Randalls’ Very Successful 1980s Store Format Is Still A Success In Galveston

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike

Loyal readers of Houston Historic Retail might remember the Galveston Randall’s being mentioned in July’s The Year of Kroger post about the Galveston Kroger. This HHR post is an extension of that post as we’ll be taking a closer look at the Galveston Randall’s, Randall’s Food Market #31 (Randalls Food & Drug #1031 using the current Randalls numbering system) located at 2931 Central City Blvd, Galveston, TX 77551. Randall’s #31 opened in the second half of 1984 at a time when Randall’s was expanding rapidly across the Houston area with mostly new-build stores built with a similar design to the Galveston store. Thus, the Galveston Randall’s is an interesting store to study as it shows many of the features which made Randall’s Houston’s ‘Remarkable’ store.

Although there have been a few modifications to the façade over the years, the building itself still fundamentally looks the same as it did in 1984.

The front canopy looks like something that is appropriate for a store in Galveston!

Many 1980s Randall’s had a grand entryway. At this location, we don’t get a grand entryway, but we do see an extra large vestibule filled with beach supplies.

Some of these are not items you would find at a Randall’s store in Houston itself, but most Randall’s stores do sell patio furniture and BBQ grills.

The Galveston Randall’s is your BBQing headquarters!

In typical Randall’s fashion at stores with a fuel center, this Randall’s has a sign at the entrance and exits of the store indicating what the current price for regular unleaded is. We also see a sign from Albertsons’ new ‘Sincerely’ marketing campaign.

As documented in Mike’s comprehensive history of Randall’s, Randall’s was a successful, but small operator of supermarkets in the northern and western parts of the Houston suburbs through the 1970s. At that time, there were a number of local chains in Houston, like Rice Food Markets and Gerland’s, and so Randall’s wasn’t quite the standout that they went on to become just a few years later even if they did have some impressive store designs in locations like Randall’s #8 in Cypress Station. Randall’s made a bold move in acquiring four upscale Houston Handy Andy locations in 1979, such as the Champions and Memorial & Dairy Ashford locations, and it is this move, perhaps, which fueled Randall’s reputation as an upscale grocer in the first half of the 1980s. Even with nothing inside of them, the Handy Andy buildings were impressive structures. Randall’s maintained much of Handy Andy’s upscale service departments and overall feel. The success of these stores later led to Randall’s developing the Flagship model, but it also led to other communities in the area wanting their own ‘Remarkable Store’. Randall’s famous 1980s jingle only helped promote the chain across the metro area.

As we step inside, we’re greeted by Randall’s new plastic shopping bag design at the self-checkouts! These new ‘Sincerely’ bags replace the old C-store style ‘Thank You’ bags, the tan ones off to the right, and they have the Randalls, Tom Thumb, and Albertsons logos on them. This is the first time the Albertsons logo has shown up on bags in the Houston area on a regular basis since 2002.

The Customer Service booth is right at the front of the store. This Randall’s has a pretty fancy sign above the baby formula counter. I have not seen that before at other Randall’s or Safeway locations. Also note the wood-like vinyl flooring used at this store. This is relatively new flooring. It is good to see that Albertsons thinks this store is too fancy to have a concrete floor!

Yep, the paper sacks at this store have the new ‘Sincerely’ design that the plastic bags have as well! It’s not too common to see shoppers request paper bags in the Houston area, but I’m not surprised to see a Randall’s shopper make that request as Randall’s is the type of store that those wanting a bit more of an upscale experience shop at.

We’re now entering the power alley. I believe this area would have been the Floral department when this store was new, but now it is a large Starbucks department.

Behind the Starbucks is a seating area with a window for the Starbucks and the hot deli.

Here is the hot and cold Deli in the power alley. Unlike what we saw at the Galveston Kroger where Kroger had an expanded menu of hot items, this is a typical Randall’s Deli. That said, Randall’s Delis usually attract customers as we see here. Note the compact and basic version of Colorful Lifestyle v2 décor here. In typical fashion for a 1980s Randall’s store, the ceiling height in the perimeter areas of the store are low and that limits what kind of décor can be used in the perimeter areas. That said, this store has a unique way of incorporating the more expected Colorful Lifestyle v2 décor as we’ll see later in the tour.

