Safeway - The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again
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Video Description: This is an outline of the ups and downs of what was once the largest grocery store chain in the world.
*Image Source at 2:15: University of Southern California Libraries and California Historical Society
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I work at a safeway. my coworkers and I joke that our company motto is "where items are 17$ or 17 cents, depending on the day"
Just like MD weather 😊
That's actually quite funny.
I worked for Safeway for almost 3 years throughout High School and some Junior college. The best thing about that store was always the freshly baked bread from the bakery every morning.
Indeed. I always tend to redeem a rewards point on one of those focaccias. They are damn good.
Their "French Toast" bread is the best.
My local Vons used to have the best San Francisco Sourdough bread I've ever tasted outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, both in sliced and in an unsliced loaves.
I find it amusing to read the ingredients of Safeway's bakery goods vs. Winco's. Reading Safeway's ingredients for bread reads like reading a lecture in chemistry. Reading Winco's typically has 3 or 4 natural ingredients.
Here is Safeway's white bread ingredients for example (from their website):
Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flourr, Malted Barley Flour, Iron, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Sugar, Yeast, Contains Less than 2% of: Soybean and/or Canola Oil, Salt, Dough Conditioners (Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Mono and Diglycerides, Ascorbic Acid, Enzymes), Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Yeast Nutrients (Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Ammonium Sulfate), Calcium Iodate, Soy Lecithin.
Winco Sourdough bread for example: Unbleached Unenriched Wheat Flour, Water, Sourdough Starter, Sea Salt, Wheat Gluten, Ascorbic Acid, Enzymes.
In my case, the “baked goods” to look forward to were specifically the donuts
Love the fact, the ceo was a true visionary he built a parking lot. Mean while current innovations are complicated adjustments to entire logistic chains
I can just imagine the local advertising for the store when they got a parking lot: "Safeway, We Have A Place For You To Park Your Car!" 😆
And now the US is a car dependent mess without good public transportation.
@@CordeliaWagnerdepends on prospective.... Cars are definitely a nueceses... However probably are under appreciated in terms of economic development.
@user-db4ke3if6t For development, there is an argument for their use, but we are now developed. Why ship things in trucks when you have trains? Why ship people in cars when you have busses and trains?
Additionally, economically shipping would be much easier without the sprawl from large roads and parking lots. If you only have to ship objects a quarter mile from the nearest train station, you can pay a low cost train to ship the item to a city, then have a much shorter drive for your truck so you don't have to pay as much on last-mile shipping (by far the most expensive part of the process).
@@CordeliaWagnerpersonally I hate public transportation in general, glad we can drive cars here with ease.
Boy, I am really hoping that Albertson's-Kroger deals falls through. That's the clearest example of a trust that I've ever seen.
Not an example of ANTI trust more like market manipulation.
Our lousy govnt wont do diddly. Even if they did the crap Supreme Crt would bypass!
Safeway was bought out by Acme Stores.
Usually there's an FCC "comment period" when mergers like this happen. Is that closed?
@@oregonsenior4204 The merger between Acme stores, & Safeway is a done deal; Last time I was at Safeway they had brand new reusable plastic bags with both Acme, & Safeway logo on them. Albertson's owns Acme grocery stores. I also spoke with a store manager at Safeway who had confirmed the deal. This was 3 1/2 weeks ago.
@@sableminer8133they won’t be a monopoly anyways. Walmart is the monopoly having 51% of the market share. Safeway/Kroger will only be 24%
The Albertson's buyout was the worst thing that happened to Safeway. Quality took a nose dive, the stores got dirtier, and staffing was slashed (or at least seemed like it as a customer.) I'm expecting more of the same with the Kroger buyout. The race to the lowest possible quality continues.
Albertson's had a way of ruining everything it touched. I remember my local Acme stores at the time ditching all of their established store branding for organic goods and just chucking the O Organics from Safeway into the product. Some of the other stuff even said Safeway on it, like they just trucked it from one store to another.
Well they don't call it a Gross Erie Store for nothing.
Yup.
All the Safeways around the San Francisco East Bay seem to have become better.
@@5stardave They look great, but they have become known for being expensive, you spend considerably more at them.
I used to work at the Safeway corporate office. My job was to answer those complaint cards that nobody actually uses… except bored seniors that had absolutely nothing better to do. I may have been a professional “damage sponge”, but I’m still impressed that Safeway actually took the time to call every single gripe they received and offer remediation.
