I know it isn't open on Sundays.

It is now a part of Associated Foods, as I understand it. If that is the case, how much say do they have on hours of operation?

I might have a little scoop on something I heard yesterday that doesn't seem to be public yet.

Fresh Market took over the old Albertson's stores in UT. They closed some down and the one I go is in the middle of a HUGE remodel...almost a gutting of the whole inside with everything being changed around and a dining area/restaurant being put in.

I commented on the new color scheme to the checker yesterday. I asked her if she knew who picked out some of the...um...interesting colors. I'm not sure she was supposed to tell me this...she said it was probably the people in charge of changing the store to a......Macey's Plus. I was astonished at this. I asked her what is the "Plus" they are adding to the name. She said it's the first Macey's to be open on Sunday and that the grand opening will be August 1st.

The Starbucks is staying, too. So, it seems like the mormon influence in this grocery chain is starting to diminish, at least at this store. All I know is they are spending a boatload of money on this remodel.

I did not know that about Macey's. Was in one in Logan last year to buy some groceries.

Nor did I know that Albertson's has been taken over by Fresh Market. Another era gone. Albertson's was where my family shopped, and later myself up until moving away from Idaho, and later California.

Harmon's and Smith's have overtaken Albertson's in the Utah market. Wonder how Fresh Foods plans to compete with them?

Fresh Market is more in the Trader Joe's or Whole Foods camp. It's not like a regular food market. It has lots of fans. The prepared foods section is rather good.

No, not so. You're thinking of "The Fresh Market", not the Fresh Market grocery stores in Utah. They're between a Reams and Smith's. Their meat and seafood departments suck. There are no "The Fresh Market" stores in Utah.

Ahh, got it. I wonder why the two chains have not duked it out in court over the name?

Amyjo, you might enjoy this little story from my past...my maiden name is Albertson (ok, I know that might be too much info..oh well) and I grew up in Idaho. Joe Albertson who started Albertson's was a distant relative.

Anyhow, back in the 60's, we wrote checks for everything. I was a young adult working in Provo and attending BYU part time. I went to the local Albertson's there and wrote a check for my groceries. The young gal at the cash register looked at my check and said " Oh, are you related to the owners of Albertson's?" I do not know what possessed me but I, without missing a beat, just blurted out, "Oh, yes, he's my Dad.". OMG, I thought she was going to faint! She started stammering and fideting like she was trying to make sure she had been polite to me. I burst out laughing and admitted I made that up. I felt bad about upsetting her like that.

Later, when Joe died, I saw his picture in the Idaho Statesman. He looked the spitting image of my dad! People commented about it and of course asked me if we were related. I always told them we were but not close enough to get in his will. LOL.

That is really funny.

I would've stammered too, lol.

I went to university in Boise, where Albertson's began. My ex-husband worked there during college.

The Idaho Statesman was my employer my final years in Boise. :)

That is something to be related to Joe Albertson. That your dad is the spitting image sounds to me like the DNA is very closely related. Joe Albertson was quite the visionary and entrepreneur.

I'm related to the Baron de Rothschild's family *through* marriage. One of the baron's granddaughters married one of my gguncles 1800s. I learned that from my Israeli cousin, who was the Jewish genealogist in my family. He joked when we spoke about it (before he passed away recently,) that for as rich as they supposedly are, we need to "get in line" to ask for our share lol. I can just picture that line extending around a few blocks. :)

In Las Vegas there are both Albertson's and Smith's grocery stores. Most of them are newish. It doesn't seem as if Albertson's has been bought out.

A couple of years or so ago, Albertsons and Safeway merged. As part of the deal, the government required a number of stores to be divested. Some of those were bought by other companies, some just closed.

Interesting, because there are no Safeway's here, that I've seen.

Utah used to have safeway stores but not any more.

There are still a few Albertson's stores left in Utah that they didn't sell to Associated Foods and rename "Fresh Market". Smith's is owned by Kroger.

a year or 2 ago. We have 2 Macey's. I used to shop at Macey's a lot when my kids were small, but they went from the best value to the worst value in Logan. I very seldom even go into Macey's. The only time we usually go in is to get some of USU ice cream as we like their lemon custard. Otherwise, we never shop there.

I knew a member of the Macey family, though he was not involved in the stores, and met several of the family who were very nice people. Macey's started in Logan where the first Maceys settled after moving from England. As an aside, Albertson's is headquartered back in Boise after various takeovers and such and is becoming quite competitive.

This isn't the one in Murray, is it? That store is being torn to pieces.

Is this the one on 900 East in Murray?

Yes..huge remodel going on...the pharmacy moved to the front of the store with a drive thru being installed...checkstands all being moved to the other side of the store. Plus a lot of other changes.

I don't go there much. But I went to get 12 packs of sodas. Right now there were like four isles of drinks. It took me forever to find what I wanted

Looks like there are four in all.

Providence, Orem, Lehi, and Logan.

http://maceys.com/all

A looong time ago I was the floral manager for several years. Originally it was a family owned company. I worked directly with the wife fairly often as she was over my dept on the corporate level. After they sold out to associated foods the wife left & I was promoted to take over part of her position, but the husband stayed on for a while (I'm not sure how long). Anyway, they were LDS but very nice people & not over the top LDS from what I ever saw. I have a lot of respect for the wife. She was a no-nonsense tell-it-like-it-is kinda gal. When associated first took over they basically left the corporate side intact and functioning as usual, & they were supposed to keep the Sunday closure. If I remember the story correctly... when they originally opened their first store some LDS higher up promised them if they obeyed the sabbath & kept the store closed on sunday they would always prosper.. have no idea how long that will play into things..

Waldo Macey was our Teacher (or Priest--my memory is a little hazy) quorum adviser. His first store was in Logan, but he moved to Salt Lake when he opened another store in Rose Park.

He was nice (read innocuous) enough.

I-patronized-his-Logan-store-when-I-lived-there-ly yrs,

S

Well, it looks like the remodel is almost finished. They have changed the checkout signs to read Macey's so I guess it is official. But, here is my question: If this store and all the other Macey's stores have been actually in the Associated Foods umbrella of stores for some number of years, then why has the Macey's brand of Associated Food Stores continued to be closed on Sunday? Was that a maketing tool that AFS decided to use to make the devout mormons continue to believe the stores were still under a Mormon Family control?

Now, this store is going to be called Macey's Plus (according to that checker) and will be open on Sunday. So,are they still going to play that game and keep the other Macey's stores closed?

Sorry I guess I didn't explain it well. From what I understood at the time.. there were certain contingencies in place before it was sold to help protect the employees & such. One of them was to remain closed on Sundays. I have no idea if there was an expiration to any of it or not. Seeing that it has been probably 16-17ish yrs ago & they are still closed Sunday's, I can only speculate. It very well could be marketing tool at this point. Hope that answers your question.