighting. Morrisons removed Safeway's effort in the refit - only to rebuild a recreation of it themselves, still in the same place in the store, which to the untrained eye is indistinguishable from the Safeway version! That's sure money well spent...There was very little consistency in the way Morrisons decimated all the Safeway stores. It's as if some bloke with a clipboard (probably Sir Ken) walked round every store saying "leave that, get rid of that, leave that..." without any understanding of corporate branding.
Nah mate, you don't want any illuminated fruit and veg frontage, you want to lobby Morrisons to give you an unplastered, unpainted blockwork wall in front of it then you can be as trendy as Plym! Very, very, very odd decision there. It still never ceases to amaze me how they've managed to make a store which opened in late 2001 look like it's been there since the dawn of time since their 'conversion'.Safeway in Chester was only the second one in the country to get converted, and surprisingly much of the Safeway branding survived the assault. It had been extended and modernised about 5 years earlier by Safeway (so it had a similar kind of look to the Plymouth store), yet Morrisons left the illuminated frontage showing the fruit and veg photos.
Two particularly bad points I've noticed of their 'conversion' of Plymouth is the isle signeage - not only is white capital lettering on sky-blue straight out of 1980's Plymco, but it doesn't seem to fit in anywhere else in Morrisons chosen yellow and black corporate brand. Their checkout 'refit' has only added to make the store look much older than it's years - with all the mint green paintwork (1980's Lo-Cost Food) and flashing checkout signs (1980's Norman's Foodmarket) in leiu of the telephones which Safeway had, I was half expecting to see a normal cash register instead of a POS system, and a big neon sign reading "Are you SWITCHed on? You can pay by debit card instead of writing a cheque".
I have to admit, Morrisons have done quite a nice job on the cafe at Plymouth, it does look better than it did under Safeway. However, they've also managed to make the inside of it look pretty retro, whilst the outside signage is quite modern. Very odd. That said, the cafe itself looks better, but when the Safeway megastore was opened it was the hub of a big fresh food court where you could buy freshly made pizzas etc, all gone now.Perhaps most surprising was that Safeway's very posh mediterranean-looking Coffee Shop totally survived the refit and still has elements of Safeway's branding and typeface all over the window blinds - but Morrisons left their insignia by plonking those vile plastic flowers on every table, which are like something out of a greasy spoon truck driver's café.
I'm not quite sure what Morrisons' thinking is behind the 'market street' concept. The biggest criticism levelled at the rise of the supermarket is that they are killing off the small specialised shops which you'd previously buy your goods from. Yet Morrisons create within their stores the impression of a collection of small shops, each of which is firmly branded 'WM Morrison'. Yet doesn't this just hammer home what supermarkets have done to the REAL small shops?
Reading the news about their loss, and their plan to improve it by closing down depots and cutting hours, again I make the point - why on earth did Morrisons feel it necessary to try and eradicate the Safeway brand as quickly as possible, as though it never existed? Whilst many of the most forgotton Safeway stores inevitably do look better now that they've had a refit, the newer stores (like the Plymouth store I mention so much) allready had an up to date look inside - they didn't need a 'conversion' (i.e. a refit) so soon after their opening. Neither did countless other stores which have been 'converted'. Without the takeover, Plymouth Megastore probably would have gone for another 10 years without a refit on the scale which Morrisons have done.
It seems like nothing more like corporate willly waving so that Sir Ken could plaster the Morrisons brand on everything as quickly as possible (which very often, meant introducing an entireley unheard of brand (Morrisons) in areas where they now owned a strong and well recognised brand (Safeway). His decision to spend considerable amounts of money refitting brand new stores which were in no need of a refit, and to throw away a nationally recognised and powerful brand makes no sense at all. Now he's paying for it. Good.
Sadly, it won't be those at the top who pay the price for the ludicrous way Morrisons have handled taking over Safeway, it will as always be the little people who loose thier job/see their hours cut in order to bring the company back into profit.
It seems like nothing more like corporate willly waving so that Sir Ken could plaster the Morrisons brand on everything as quickly as possible (which very often, meant introducing an entireley unheard of brand (Morrisons) in areas where they now owned a strong and well recognised brand (Safeway). His decision to spend considerable amounts of money refitting brand new stores which were in no need of a refit, and to throw away a nationally recognised and powerful brand makes no sense at all. Now he's paying for it. Good.
Sadly, it won't be those at the top who pay the price for the ludicrous way Morrisons have handled taking over Safeway, it will as always be the little people who loose thier job/see their hours cut in order to bring the company back into profit.
our somerfield (converted safeway compact) still has the safeway 9 items of less signs and numerous other bits of safeway related guff everywhere.
I did get the old SAFEWAY sign for the canteen at school however when they changed over - it sat on the windowsill spelling out SAME YAF for about two months before it was finally dstroyed in an acrobatics related accident
Mind you I don't think somerfield intend to ever do the shop up now tesco intend to open on th industrial estate - with sainsburys now wanting the other site too... we'll just be stuck with the rotting old shop where the only thing you can hear throughout in the GRRRRRR from the butter fridge. when the fridges are working that is, which is a rarity
I did get the old SAFEWAY sign for the canteen at school however when they changed over - it sat on the windowsill spelling out SAME YAF for about two months before it was finally dstroyed in an acrobatics related accident
Mind you I don't think somerfield intend to ever do the shop up now tesco intend to open on th industrial estate - with sainsburys now wanting the other site too... we'll just be stuck with the rotting old shop where the only thing you can hear throughout in the GRRRRRR from the butter fridge. when the fridges are working that is, which is a rarity
"He has to be larger than bacon"
Wasn't part of the reason because they way Safeway worked was fundamentally different to Morrisons - ie the discounts they got on good etc was worked out differently to what Morrisons were expecting this caused the poor people 'up north (who after all cant count) to go into meltdown and not know where the money was going.