Former Alpha Beta locations

[javelin]

Victorville, now a King Ranch market

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... iwloc=addr

Apple Valley, now a school district building

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... 4&t=h&om=0

[TheStranger]

Storewanderer found these photos on Flickr of a former Alpha Beta in Long Beach, now Albertsons.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58544868@N00/312503350/

[Jeff]

Storewanderer found these photos on Flickr of a former Alpha Beta in Long Beach, now Albertsons.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58544868@N00/312503350/

Wow, I wonder when Lucky took over that market. Its also an awfully small Albertsons.

[runchadrun]

Wow, I wonder when Lucky took over that market. Its also an awfully small Albertsons.

It was a Lucky as of August 1990, but I don't know when it became a Lucky. I found it listed as a Lucky in a 1990 list of recycling centers.

The Burbank Albertsons at the corner of Verdugo and Hollywood Way is also a former Alpha Beta and it became a Lucky sometime after March 1988. It was expanded and remodeled a few years ago. The only indication of it being a former AB is the oval sign in the parking lot.

The Lucky/Alpha Beta Socal merger was blocked in May 1990. AFAIK, none of the Socal ABs became Lucky stores as a result. Is that correct? Lucky sold 161 stores to Yucaipa in 1991: 152 ABs and 9 Luckys. Did they sell off 9 Lucky stores because they kept 9 ABs?

[TheStranger]

In the big storegeeking journey that Charles Hathaway, Justin Karimzad, and I had today (12/29), we happened upon three former Alpha-Betas in the Silicon Valley.

One is in Milpitas along Calaveras Boulevard (Route 237) and is currently an Albertsons, with a Longs in the same center. A similar Longs/current Albertsons duo exists on Saratoga Avenue (between Pruneridge and San Tomas Expressway) in Santa Clara.

A third one, still with 1990s Lucky decor and having recently closed as the Asian-oriented Golden Phoenix Supermarket, is located at Rengstorff and Middlefield in Mountain View. That one was not in great condition.

We took photos of all of those and I'll get them up on my site as soon as I can, and then post some of them on the board. The latter two still had the classic oval signs, while the Milpitas example had a 1970s Alpha-Beta facade (with modern Albertsons decor).

EDIT, 12/30: They're now up, so here's previews of the latter two to pique interest:

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/sclara.htm



http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/mview.htm

[klkla]

The Lucky/Alpha Beta Socal merger was blocked in May 1990. AFAIK, none of the Socal ABs became Lucky stores as a result. Is that correct? Lucky sold 161 stores to Yucaipa in 1991: 152 ABs and 9 Luckys. Did they sell off 9 Lucky stores because they kept 9 ABs?

Actually Lucky was allowed to cherry pick a few of the best locations and convert them into Lucky. The Burbank store and another on Lincoln Blvd. (maybe in Venice) come to mind. If I remember correctly there were 15 to 20 locations that Lucky ended up keeping with some Lucky's that were not as valuable that competed with these stores going to Alpha Beta's final buyer.

[wayne winterland jr.]

When you found the photo of the Alpha Beta Market at 406 E. Lincoln in Anaheim it was located on what used to be the end of the east side of the downtown business district of Anaheim and were you able to also find another Alpha Beta Market which was also located on the west end of the downtown business district of Anaheim? I could never figure out why Alpha Beta Markets built 2 stores so close together. My dad worked at both locations when they first opened in downtown Anaheim and later became store manager of the Alpha Beta Market #10 on the south side of the business district in Orange, Calif.

[wayne winterland jr.]

The picture posted of the old Alpha Beta Market in Santa was at that time designated Alpha Beta Market #4 and it was located at the corner of
North Main Street and Washington Street and it closed in 1964. The store was torn down so that a Savings and Loan could be built on the site.
This particular store also had a lunch counter on one side of the store and later on some tables and chairs were added for customers to eat from. This store was 14,500 sq. ft. and opened for business on
Aug. 14, 1948. On opening day a stage was erected in front of the market and Alpha Beta Markets bought 23 fifteen minutes spots of advertising time from the KNX radio station of Los Angeles during which to broadcast 16 programs aimed at saluting the community of Santa Ana. Those people who visited the Santa Ana store were treated to talent shows, a pet parade, seeing popular radio personalities and local dignitaries, and some visitors were selected to appear on the guest interview spots. Nation-wide publicity was given to Alpha Beta's full-day advertising campaign with articles about the event in nationally distributed magazines, as well as in the local newspapers and trade journals. After the store was closed a new Alpha Beta Market # 4 was built at 420 West 17th St. in North Santa Ana.

[runchadrun]

Actually Lucky was allowed to cherry pick a few of the best locations and convert them into Lucky. The Burbank store and another on Lincoln Blvd. (maybe in Venice) come to mind.

You're probably thinking of the one in Westchester on Lincoln near Manchester, which recently was converted to a Bristol Farms. Like the Burbank store, it had an oval sign in the parking lot. Probably not a bad idea to convert it to Bristol Farms since it couldn't compete with several large Ralphs nearby and its upscale format would appeal to the residents of Playa Vista as it gets built up.

[J-Mac]

Garden Grove - 11930 Valley View, now Vons
http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.pmy ... d%20States___

I grew up in the area, and the Alpha Beta store was across the street from the Lucky store at this intersection - Valley View and Chapman. I was around there recently, and Vons took the Lucky location, and the Alpha Beta store has been demolished - not a suprise, as that location was closed in the mid-80s, prior to all the merging. It was a classic store with an "alphie" on its sign.

Matter of fact, if you play with local.live.com enough, you come up with a picture of a demolished piece of land. It is now home to LA fitness.

I'm guessing that Vons picked up the Lucky store during the ABS merger.

The current Vons store address is 11861 Valley View St. It was a relocation from two blocks south on Valley View. That location was vacant next to a drugstore that used to be a TG&Y. It appears as though the 99cent store picked up the former Vons.