One-stop shopping was the trend in the 1980s and Randall’s designed a store format to take advantage of the trends. Shoppers wanted hot, prepared foods at the supermarket in addition to high-quality traditional deli & bakery fare. With that, Randall’s designed their stores with a power alley design which puts the service departments right at the front of the store, as described in March’s The Year of Kroger post, where they are convenient for shoppers. Shoppers were demanding expanded health & beauty items so Randall’s designed pharmacies with an expanded selection of cosmetics and fragrances. Randall’s even integrated cutting-edge features such as in-store banks and large video rental/film developing departments. In addition to standard groceries, Randall’s stores also sold housewares and electronics. Randall’s was even one of the first grocers locally to implement motorized shopping carts for customers who needed them.

Like many, but not all, Albertsons/Safeway banners, Randall’s sells Dietz & Watson and their own Primo Taglio deli meats and cheeses. Those wanting Boar’s Head products will have to head to Kroger.

The donut case at the Bakery has modern Lifestyle signage.

This open oven is a typical feature that Safeway installed at their stores during the initial Lifestyle renovations 10-15 years ago. These ovens give the Bakery departments a very upscale look.

Randall’s Bakery offerings since the Albertsons-Safeway merger have been reduced a bit, but the quality of the baked goods are still quite good, in my opinion, compared to HEB and Kroger.

“Fresh from the fields” is Safeway’s Lifestyle way of saying we have entered the Produce department! As seen in the Jones & West Randall’s post, 1980s Randall’s had a rather enclosed Produce area with a lot of spotlights. The spotlights have been replaced with plain tube lighting in modern Albertsons-Safeway times. In typical Colorful Lifestyle v2 installations, the entire produce fascia would be painted light green, but in this case, Randall’s has decided to only paint the area around the signage green. Perhaps this is due to the low ceiling height in this area.

Some Randall’s locations with a similarly designed Produce department have bagged salads and other Produce items on this side of the Produce department, but the Galveston Randall’s opens up their selection of wines to the Produce department.

Throughout the 1980s, Randall’s built many stores with this same overall design. Even though the 1980s were a hard time in Houston due to the oil slump and other economic issues, and other grocers were wary of expanding in Houston, Randall’s was able to expand from having a handful of stores at the beginning of the 1980s to having stores throughout the Houston area by the end of the 1980s. One of Randall’s first attempts at the very edge of the Houston metro area was to open a store in Conroe, Randall’s #17, in 1980. Another attempt at the edge of the area was when they opened the Galveston store, the subject of today’s post, in 1984.

The Galveston Place shopping center where Randall’s is located was originally developed by Weingarten Realty. Randall’s co-anchors were Walgreens and Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart opened in 1983 and was one of the first Wal-Marts in the Houston metro area. While Wal-Mart might seem like an unlikely co-tenant with an upscale store like Randall’s, the reality is that Wal-Mart didn’t necessarily have a low-rent reputation in the 1980s. If anything, Wal-Mart was seen as an improvement over Kmart, a store Galveston already had. Indeed, the other example of a 1980s format Randall’s store which is still open as a Randall’s, the Kosher Randall’s (Randall’s #41) in Meyer Park, has a non-Supercenter Walmart as a neighbor even to this day. Wal-Mart eventually left Galveston Place for a location along Seawall Blvd. in 1995. Now a Supercenter, that newer Wal-Mart is one of the major competitors for Randall’s in Galveston along with the aforementioned Kroger.

Bagged salads and other greens are along the side of the store.

Unlike most other stores renovated with the Colorful Lifestyle v2 décor package, the Galveston Randall’s kept their previous standard Lifestyle v2 aisle markers. Also, as always, it’s a bit strange to see wine and beer at a Randall’s from this era given Bob Onstead’s objections to selling alcohol for many years!

Here is the back actionway. Here is a good angle to see the differing ceiling heights between the center part of the store and the perimeter area.

One unique aspect about these 1980s Randall’s stores is the dual fascia design given the differing ceiling heights. This is part of the ‘wedding cake’ design to the ceiling. The larger fascia which encircles the center part of the store has curved corners a bit like a Greenhouse Kroger.

The inner fasciae are able to display more regular-sized Colorful Lifestyle v2 décor elements such as this décor for the Beer & Wine department.

As is common with modern Safeway stores like this Randall’s, the store stocks a large number of wines.