Woah what a crazy job you had at the call center for safeway
That sounds soul crushing
@@blogdesign7126 lmao
How do you know they had nothing better to do? Maybe they were trying to improve the service with helpful feedback...you sound very presumptuous
"Took" is past tense. Try complaining now. No site or tab to do so. I don't like them; alway higher priced. 'Drive elsewhere and save' should be their motto.
Safeway bought and killed Dominick's, which had been the best grocery in Chicago. They homogenized all the stores, forbidding managers from stocking neighborhood favorites. RIP, Dominick's.
I shop Aldi and Trader Joe's. I don't like paying Kroger and Albertsons' high prices.
Unfortunately I remember this. It was the first place my then girlfriend (now wife) shopped when we first moved in together.
Out here in AZ, Safeway is high prices.... Albertsons aquired them and destroyed the Safeway brand and stores... But you mainly find elderly people at Safeway and a MUCH smaller selection of products. Where Fry's is the cheapest and the best place to go. I've never heard of Dominicks of Aldi. Trader Joes is insanely high prices and you only see them in very high end neighborhoods.
@@MikeHarris1984trader joes do tend to be in more expensive areas but their prices arent that bad comparatively
I worked for Dominick's Finer Food headquarters when Mariano was CEO and had recently been sold to Yucaipa. Mariano went in to found Mariano's grocery stores. The family that started Dominick's bought it back in the early 80's and then sold it to Yucaipa in the mid 1990's. After that, is when it started going downhill.
Trader Joes is great and I buy some fruit and snacks and milk and odd items but that is about it the stores are very small like a neighborhood corner shop. I always go to Fed Meyer or Costco as well to buy everything else, baking products, meat, fish, canned goods, cleaning products, and so on and so forth.
Rise and fall of Eastbay.
I agree
Man thats a fucking sneakerhead throwback
It was acquired by Footlocker. It didn't fall.
Rise and fall of Von’s
Eastbay makes good clothing 😢
I worked at Safeway in HS and College, late 90's/early 00's. The store I worked at was the highest grossing store east of the Mississippi and sold over a million dollars worth of groceries every week. It wasn't unusual to have almost every check stand open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This was also the time that people still left their cart in front of the store and got their car and pulled it up to load it. We always had courtesy clerks out front loading cars from open to close. Sometimes there were 8-10 of us out there loading non stop. The other thing that Safeway did really well at that time was customer service. When someone asked me where an item was I couldn't just tell them Aisle 10. I had to walk them to the item. If someone was looking confused in the store we had to stop and ask them if we could assist them with anything. They had secret shoppers in every week to verify we were doing our jobs properly. When I became a checker we had to greet everyone in our line and thank them by last name. I had so many people over the years tell us that they loved shopping at our store just because of the unbelievable customer service. They knew our prices were higher, but were willing to pay it. I also made some really good friends working there. Safeway isn't like that anymore though.
That's actually very interesting!
The last name thing actually used to creep my mom out. She refused to shop there because of it.
@@tomedwards8966 can totally understand that. I kind of hated doing it at first because you had to try to look at the check or when you were swiping a credit card get the last name off that. But once we launched the Safeway Club Card it became a lot easier because the name was on the receipt. Some people loved it. I would have hated it too personally.
The Safeways around my area still do last name thing. It's still a nice touch in my opinion.
Yo, Company Man you should do a rise and fall of the defunct Marsh Supermarkets that were in Indiana.
I went into a safeway for the first time in years last weekend, and it was truly the most grocery-store-looking grocery store I've ever seen
My great grandfather was the regional manager for Safeway from the 1920s through the 70s and oversaw all stores on the west coast. You can actually see him in the picture at 2:43 , man in the back, second on the left.
Your videos are super entertaining and I always look forward to them. Keep it up!😊
I didn't think that Safeway would be suffering financially for the prices they charge for most items.
Probably too high for too many people to buy. And since not many people can buy it, they can't make a profit.
I get premium items all the time in free monthly food boxes. If no one will buy it, I'll probably get it for free.
@@EmeraldEyesBibleSecrets Mooch
They were bought out by Albertsons who was bought out by investors. Investors want to get paid so...
Paying off billion dollar debts sure a pretty convoluted way to buy a gallon of milk.
