Albertson's newest Tulsa store doing well

Friday, July 18th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Three months ago Albertsons opened a new store at Pine and Peoria on Tulsaâ€™s north side. News on 6 consumer reporter Rick Wells stopped in Friday to see if the new place is everything the neighborhood hoped it would be.

â€œItâ€™s nice to come home and see an Albertson's on the north side." Tyra Woodard hasn't lived in Tulsa for about 7 years, but she visits often. She's having her hair done at Roshanda Taylor's Salon on Pine. We talked to her three months ago, before the Albertson's opened; she was excited about it then, and still is. "It's everything I said it would be." Tyra Woodard: "It just looks so new and inviting."

Manager Reggie Hardy says the store is doing as well as the company hoped. The community is responding too. Folks seem to have found it and, like Roshanda Taylor are becoming regulars. Taylor: "Actually I'm probably in there once a week, at least, just shopping to get something on the way home."

Hardy says for the three months they've been open, they've asked lots of questions hoping to adjust the inventory to reflect what people want. "We're getting a real good feel for what everybody wants to see and what they want us to do." What Roshanda Taylor hopes they'll do is expand that area next door. Taylor: "Maybe some more retail, where I can move down there even closer." She thinks Taylor and Company would look real good next door to the new Albertsons.

An Albertson's spokesperson in Dallas told the News on 6, the North Peoria store is part of its aggressive commitment to operations in Oklahoma. Albertson's will open one more new store in the Tulsa area this year, with a couple of remodels of existing stores scheduled for next year.