The former Vons location in the Mission Hills area of San Diego, California, is now a Pavilions store. Though it underwent a fairly extensive remodel, the store remained open throughout the process.
Wayne Heaton, VP and GM for Pavilions, said Mission Hills is “an incredible neighborhood” for the format.
“Mission Hills has a great diverse clientele that we want to service,” he said.
The area has other “premium competitors,” but he believes there is a place for the Pavilions model.
“We really want to help our guests do that full basket shop – to buy the items that they’re used to buying in a premium environment,” Heaton said.
“It was the right thing to do to spend the money in here, invest in the neighborhood, invest in the team members who work here and make it a bright, cheery store … to take care of that premium guest, the foodies of the world, the personal chefs of the world and the influencers who come in and look at what we have to offer.”
Role of concierges
Pavilions store concierges are charged with communicating the array of products and services available. They take to social media to share “what we have coming up, what events we have in store,” Heaton said.
But the store’s team members also play a part, “talking to every guest that walks into the store and taking care of that guest, number one, but also telling them what we have out there for them to take advantage of.”
The conversion from Vons to Pavilions took about four months. Among other changes, the floor tile was pulled up and replaced with concrete, which is more environmentally friendly, easier to clean and serves to brighten the store.
“My goal is always to have the brightest store in the neighborhood because I think about myself or even my mom shopping in a store. We don’t need a cave,” Heaton said. “We want to make it easy for the guests to want to stand and linger and make sure they buy everything they want.”
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Parking challenges pave way for e-commerce solutions
Parking space is at a premium at the new Mission Hills Pavilions store.
The Mission Hills store is just one of two Pavilions locations that is a “pedestal” store, meaning there is parking underneath the store. 
While it’s a great way to have parking in the same footprint as the store, it requires shoppers to use an escalator or elevator to get up to the store, which can be challenging for some guests. And the store employs security guards on the lower floor to try and keep non-customers from filling the spaces.
The store’s team members who are able are asked to park on the street where it’s safe to keep spots open for the guests when they come in, Heaton said.
“It’s a battle in a lot of our stores,” he added.
“When you’re in a downtown environment, a city environment, parking is at a premium for everybody, and I don’t want to stop a guest from parking if they want to run up and get something real fast.”
Offering e-commerce is the store’s main way to combat the parking issue.
“All 31 Pavilions stores offer delivery and also Drive Up and Go, so you can do your order and just pull into a parking spot and we’ll bring it out to you,” he said.
E-commerce sales have “exponentially gone up here,” once the Pavilions product catalog was opened to the store’s shoppers.
In addition to online order pickup, guests can order online and get delivery from Pavilions’ own One P service, as well as Instacart, DoorDash or Uber.
Delivery “has been big for us, and I see it just climbing and climbing,” Heaton said. “I really think we haven’t even touched the start of e-commerce. It’s our fastest growing [service] and a large percentage of our business.”