As pointed out to me by several people in recent weeks, the old Lucky grocery store nameplate is making a comeback -- in a limited fashion.
Lucky was once a key player in the Southern California grocery store scene -- but they all disappeared by the turn of this century, as American Stores and Albertsons merged -- and Albertsons took over the Lucky stores.
Mitch at Paradox Unbound did a thorough job explaining the how and why of Lucky's sudden reappearance:
Lucky was acquired by American Stores, a Salt Lake City-based retail conglomerate, in 1988. American Stores, in turn, was merged into Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, ten years later. While Albertsons kept American Stores' Jewel-Osco banner in Chicago and its ACME banner in Philadelphia, it decided to dump the Lucky name in California and Nevada and re-brand the units as Albertsons because the company already operated its namesame stores in those markets. The 1999 "marriage" of Lucky and Albertsons proved to be a marketing blunder, as Lucky had a stronger market position in most of the markets the two chains had shared.
The once high-flying Albertsons, having grown into the second largest supermarket chain in the nation, encountered severe problems due to the same type of mismanagement that led to the arrogant dismissal of the Lucky brand. After speculation that the company would sell out to Kroger, its largest competitior, earlier this year Albertsons management announced a complicated deal in which it would be sold to three seperate entities. CVS gained the Osco and Sav-On drug store chains while Supervalu acquired most of the supermarkets, including ACME, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, and Star Markets...
While the dismantling of Albertsons was underway, "extreme value retailer" Grocery Outlet decided to place the Lucky name on its store in Rocklin in Northern California, taking advantage of the brand's reputation for low prices. Albertsons quickly filed a lawsuit, claiming it owned the Lucky name and that Grocery Outlet was breeding confusion; Grocery Outlet countered that Albertsons had abandoned the name 6 years prior and that copyright law dictated the name was fair game after 3 years. Desperate, Albertsons put the Lucky logo back on its Web Site, asked employees to scout shopping carts and stockrooms for any mention of the name, and announced plans to open new stores with the old banner. Many observers felt that Albertsons had blundered again, including rights to the Lucky name as part of its sale to Supervalu when it didn't actually own them.
The Courts have decided that Supervalu (nee Albertsons), and not Grocery Outlet, can use the Lucky name while the legal drama is sorted out. The Lucky name was quickly hoisted over 5 Supervalu stores previously known as MaxFoods (Albertsons' "low price" banner), including 2 Southland units in Alhambra and Montebello. Quite literally, the jury's still out on whether this move is a genuine effort to reinvigorate the Lucky brand as a new discount format or if it is simply a legal ploy to gain the upper hand over Grocery Outlet.
Mitch says he hopes that Lucky is here to stay, and I'd agree -- it'd be nice to see the namplate re-enter the marketplace. Then there's old spokeswoman Stephanie Edwards (who you remember was also canned from hosting the regular portion of KTLA's Rose Bowl coverage this past year), who I'm sure wouldn't mind a steady paycheck as well. I certainly hope that Lucky is here to stay, as its optimistic name and distinctive logo still resonate after nearly 7 years of absence from the local retail scene.
(Pic courtesy Roadside Pictures.)
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