I’ll say this, both of my parents worked most of their working-lives for Safeway, and because of the union they were in, and the fact they had dual-coverage, they had close to the best medical coverage I’ve ever seen in the US. Basically no matter the issue, they payed basically nothing out of pocket. And that saved our asses several times. Anyway, because of that, as long as they’re around, I’ll have a soft-spot for Safeway.
I'd recommend having a soft spot for the union. They are a god send.
I remeber this as well. Everything was paid for. I remember that they worked very hard every day. So it was worth it. After retiring their pension and health care they worked so hard to get and deserved. Got smaller and smaller every contract negotiation. Walmart was the driving factor for this change.
@@SoggySoup
My brother works for Albertson's and has the UFCW membership.
The Union is super corrupt and has little interest in helping it's members. But people don't really care as long as the Healthcare Keeps coming through.
@@acekoala457 Can you elaborate on what makes the union corrupt? What do they do, who benefits most of it (if not the workers)?
It's such a great union that your parents probably got to stand around chatting at work while the checkout lines backed up and customers searched the store in vain for workers to help them find items. 👍
When I was a young kid in Las Vegas, my mother shopped at Safeway all the time, so I have a strong sense of nostalgia whenever someone mentions it.
Excellent video Company Man! Never seen the inside of a Safeway in operation though I have been to a restaurant converted from a former Safeway. I never really got to experience them here in Texas but I know where two former ones are near me. The aforementioned now-restaurant, and another abandoned location that is still abandoned to this day. For years the old Safeway signage was still on the building.
The grocery market is quite localized in my state (as you certainly touched on some in your video on HEB) and the local companies each control their region allowing precious little competition from any pure supermarket chain from either another state or another region of the state (though Walmart does maintain a presence throughout).
I lived in a Safeway for 8 months while I was homeless, they have a great cafe!
How did you manage that? Did they let you or was it in secret
@@baileycullivan1946 Well I didn't sleep in there, but I hung out inside it from opening to midnight, so about 18 hours a day. It took them 6 months to catch on to the fact that I basically lived there. I ate their soup for free every day lol. Some of the employees knew, and they even told me to take the soup because they throw it out every 12 hours anyway.
Coming from Oklahoma.....I thought Safeway no longer exists.....a place I remember as a kid in the 1980s......it was a shock and refreshing when I saw Safeway actually still exists in Estes Park, Colorado in 2011.....we went there literally everyday on our vacation.
I worked for Dominick's Finer Foods headquarters in the mid 1990's when they were sold to Yucaipa. I worked in thier IT department when everything was headquartered in Northlake Illinois. Dominicks headquarters was actually built by Kroger and that is also how Dominicks expanded in the 1960's by buying 12 or 15 Kroger stores. Dominicks biggest competitor at the time was Jewel Food Stores headquartered in Melrose Park. Literally the next town over from Dominicks. Both companies operated in similar fashion having a strong union presence for the store employees and the truck drivers for their Northlake distribution center which was quite massive. Imagine huge warehouses cooled to freezing and some parts to 0 or in the negatives to store foods. When Yucaipa got involved that is when Omni stores, fhat had been started by the original owners, were closed. Omni is very much like Sams Club or Costco today. But back then there wasnt as many Sams Clubs but there was BJs Warehouse which would have been more of a direct competitor to Omni. Omni was a good concept but just couldnt get the traction they wanted being a warehouse store. Yucaipa came in making many changes which hirt the company. Like i said, Jewel was their biggest competitor as Walmart had stores in the Chicago area but none were supercenters at this time unless you went like 60 plus miles outside Chicago. There was no Target, Meijer, or other stores. There was Eagle, Butera, and Save a lot but they had a very small Chicago footprint. There was Aldi at this time but no Trader Joes even though both owned by the same company in Germany. But I can see how Dominick's failed. It wasnt just Safeway, it was the founding family sale to Yucaipa which really started the demise. The union employees were taken care of. Especially the truckers and forklift warehouse workers. The union management all had company cars. I had bought a car from them when they put up a dozen Taurus for sale. But when it actually came to corporate non union employees, it was different. We had decent benefits but nothing like the unions. Dominicks had soent heavily in information technology in the late 80's to early 90's but, by the time i started working there in their 1990's, ot was all fairly obsolete. When Yucaipa purchased Dominicks there was a stop to a lot of needed spending in infrastructure. Now their Fresh Store concept was doing well as Dominick's was trying to revitalize the brand but Safeway put a stop to it when they purchased Dominicks in 1998. The finny thing is Dominicks was doing things almost 30 years ago that are common today. There were banks, starbucks, fresh prepared foods, a deli with a wide selection, and foods favored by the people in the area. Safeways acquisition made all of that revitalization irrelevant. Dominicks demise was slow taking almost 10 years with several roinds of store closures. Nothing could save them, not even trying to get into markets in Wisconsin and Indiana. I will say that during my tenure there, there was a lot of poor management of funds and company focus. I personally had to go and remove equipment from several Omni stores and transport it to the old Omni headquarters on Pulaski Rd. It was a shame to be there at the beginning of theor downfall because Dominicks was adecent company to work for and they employed thousands of people in the Chicagoland area.