There have been a number previous HHR posts about Randall’s stores which used the 1980s Randall’s Food & Drug store format. Recently, I profiled the Jones & West Randall’s, Randall’s #35, here at HHR. I also did a post about vintage retail photos at the Vintage Aerial website which has a photo from 1984 showing Randall’s #28 on Saums & N. Fry in west Houston when it was brand new. The Houston Chronicle has a photo slideshow containing photos showing the interior of the Saums & N. Fry Randall’s in 1984. The Galveston Randall’s also opened in 1984 and the two stores would have looked quite similar when they were new. Mike has done posts about the Randallsaramas, Randall’s #24 in Missouri City and Randall’s #34 in Inwood Forest. Mike also did a post about the famous Boris Yeltsin Randall’s, Randall’s #30, in the Clear Lake area. In fact, the Boris Yeltsin Randall’s opened at almost the same time as the Galveston Randall’s and both were part of a push Randall’s made into the southeast part of the Houston area along with Randall’s #29 in the Almeda Mall area which has also been mentioned at HHR. The South Shore Harbour Randall’s in Galveston County’s League City, Randall’s #51, is another example of southeast-side Randall’s, but that one has a slightly different design using Randall’s 1990s New Generation store philosophy.

Refrigerated smaller beverages, lunch meats, and sausages are located behind the Produce department in the back right corner of the store.

Here is another view of the lunch meats.

We’re now back along the back actionway. As one would expect from a higher-end store, this Randall’s has a Meat & Seafood service counter. Those round medallions are, I believe, relatively new additions.

Here is a closer look at the Seafood medallion.

In typical Randall’s fashion, Dairy is located in an expanded area in the back left corner of the store. Here again, we see an implementation of Colorful Lifestyle v2 meant for a low ceiling height. Although the beige paint used here isn’t the same used in standard Lifestyle v2, it does remind me a little bit of the store’s previous standard Lifestyle v2 color.

Although the location of the milk case isn’t unusual at all for a Randall’s of this vintage, the design of the milk case is rather strange for a Safeway property.

Aside from the South Shore Habour location, all of the Randall’s mentioned in the previous paragraph are no longer in operation. That makes the Galveston Randall’s and the Kosher Randall’s the last two of these classic 1980s Randall’s which still exist as a Randall’s. While the Kosher Randall’s wears Safeway’s Lifestyle v3 décor package in modern times, the Galveston Randall’s was recently renovated to the Colorful Lifestyle v2 décor package which the Albertsons Southern Division/Tom Thumb Division has chosen as their preferred décor package in current times. The South Shore Harbour Randall’s is another store which received a recent Colorful Lifestyle v2 renovation.

In typical 1980s Randall’s fashion, juice and other miscellaneous Dairy items are located along the left wall of the store even if the aisle marker does not clearly indicate this.

As we move to the front left corner of the store, we find the Pharmacy. This location for the Pharmacy is unchanged from the 1980s, but the consultation rooms and health offices were a Lifestyle-era Safeway addition.

In a bit of an unusual sight at this store, at least so far during the tour, we see a full-sized implementation of the Colorful Lifestyle v2 décor package. That said, the green indicates the Floral department even though this is clearly the HBA department. For whatever reason, Randall’s has really been pushing Hot Wheels cars, often at hot prices, in their stores this spring/summer!

Fortunately, there are actually flowers and not just HBA items in the Floral department!

The oval HBA aisle hangers are from an earlier version of Lifestyle. While you might assume they are from Lifestyle v1, which used oval-shaped medallions throughout the store, there is actually reason to believe they are from an early version of ‘beige’ Lifestyle v2 according to discussion related to a recent post at the Northwest Retail Blog. This corner of the store would have housed the video rental department at one time.

This Randall’s does have a larger selection of HBA items than some other Houston Randall’s stores.

The basic layout of the Galveston Randall’s, which is 52,500 sq. ft. in size, is basically similar to the layout that the store would have opened with in 1984, but there are a few changes such as the store now having a large Starbucks department at the front of the power alley. This was, if I remember correctly, the floral department back in the day. Now, floral has moved to the front end of the store near the registers on the pharmacy/HBA side of the store. Aside from things like that, modernization of the store product offerings, and other small modernization methods made by Safeway during various Lifestyle renovations, this store still very much has the same feel that it did in 1984. In fact, the ‘wedding cake’ drop ceiling design of these 1980s Randall’s store designs with differing ceiling heights around the center of the store and the perimeter areas leads to some unique applications of the Safeway Lifestyle décor at these stores which is clearly visible in the photo tour of this store. Even the upstairs office windows overlooking the store are still installed at this location. One addition this store received was a fuel center in the parking lot. Many, if not most, Houston Randall’s stores these days do not have a fuel center so this is a nice feature for the store to have.

