BOISE, Idaho -- Grocer Albertsons Cos. has opened its latest take on convenience. Albertsons Express is a new 12-pump fuel center and 3,100-square-foot c-store across the parking lot from the company’s full-size grocery store in Boise, Idaho, on the site of a former Pizza Hut restaurant.
This new fuel-center and c-store design is the only one of its kind.
Here are the details …
The fuel center offers five different grades of fuel: unleaded 87 octane, midgrade 89 octane, premium 91 octane and low-sulfur diesel, as well as 87 ethanol-free clear unleaded fuel, primarily used for recreations vehicles, lawn mowers and older automobiles.
This is the first and only fuel center in the state of Idaho that is chip-credit-card-enabled at the pump, the company said.
The 3,100-square-foot c-store offers fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, fresh-made deli sandwiches and salads, and proprietary items. The fountain features 20 carbonated and noncarbonated beverages, as well as four flavor shots. Other offerings include Signature Select fresh-brewed coffee and cappuccino, a large wine assortment and a variety of different beers in the walk-in beer cave.
Albertsons operates grocery stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia under 20 banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs.
Albertsons opened its first Albertsons Express c-store in Eagle, Idaho, in 1997, Rachel Jones, fuel center sales manager for Albertsons’ Intermountain Division, told the Idaho Statesman.
In 2006, Albertsons sold 1,124 of its stores to Eden Prairie, Minn.-based SuperValu. In 2011, Supervalu divested 107 of its fuel centers. It sold 51 Albertsons fuel centers in California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Idaho to San Antonio-based Tesoro Corp. (now Andeavor) and 14 in Idaho to Boise-based Stinker Stores Inc.
It sold 27 Jewel-Osco fuel centers in the Chicago area to Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard and 15 fuel centers—eight from Cub Foods in Minnesota, two from Hornbacher's in North Dakota and five from Albertsons in Montana—to Bloomington, Minn.-based Holiday Stationstores.
In 2015, after splitting from SuperValu, Albertsons bought Safeway and acquired a large number of gas stations operated at Safeway stores. The company now has 395 gas stations, Mark Schumacher, Albertsons’ senior director of fuel and convenience, told the Idaho Statesman.
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