Albertsons will become Lucky in the Bay Area

Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets said Monday that it is reviving the Lucky grocery banner as it converts 72 Bay Area stores this summer.

The announcement affects stores in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties.

"There are no plans for Lucky stores in the (Central) Valley," Save Mart spokeswoman Stacia Levenfeld said Wednesday.

The Bay Area stores are among the 130 Northern California and Nevada Albertsons that Save Mart bought for an undisclosed sum earlier this year. The firm has been switching the Albertsons stores over to its brands since March and plans to be finished by the end of September.

The deal upped Save Mart's store count, including its S-Mart and Food Maxx brands, to 252 outlets and doubled its annual sales to approximately $5 billion.

Rights to the Lucky name were included in Save Mart's deal. Industry observers had speculated that Save Mart might decide to revive the brand, which has been essentially dormant since Albertsons Inc. bought Lucky in 1999.

Levenfeld said Save Mart's surveys of Bay Area shoppers and store employees revealed that many had fond memories of Lucky, which enjoyed a strong reputation as a price-competitive, full-service chain.

"Almost all of those Bay Area stores were Luckys before they became Albertsons," Levenfeld said. "Our polls showed that shoppers and our own employees hoped we would bring the brand back."

Save Mart executives have said they get plenty of mileage for their brand by sponsoring a NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma every year. But retail consultant Mark Lilien of Retail Technology Group in Stamford, Conn., noted that sports sponsorships rarely boost sales.

"Save Mart obviously feels like the Lucky name has more cachet in the Bay Area," Lilien said.

The name had enough value to trigger a lawsuit from Albertson's Inc. last year after Berkeley-based Grocery Outlet Inc. rebranded its Rocklin store as a Lucky. Grocery Outlet lost its argument in federal court that the name was fair game because Albertson's had abandoned the trademark.

Grocery Outlet, which could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, is appealing the ruling.

Meanwhile, Save Mart said it will bring back some of Lucky's grocery programs and blend in its own best practices. It will not, however, revive Lucky's "Reward Card" loyalty program, which Save Mart President Bob Spengler called "a bothersome marketing gimmick to today's customer."

About the writer:

• The Bee's Jon Ortiz can be reached at (916) 321-1043 or jortiz@sacbee.com.