I think Hwy 41 might be the NorCal/SoCal cutoff, which is weird, since like all odd-numbered freeways, it’s technically a north-south road.
It angles in the west, but heads straight north in the east, putting Morro Bay, Kettleman City, Fresno, and Yosemite and Lee Vining all on the dividing line. Which I would accept. That feels pretty solid. Philip “The eights go east and the fives go north.” On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 6:35 PM Mike Godwin <spokenhu...@gmail.com> wrote: > Vons on "The" 101 starts in Paso Robles, though I've never shopped there. > I have shopped at the Safeway in Atascadero, SLO, King City, Salinas, > Gilroy, Hollister, and Morgan Hill. > > Mike "no longer in "the" bay area Godwin SLO CA > On Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 2:33:26 PM UTC-8 George Schick wrote: > >> Wesley - thanks for the excellent information! Yes, in the area where I >> live - Northeastern Chicago suburbs - some of the stores owned by the now >> defunct local chain "Dominick's" were taken over and remodeled by a more >> local chain "Mariano's". That chain has since been taken over by the the >> Kroger dynasty and some of those grocery's are not fairing well. >> Meanwhile, a larger local chain, "Jewell," has long since been taken over >> by the massive Albertsons. So a merger between those two conglomerates >> comes as no surprise, though it does come with a bit of fear and loathing. >> Once the two giants merge (assuming the FTC allows it) they can manipulate >> pricing and availability all over the map. I doubt that this would be a >> good thing for the average consumer, but such seems to be the way things in >> general retail are going nowadays. >> George >> P.S. Sorry this thread drifted from NoCal riding weather to the food >> supply industry, but it's all good info. >> >> On Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 4:06:49 PM UTC-6 Wesley wrote: >> >>> Oh, I almost forgot: two months ago, Kroger and Albertsons announced a >>> plan to merge. They are the two biggest grocery chains in the US, and I do >>> not know whether the federal government will try to stop the merger. In >>> California, that would mean Ralphs would join the >>> Vonn's/Safeway/Albertson's/Pavilion's family of brands. Here are lists of >>> the stores that would be involved in the merger: >>> >>> [image: Screen Shot 2022-12-21 at 1.59.54 PM.png][image: Screen Shot >>> 2022-12-21 at 1.59.40 PM.png] >>> >>> On Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 1:51:32 PM UTC-8 Wesley wrote: >>> >>>> George, >>>> When a two grocery chains merge to create a new, larger chain, they >>>> would prefer to close down any of their stores that compete with each other >>>> right away. It's the federal government that stops them, because then they >>>> could raise prices with less competition. So instead they underinvest in >>>> the stores they don't want. When they are required to sell some stores to a >>>> competitor, they do whatever they can to make sure those stores aren't >>>> successful for their new owners. Kroger and Albertsons both want to be >>>> monopolies, and they are good at pursuing that goal. >>>> -Wes >>>> >>>> On Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 1:26:18 PM UTC-8 George Schick wrote: >>>> >>>>> Wesley - thanks for that info. It explains why we have had the >>>>> closures of certain grocery stores in our area that have ultimately been >>>>> taken over by larger chains, but retained their original identity. But >>>>> many of these "overtaken" groceries have eventually declined in product >>>>> availability and produce value over time, which makes me wonder what the >>>>> intent of the larger "take over" chain had in mind to begin with. Unless >>>>> their strategy may have been to take over all of the subordinate chain >>>>> stores (required by law, as you say) and gradually ferret out the money >>>>> losers as time goes along, eventually closing some of those stores and >>>>> keeping others open. I'm sure it's a difficult market strategy. >>>>> On Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 12:54:00 PM UTC-6 Wesley wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> The multiplicity is because when large grocery chains merge, the >>>>>> federal government often requires the new, larger, chain to keep the >>>>>> original stores open. In cases like where you now have two Safeways in >>>>>> the >>>>>> same mall, Safeway will generally be required to sell one to a competitor >>>>>> rather than close it. This is all part of an effort to avoid monopolies >>>>>> in >>>>>> grocery stores. >>>>>> -Wes >>>>>> >>>>>> On Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 5:52:20 PM UTC-8 divis...