The teal Pharmacy sign looks like Colorful Lifestyle v2, but the white space next to it looks like something from the Safeway Modern décor package!

Randall’s still has a fairly large Floral department by Houston supermarket standards. This is to be expected given Randall’s upper-tier status in the market.

One odd thing about this Randall’s location is that they have high shelving with inventory, often still in boxes, on the highest shelves. I don’t know if this store has limited storeroom space, but it does look a bit unsightly for an upper-tier supermarket.

Here is the front-end of the store and the front actionway. We can see the windows overlooking the store from the upstairs offices.

When this store was built in 1984, it would have had a rather tall ceiling for a supermarket. This certainly would have been an airy look compared to some other retailers at the time such as Kmart.

As mentioned in the Galveston The Year of Kroger post, the Galveston Kroger and Randall’s stores appear to serve slightly different audiences. The Kroger, which is along the beach on Seawall Blvd., serves many of tourists during the Galveston tourism season. The Randall’s, on the other hand, seems to serve mainly local shoppers. I’m sure there are a number of locals who shop at Kroger and tourists who shop at Randall’s as well, but the stores seem to fit the needs of their stereotypical shoppers. While the Galveston Kroger has a large variety of prepared foods in the deli, the Randall’s is a fairly standard Randall’s and the offerings in the store aren’t much different than what one would find in Houston itself aside from some of the beach supplies sold in the vestibule. This is to say that the Randall’s offers what Randall’s has always offered, a calm shopping experience even with it being located in a bustling tourism spot.

Here’s another view of the inventory stored on the top shelves of the aisles.

Although the beach umbrellas might seem like a Galveston special, these types of umbrellas and chairs show up on top of the Frozen Food cases at many Safeway stores across the country.

El Rancho toilet paper at Randall’s?! This is not as strange as it may seem as Albertsons has, or had, a large investment in the El Rancho Supermercado chain of supermarkets which has locations in Houston. At least at one time not too long ago, it was common to see Albertsons’ Signature Select store brand items in El Rancho stores, but I’ve never seen El Rancho products at an Albertsons store before. As Mike recently chronicled at HHR, El Rancho recently changed hands and it is believed to be unlikely that Albertsons still has an ownership stake in El Rancho.

Here’s a good look at the dual fascia design of this store. This is certainly an unusual installation of Lifestyle décor!

Note that Randall’s is experimenting with a new ‘assisted’ self-checkout system. These registers did not appear to be operational at the time. I assume that these self-checkouts will have more dedicated help than the typical self-checkouts, but we’ll have to see how much better they are once they are in use.

As we step outside, we see the beach equipment on the other side of the vestibule.

While the Galveston Randall’s might be a fairly calm place to be, the store does see significant business. Shoppers visiting from Houston might be surprised to see how busy the Galveston Randall’s gets compared to what people are used to in Houston. As mentioned in the Galveston Kroger post, Galveston has not had an HEB store since the Pantry Foods store in the old Safeway closed shortly after Hurricane Ike in 2008. With that, Kroger and Randall’s are the only full-line supermarkets in town and, thus, both stores see a lot of business. If Kroger and Randall’s parent company, Albertsons, end up merging as proposed without the Randall’s stores being sold or spun off, it will be interesting to see what Kroger does in Galveston. I think they would be justified in keeping both stores open, but if they do, they probably ought to keep the Randall’s as the calm, more upscale store for the locals and the Kroger as the center for tourists. Either way, both stores benefit from having a lot of catering customers from the various hotels and conference centers located in Galveston. As one can imagine, there are a lot of weddings and other events which take place on the Island.

It might be easy to confuse Randall’s for the Chair King here!

Here is a closer look at the wavy front canopy used to cover the carts.

It is a busy day at the Galveston Randalls!

Randall’s street signs usually stay low to the ground, but not this one!

Given the relative rarity of Randall’s fuel stations these days, it is interesting to see the look of a Randall’s gas pump.

If you have any thoughts or memories about the Galveston Randall’s, or about 1980s Randall’s stores in general, please feel free to leave a comment below! We love to hear from our readers and we know that many of our readers have vivid memories of these ‘Remarkable’ 1980s Randall’s stores. We also know that many Houstonians have shopped at the Galveston Randall’s over the years even if it was just during a brief stop to visit the beach or other tourism venues on the Island!

Randalls’ Very Successful 1980s Store Format Is Still A Success In Galveston

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