Page 1 of 2

Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 09 May 2010 21:38
by Jeff
Was there ever a Pavillions in Victorville? Last weekend I went to the Vons off Bear Valley in East Victorville and was suprised to see how much it looks like a Pavillions inside and out. Its identical to the Pavillions in Arcadia layout wise on the inside, even though its been remodeled and is a lot nicer looking than Arcadia's Pavillions.

When did it switch if it was one? When did it open?

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 11 May 2010 19:04
by klkla
I don't think it was ever a Pavilions. Vons actually debuted two other formats at the same time as Pavilions, both about the same size with similar layouts. One format was Tianguis, which was a Hispanic format that was initially very successful but faltered after Vons CEO Bill Davila had Cesar Chavez (leader of the United Farmworkers Union) arrested outside of one of the stores. The other was called Omni and only eight opened as far as I remember. Omni was a price impact format (think of it as a nice Food4Less) and from what I remember the Victorville store opened in that format. It's possible they could have operated it under one of the other banners after Omni failed but I don't remember for sure.

Edit: Actually I don't think we're talking about the same store. The Omni store was much closer to the freeway, in fact you can see the building from the freeway to this day. The store you're talking about is much further east than the Omni store was.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 11 May 2010 19:59
by Jeff
This one is in Bear Valley and Hesperia Rd. Maybe its in Hesperia?

But it had the same lattice metalwork above the enty...
Produce in center of store just like a Pavilons...
A center bakery and deli behind the produce...
What could have been like a restaurant area in the center too..
Meats and deli and dairy all along the back wall...
Starbucks to the right of entry...
Bank in the left corner

I so think it was a Pavilons.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 12 May 2010 18:12
by klkla
You might be correct but I worked for Pavilions for six years and don't ever remember a Pavilions there. Also keep in mind that some Vons stores were built with that layout, as well. Right of the top of my head the Vons at Sahara & Decatur in Las Vegas is an example and I'm sure there were more.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 12 May 2010 20:16
by Jeff
Odd. I tried looking online for info on this store and got nothing at all, not even an opening date.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 12 May 2010 23:22
by RandallFlagg
klkla wrote:I don't think it was ever a Pavilions. Vons actually debuted two other formats at the same time as Pavilions, both about the same size with similar layouts. One format was Tianguis, which was a Hispanic format that was initially very successful but faltered after Vons CEO Bill Davila had Cesar Chavez (leader of the United Farmworkers Union) arrested outside of one of the stores. The other was called Omni and only four opened as far as I remember. Omni was a price impact format (think of it as a nice Food4Less) and from what I remember the Victorville store opened in that format. It's possible they could have operated it under one of the other banners after Omni failed but I don't remember for sure.

Edit: Actually I don't think we're talking about the same store. The Omni store was much closer to the freeway, in fact you can see the building from the freeway to this day. The store you're talking about is much further east than the Omni store was.
We never had an Omni store in Victorville. The location on Mariposa was originally built as a Pharmor Drug store. It was then converted to a Vons test store as an Expo store. I had a few long time Vons employees work for me when Expo closed up and Vons didn't take them back. I'm not sure if Vons on Hesperia Rd was ever anything else. I've lived up here since 91 and only remember the store as a Vons The original location was a Vons on 7th and La Paz. That building was a furniture store and now a 99 cent store.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 13 May 2010 15:29
by klkla
RandallFlagg wrote:We never had an Omni store in Victorville. The location on Mariposa was originally built as a Pharmor Drug store. It was then converted to a Vons test store as an Expo store.
My bad you are 100% correct. I got the words Omni and Expo mixed up (it's been a long time!). I also forgot the Pharmor connection. I wouldn't call the format an experiment, though, but a failure. Victorville wasn't the only location. There were eight stores in all (Victorville, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Fontana, Colton, El Monte, Montebello and Pomona) with the first locations opening in 1993. They were all closed or converted to Vons in January 1995.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 14 May 2010 17:50
by rich
The Arcadia Pavillions had been a fairly long running Vons and some aspects of the layount have changed from Vons to the original Pavillions to current configuration.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 15 May 2010 00:53
by javelin
The furniture store directly across the street from the Victorville store was also a Vons until around 1989 when the new present-day location was built. I had heard a while ago that the store may have been originally planned as a Pavilions, but was changed as a result of the purchase of Southern California Safeway stores.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 15 May 2010 14:43
by Jeff
rich wrote:The Arcadia Pavillions had been a fairly long running Vons and some aspects of the layount have changed from Vons to the original Pavillions to current configuration.
The Arcadia Pavilions opened as a Pavilions it was never a Vons.
They closed the Vons that was operating closeby.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 15 May 2010 19:30
by Dean
javelin wrote:The furniture store directly across the street from the Victorville store was also a Vons until around 1989 when the new present-day location was built. I had heard a while ago that the store may have been originally planned as a Pavilions, but was changed as a result of the purchase of Southern California Safeway stores.
Correct. In ~1993 I asked the manager of the new VONS if it had been a Pavilions, given the set-up and look. He informed me that it been PLANNED as a Pavilions, yet opened as a VONS. The manager also told me that the former VONS across the street was still vacant, and was going to stay vacant. He said that VONS was still paying the rent on the vacant building, as they did not want grocery competition for their new store.