Butera is huge these days in the Chicago market, but very badly run. My daughters worked for Butera, one on the register and one in the office desk. When my husband died, my girls were told at first only one of them could go to their father's funeral because coverage on registers were needed. You bet I let everybody know what Butera was about! They finished school and have decent jobs, now.
@@loriloristuff It's been so long since I was in a Butera. When I was young, they weren't bad. My aunt and grandma shopped there. We had a local grocery store Kush's that was forced out because Jewel 1 block south wanted to build a new location. So Jewel built the new location and rehab the shopping center with new spaces to rent. That was the mid late 80's when Jewel stores were all going 24 hours
My trouble with Safeway and Albertsons is that their products are very expensive compared to the Walmart and WinCo up the road. There's no reason to go to Safeway for that reason alone
Same. Need a bag of ice for a party? Safeway up the st! Need 4 things for dinner? Fo For the winco, it's not too much further
I've been emailing Winco every month to expand to a town my mother plans to retire in, because the nearest Winco is an hour away, & the only grocery stores there are Super Walmart (always out of stock of everything) & Safeway (highway robbery), & I hate the idea of havign to go to Winco only once a month & making it an all-day trip to save $200 on groceries.
I'm not real happy about the Walmart Neighborhood store going to all self-checkout. I feel like I need a "I'll work for food" sign on my back. Winco is Awesome.
@@TheOriginalJoneserWhy the hate for self checkout? I love it. I very rarely, if ever, buy from a grocery store without self checkout.
There's one _massive_ thing you're forgetting here. Safeway had a partnership with none other than Theranos in the early 2010s and Steve Burd and Elizabeth Holmes became really close. Safeway even invested hundreds of millions of dollars into renovating their stores to add Theranos blood testing centers, which was why they all had these massive rooms near the pharmacy for years that just laid dormant. However, the deal never came to fruition as Theranos kept delaying their launch and Safeway eventually backed out of the deal after Steve Burd quit the company. Theranos was still able to partner with Walgreens and launch in their stores, and Elizabeth Holmes became hailed as the next Steve Jobs, but I'm pretty sure we all know now how that ended. Now Theranos is known for being a massive fraud as their blood testing devices didn't work, Elizabeth Holmes is in prison and Safeway lost a ton of money on the Theranos deal that made the merger with Albertsons inevitable.
I worked for Safeway from 2005-2018.
Steve knew what was coming. He left to save his reputation.
The company was looking to be bought out one way or another. Kroger's would've bought Safeway if Albertsons didn't raise the capital.
@@mrazt3ca1 You overlooked the nature of private equity firms that bought out failing Albertsons and Haggans, Albertson was used as a reorganization vehicle (spac) which bought out Safeway. Check out all the banners that Safeway operate under and go inside. Do you know what stores were start by Skaggs after Safeway and a Safeway division manager, Joe Albertson.
Look into all the retail stores in the west tied to the Skaggs Family.
@stonecrestmovies . . . Ah! I was always wondering why my local Vons store had a room built-out in the rear of the store. It reminded me of what a high school administration space could look like for students to serve detention.
@@BernardS4 We used to have Skaggs grocery stores in Las Vegas in the 70's and early 80's. I still remember the way the signs looked.
My dad worked for Safeway from the mid 90's to 2003. He love working there until they hired a new outside manager who threw his weight around and the higher ups did nothing. My dad quit when he told him to go outside and bring in the carts in( my dad worked in the bakery) and when he asked why have me do it he said "because your Mexican, now go do what your told ". A year later the a hole got fired when he started hitting on the female employees and one employee husband came in and let's say it was painful for him.
