Whither the Pleasant Valley Ave. Longs?
In our reporting on the College Avenue Safeway story, several people mentioned that they thought Safeway wanted to relocate its Broadway and Pleasant Valley store into the space now occupied by Longs Drugs. That particular Longs is a favorite all-purpose general store of many Oaklanders. You can seemingly find just about anything you need there at any hour of the day or night - from socks and sewing supplies, to garden mulch, toilet repair kits, toys and fishing supplies.
The topic of moving the Safeway into the Longs space apparently came up last summer, in a meeting that Safeway officials had with Rockridge residents about its College Avenue store. Although Safeway does not own the Pleasant Valley property, it’s apparently the master developer for the entire shopping center, giving it considerable control over how the space is used.
“What I heard was they wanted to move Longs out and build a new Safeway there,” said Stuart Flashman, chair of the Rockridge Community Planning Council.
That didn’t sit well with the people at the meeting, who made it known that the Longs is an important neighborhood resource. “There was very strong pushback that they wanted the Longs to stay,” Flashman said.
Flashman said Safeway wants to remodel not only its own store, but the whole shopping center.
Where do things stand now? Elisabeth Jewell, a public relations consultant for Safeway, told OaklandNews that “Safeway heard the concerns (about the Longs) loud and clear.”
But Esperanza Greenwood, Northern California director of public affairs for the Safeway, said she didn’t know yet what the plans are for the Longs. “We are going to remodel our store there. We are negotiating with other retailers on that property.”
Stay tuned.
Shame on Safeway for even thinking about closing this Longs Drug Store. My Mom grew up in the area and remembers shopping at this Payless for the first time thinking it was really “like an unbeliveable shoppers paradise”. The loss of this Longs for Safeway would cause longtime residents to move from the area as that store means something to them. It really is the last true “Discount Store of the 1960’s” and is really a retail landmark!
May 30th, 2008 at 8:03 pmI hope you Safeway Customer Service Reps. and the Rockridge Shopping Center owner(s) will come across this article and see for yourself that this store is not something we could lose.
Especially for a damn Safeway!!!