Question=in the center with the former site (now furniture store)...there was a Sav-On, which I assumed became a CVS. Across the street at the new store, there was a LONGS. With CVS acquiring LONGS after Sav-On, which site is CVS running? Did the vacant drugstore become something else?

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 16 May 2010 02:10
by javelin
Dean wrote:Question=in the center with the former site (now furniture store)...there was a Sav-On, which I assumed became a CVS. Across the street at the new store, there was a LONGS. With CVS acquiring LONGS after Sav-On, which site is CVS running? Did the vacant drugstore become something else?
The Sav-On closed when a freestanding Sav-On was built across the street; the old one baceme a Dollar Tree (the clothing store next door had been a Boston Store). It was possibly the last new Sav-On built before the stand-alone (not inside Albertson's) stores were sold to CVS, and converted soon after. Since they already had a CVS nearby, the Longs closed.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 16 May 2010 08:32
by Dean
javelin wrote:
Dean wrote:Question=in the center with the former site (now furniture store)...there was a Sav-On, which I assumed became a CVS. Across the street at the new store, there was a LONGS. With CVS acquiring LONGS after Sav-On, which site is CVS running? Did the vacant drugstore become something else?
The Sav-On closed when a freestanding Sav-On was built across the street; the old one baceme a Dollar Tree (the clothing store next door had been a Boston Store). It was possibly the last new Sav-On built before the stand-alone (not inside Albertson's) stores were sold to CVS, and converted soon after. Since they already had a CVS nearby, the Longs closed.
thanks!

Is the former LONGS vacant?

Also, mentioned above is the former VONS on 7th @ La Paz.

You gotta love the OLD, HUGE sign pole that had been VONS, and now 99 Cent Only Stores.

In that same center was Builder's Emporium...and has been a number of things over the years. What is it now?

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 17 May 2010 13:59
by Jeff
Thanks for the info Dean!

Wow, I knew it was Pavilions like. A Pavilions wouldnt have worked in that area at all anyway. Glad they made the choice of Vons.

Re: Pavillions ever in Victorville?

Posted: 21 May 2010 17:59
by rich
Jeff wrote:
rich wrote:The Arcadia Pavillions had been a fairly long running Vons and some aspects of the layount have changed from Vons to the original Pavillions to current configuration.
The Arcadia Pavilions opened as a Pavilions it was never a Vons.
They closed the Vons that was operating closeby.

Nope. I started making more or less annual treks to "Greater Arcadia" in 1980. The store was a Vons in 1980. The shopping center was expanded when the store was converted to a Pavillions. I think the strip W of the store dated to that time. I think they also enlarged the store when they changed formats; it certainly got an exterior facelift. I've never gotten this confirmed, but I've heard that Vons began as part of the nearby store long occupied by Sav-On, which makes sense given the wall that divided the store and separated the "pharmacy/H&B" areas from everything else.