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Smart & Final spruces up, helping bridge the grocery gap

A couple of RichmondSFBlog readers contacted me recently about the Smart & Final on 7th Avenue between Clement and Geary. They recently reorganized the store and spruced it up with a new layout, new signage, and a shift in the products they’re offering.

Reader Margie wrote “it is more like a regular supermarket rather than a warehouse,” and I have to agree. I stopped in last night to take a peek and it’s very different from my last visit a few years ago. There’s a large produce section selling everything from blackberries to whole coconuts, a bread aisle, and baked goods.

During her visit, Margie spoke with a store manager who told her they are making a conscious effort to stock more mainstream grocery items instead of slower moving household goods like brooms and cleaning products. They expect to add 500 more grocery SKUs in the coming weeks. The 7th Avenue location is one of the first among Smart & Final’s 300 stores to take this new approach.

In addition to the new merchandising in the aisles, the store’s parking lot was also repaved and striped.

Despite the changes, Smart & Final still tends towards the large, warehouse sizes for the products they sell. The smallest size milk you’ll find is a gallon. But for families or entertainers, Smart & Final is a great option for picking up the necessities and stocking the refrigerator at a good value.

The Richmond District can definitely use another grocery store. We lost the Albertson’s on 32nd Avenue about six years ago and last December, the DeLano’s on Geary and 27th Avenue closed after the chain filed for bankruptcy.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is slated to take over the Clement and 32nd Avenue location along with CVS Pharmacy, but neither has announced a date for their grand opening.

And while Smart & Final’s location is not all that helpful to the outer district residents, it’s nice to have another grocery option in the neighborhood. Especially one with ample, free parking.

Special thanks to RichmondSFBlog readers Margie for the update on Smart & Final’s plans, and to Jeff who also wrote in with the news and his review of the spruced up store: “Looks damn nice, too. Still lacking in good beer, though. ;)”

Sarah B.

7 Comments

  1. they took down the hurricane fence around Fresh & Easy this week, I guess that is a good sign that it might open someday

  2. Actually, the smallest size milk they sell is half a gallon.

    Which I’ll often drink in one sitting…. alone in the dark while sobbing non-stop.

  3. Smart and Final definitely looks better and I’ve shopped there more often since the remodel. Also, it is a much better use of the space. Looking forward to Fresh & Easy and CVS moving in.

  4. Looks smart and final.

    I’ve been to the Fresh and Easy in Pacifica and noticed there weren’t any checkout tellers. I looked and didn’t see any. It was all self check out but employees were on hand to help pack your goods in a bag for you. I wonder if the Fresh and Easy in the Richmond will have the same setup. If it is I can see a lot of elderly folks having difficulty with this. Fresh and Easy’s parent company is Tesco, one of the biggest retailers in the world. They’ve got stores all over England and Ireland. The Fresh and Easy in Pacific has the same look and feel as the Tesco stores there. I wondered if they had a selection of British items in there ethnic food section before I went in and they didn’t. But I did like that they had Heniz Baked beans for $1.49, a steal, so I stocked up. LOL.

  5. They installed a bike rack out front, but it’s the type which you can only lock your front wheel to. Should’ve used the type the city does– a couple simple, upside-down U-shaped bars.

  6. I’m glad Smart & FInal did a makeover. But the stores just don’t appeal to me. Looking forward to the Safeway expansion at La Playa though.

    The Fresh & Easy Buzz blog that you’ve referred to before has a story that the 32nd & Clement Fresh & Easy store is going to open June 22:

    http://freshneasybuzz.blogspot.com/2011/05/fresh-easy-neighborhood-market-plans-to.html

    Its also where the self-service checkout legislation and Fresh & Easy news originated from:

    http://freshneasybuzz.blogspot.com/2011/05/son-of-tescos-fresh-easy-law-new.html

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