A rumor has been circulating in and around Holiday Park that the Albertsons at Hillcrest Village is moving out and being replaced with some type of dollar store. That’s absolutely false, says John Rutledge, senior vice president of Venture Commercial, which represents the property.

“If we were going to put a dollar store there, we’d also have a tattoo store and a piercing shop,” Rutledge says.

This isn’t the first time residents have worried about their neighborhood Albertsons.

“There have been rumors in the past,” says Matt Bach, past HOA president of Holiday Park. “We’re very interested in that shopping center. We all shop there.”

Rutledge says that when a store shows signs of decline, it’s usually put on a watch list. Albertsons is not on it. It’s in the clear – as far he knows. The store is actually owned by a private investor who has not indicated any plans to close it.

The rumor came as a surprise to Rutledge who says Venture is working on reconfiguring the shopping center to become more upscale and more appealing to women, particularly moms.

“Hillcrest Village has been there for a long time,” he says. “We want to get it back to what it used to be in the 1970s and 80s.”

That means more clothing shops, consignment stores, furniture stores, etc. In fact, a lease is being finalized for a cupcake shop, Rutledge says (more to come on that for sure).

But this revamping is not a positive for everyone in the shopping center. The snow cone shop will be forced out.

“The problem is, when you have little kiosks, the place tends to look a little junky,” Rutledge says. “It hampers visibility. His building is an eyesore.”

Venture is in talks with several potential tenants, so neighbors can expect to see some changes in Hillcrest Village over the next several months. But it looks like our go-to grocery store is safe.

“The Albertsons is doing fine even though it’s an older generation store,” Rutledge says.