@gmail.com >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> 1-2) King City (on 101) and Fresno (on Hwy 99) appear to be the >>>>>>> southernmost outposts of Safeway on major highways. It looks like Vons >>>>>>> picks up in Bakersfield (99) and Goleta, outside Santa Barbara (101). >>>>>>> Interstate 5 is on the dry west side of the San Joaquin Valley, so it >>>>>>> doesn't really have much in the way of large towns or accompanying >>>>>>> supermarkets; there's a Save Mart in Coalinga just off the highway, and >>>>>>> another in Visalia on 99. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Bakersfield has two Vons and three Wal-Marts. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> 3) Something similar happened up here in the Bay Area about 12 years >>>>>>> ago, when a small local chain named Andronico's* went under. Safeway >>>>>>> bought >>>>>>> up all the Andronico's real estate and outstanding leases, converting >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> store on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto (across the street >>>>>>> from Chez Panisse, in the same block as the Cheese Board, two blocks >>>>>>> from >>>>>>> the Mother Peet's) into a Safeway in spite of the fact that Safeway >>>>>>> owned a >>>>>>> newly redeveloped store one block away. Continuing further along >>>>>>> Shattuck >>>>>>> through the Solano Tunnel to Solano Avenue, there's an >>>>>>> Andronico's-turned-Safeway about one mile away (north, roughly) from the >>>>>>> original Shattuck Safeway. Then, continuing west along Solano into >>>>>>> neighboring Albany, there's a Safeway that was always a Safeway one mile >>>>>>> west of the Upper Solano ex-Andronico's Safeway. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I find the logic of this multiplicity confusing. And to top it off, >>>>>>> one mile north of the Lower Solano Safeway is El Cerrito Plaza, which >>>>>>> contains a Lucky's Supermarket - a chain which, like Safeway, is owned >>>>>>> by >>>>>>> the Albertson's Group. The former Andronico'ses in Berkeley have been >>>>>>> rebranded as "Andronico's Community Markets", but the merch is much the >>>>>>> same as the alternating Safeways, and the same newspaper sales prices >>>>>>> apply. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> If Kroger and Albertson's merge, then it'll be Buy n Large from >>>>>>> coast to coast outside the southeast. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> *originally based in SF's Inner Sunset district; they'd bought up a >>>>>>> few other local chains, including the two stores that the Berkeley Co-op >>>>>>> owned outright when they shut down in 1988 - the original store on >>>>>>> University Avenue (my home store, where my dad was a board member and >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> newspaper publisher in the 60s) and the fancy store on Shattuck in the >>>>>>> Gourmet Ghetto. The land was worth more than the organization; the >>>>>>> 99-year >>>>>>> lease for the Telegraph/Ashby store was sold to Whole Foods >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Peter "the old story was that the frontier was the Tehachapi" Adler >>>>>>> *plus ça change, plus c'est la même supermarché *en >>>>>>> Berkeley, CA/USA >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 4:06:52 PM UTC-8 Jimmy Warren wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> When a Mason-Dixon line needs to be established in CA, it'll be >>>>>>>> called the Safeway-Vons line. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Quiz: for any major north-south freeway or highway, what are the >>>>>>>> two cities that straddle the Safeway-Vons line? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Related question: King City: which store do they have? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Related Cliff Claven Trivia: when I was a kid growing up in Los >>>>>>>> Angeles and San Diego suburbs, Vons and Safeway were two different >>>>>>>> stores. >>>>>>>> In 1989 they merged, and all of our Southern California Safeways got >>>>>>>> renamed Vons. So many of our suburban shopping centers ended up with >>>>>>>> two >>>>>>>> Vons's as anchors on either end when it used to be Safeway at one end >>>>>>>> and >>>>>>>> Vons at the other. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/T-wop9umlJs/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d8aeb0c7-7b82-4266-baec-e2b43bf61a08n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d8aeb0c7-7b82-4266-baec-e2b43bf61a08n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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