| Smart & Final will open its newest supermarket Aug. 13 in the Pleasanton Square Shopping Center on Johnson Drive Wednesday, Aug. 13, making it the sixth major grocery store in Pleasanton, with two more coming.
The new store is taking the space that was vacated two years ago by Comp USA.
Kevin Lee, manager of the new Smart & Final, said the company will hold a grand opening celebration in the parking lot it shares with In-N-Out Burger's fast food restaurant on Tuesday, Aug. 12, when the public will be invited to tour the new grocery store.
Smart & Final Stores LLC operates 248 of what it calls "non-membership warehouse stores for food and foodservice supplies" in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and northern Mexico.
The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, where it was started more than 130 years ago as the Hellman-Haas Grocery Company. It later took the names of subsequent owners J.S. Smart and H.D. Final. Smart & Final was acquired by Apollo Management in May 2007. In October 2007 the company completed the purchase of 27 Southern California Henry's markets and eight Texas Sun Harvest stores.
Although it looks much like a typical supermarket, Smart & Final promotes itself as having the prices and bulk-purchase advantages of the big box membership stores, such as Costco and Wal-Mart Superstores, with a smaller, more customer-friendly and often single-product-focused inventory without charging a membership fee.
When it opens, Smart & Final will add to the grocery store competition in Pleasanton, which includes Lucky, Nob Hill, Raleys, Safeway and Trader Joe's.
In addition, Safeway, with its corporate headquarters in Pleasanton, has plans awaiting approval before the city Planning Commission to build a large Safeway Lifestyle store at Bernal and Valley avenues, across from the fairgrounds.
Fresh & Easy, a British-owned grocery similar in size and marketing focus to Trader Joe's, plans to open its first store in the area later this year in the Rosewood Pavilion in the space now occupied by Express Fitness.
At the same time, Raley's is undergoing a major rebuild of its supermaaket on Sunol Boulevard to include many of the features Safeway is planning for its new store.
Smart & Final stores are located in California, Arizona, Nevada and northern Mexico. The company operates the Mexico stores under a joint venture agreement with the operators of Calimax, a major grocery store chain in northwest Mexico.
According to the company's profile, its stores are "designed to provide a blend of value and convenience that is superior to both the large warehouse club stores and traditional supermarkets."
Averaging 17,500 square feet in size, Smart & Final's smaller format is designed to be a more convenient, easily accessible option to the larger warehouse club format, which averages 100,000 square feet, or even to the 65,000-square-foot store Safeway is planning for its Pleasanton Lifestyle market.
The new Smart & Final store will offer an assortment of between 7,000 and 9,000 items in both national and private label brands, including fresh vegetables, meat and poultry, deli, dairy, frozen and refrigerated food, candy, snacks and wine, and paper and janitorial products.
In addition, Smart & Final stores carry a wide variety of professional culinary offerings, including appliances, cooking equipment and restaurant supplies.
The store will also make available its Smart Advantage affinity card for customers to take advantage of special discounts. smart & final pleasanton supermarkets Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
|
Send this story
Print this story
