"There's been talk of the Albertson's making changes for years but nothing ever came of it," said Richard Kitajima, who has operated The Medicine Shoppe pharmacy from the shopping center for more than 20 years.

His pharmacy is the shop closest to the grocery store and could be affected the most should Albertson's decide to expand and add a full-service pharmacy feature to the store.

"I'm not too happy about it," Kitajima said. Even with the rezoning, he and other merchants don't know when any renovation will occur.

Change at the shopping center is nothing new to Kitajima. Over the years he's seen the grocery store change hands numerous times, starting off as an Alpha-Beta, later becoming a Lucky's, and finally Albertson's.

"We've heard news for years that changes would be made," he said, "but the way the economy's been going it kept getting pushed back about three or four years."

The structure has remained unchanged since the shopping center was established in January 1973.

The applicant, Bob Bearden of Craig and Grant Architects in Danville, requested the center be rezoned from commercial pedestrian to commercial neighborhood on behalf of the property owner, Asset Management Group in San Diego.

According to the San Jose Municipal Code, a commercial pedestrian zone is for retail stores that adhere to the character of nearby residential neighborhoods, whereas a commercial neighborhood is intended to serve primarily commercial uses.

Calls to Asset Management Group were not returned, and Bearden said that it was too soon to comment about whether Albertson's plans to renovate its store or expand it.

Fred Lee, store manager for the Mission Square Albertson's, declined to comment.

Stacia Levenfield, spokesperson for Albertson's stores for California, confirmed that the company would like to not only renovate the store but rebuild it and possibly expand it. She said that over the past 18 months the company has made it a priority to upgrade its stores to provide a "21st-century shopping experience."

"We've really been overhauling the stores," Levenfield said. "We've been giving them face-lifts and implementing new features."

But that may not provide much comfort to the center's other merchants.

Frank Lopez Moreno, who has been cutting hair at the Mission Square Barber Shop for more than 30 years, has heard reports from the property owner as well as other merchants that changes are coming. His shop is a few doors from the Albertson's entrance. If the grocery store expands, he says, it can only overtake nearby stores, which concerns him.

"Albertson's might want to expand, but I don't know how far," Moreno said.

The Mission Square Albertson's does offer bakery and delicatessen items, but like other older markets being updated it could add an in-house pharmacy department and enhance its bakery and deli departments.

A public hearing for the rezoning of the grocery store goes before the San Jose City Council on April 1 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at San Jose City Hall, 802 N. First St.