Good it’s dumb that people are mad over being rude back to people
He got what he deserved
I worked at Safeway and I knew a few managers like that
Must be the vons in one of the SoCal stores. I used to work for Pepsi and I always had people complaining about their managers.
It was in Arizona
You forgot to mention the iconic mid-century modern store architecture of Safeway stores. The stores had a distinct arched roof with a full height glass front and were dubbed "Marina Safeways" after the Marina Blvd store in San Francisco which introduced the style in 1959. Although a large number of these stores have been sold, many are instantly recognizable.
That store was the busiest store in Northern California they would get grocery loads everyday , not including produce, dairy , bread and meat. The Marina styles are iconic it was always nice and bright inside.
There used to be one in my town but it got torn down and redeveloped as an old folks home. I suspect most of those have either been remodeled or similarly redeveloped.
The 70's swinging singles Marina Safeway was immortalized in the first in the series of cult favorite "Tales of the City" books by Armistead Maupin.
This style of store can be seen in Santa Rosa, CA, as the SR Grocery Outlet. The Petaluma store had a makeover that wiped this style out. The San Carlos, CA location was this style but Long's Drugs bought the location and it is now a CVS and it retains this look.
I'm in southeast Arizona, there is an old Marina Safeway building here in use as a furniture store today. First time i saw it I said
..oh there's a Safe...oh wait. Lol.
A very timely episode. There is a Safeway supercenter near my home in the 408, that has gone this suddenly downhill since the Kroger acquisition. Not only has check out staff drastically reduced, but they have open almost exclusively self check out. Because of the less staff fast is rampant theft likely from their staff, but now they turn store into a prison camp AND you have to check out with your receipt. To get in and out you have to walk past a gate. The alcohol in and pretty much anything worth more than $20 is in a secured section it’s about 15% of the store. And the produce is absolutely terrible.
Great episode and very timely ‼️✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼
The Safeway deal has yet to happen
@@BernardS4 and yet in the last 7-8 months they taken a shit roll into the dumpster
@@BernardS4 just the fact remains that are currently operating under Kroger’s protocols and not their own
As a lifelong shopper at Safeway for me when Albertsons bought them is when I noticed a negative difference that they have yet to come out of. Instead of feeling and getting service of a smaller chain it now felt like just part of a big conglomerate of stores. Specifically their Deli selections took a huge hit with them changing to Boar’s Head.
I now prefer to shop at Nob Hill Foods which is a smaller chain and in my opinion has better quality foods, greater selections and service.
I currently work at Randalls and only started working there after the changes were made after the buyout. Well, except my store had the Lifestyle makeover after I started working there.
Randalls had a reputation of being more expensive before and never really lost it.
Also, the Texas grocery market is highly competitive, so that was likely one of the major reasons Randalls failed for Safeway.
Also, one of the Randalls Safeway closed was the famous one that the last Soviet leader visited in the late 80s.
I always thought the reason Randall's was failing in the early 2000s was the 1-2 punch from trying competing with both HEB and Walmart.
H‑E‑B has nearly run them out of town in Austin.
I visited the Randalls in Kingwood, TX in 2019. I thought it was a strange place. It was huge inside. All of these separate departments and areas with few people around. The interior by 2019 standards, felt very 1980s or early 1990s. It wasn't bad, but I got the feeling that something wasn't right. At some point an H-E-B was built across the street and the Randalls was gone shortly thereafter. I haven't visited an H-E-B yet. I'll have to make a trip back to Texas sometime.
I worked for them from 96 to 2016 in Construction and Design as a Project Mgr. You captured a lot of the details. But the last large scale capital projects you missed. This involved a major Pharmacy upgrade deploying at the time what was thought to be breakthrough technology in the form of a blood test from Theranos. Well obviously that didn't go well and lead to a lot of area in the store that wasn't able to be used to sell product and Pharmacies that didn't open do to legal tie ups with Theranos.
Safeway to me was at its peak in the mid 1980s. But the Albertsons here in southern California feels like a vintage Safeway store from the 80s. I love it!
My mom has worked for vons for 25 years now, she loves it since she’s on the old union contract which is great, way better than the contracts right now. I remember being 4 on the picket line with my mom in our small town, it used to be an amazing place to work at, the healthcare was top tier, they payed for her entire birth and for a apartment at the hospital, but now things have changed. I work at a separate CA grocer in the same union, the benefits are a joke, the good employees have been leaving while they hire anyone who puts in an application. It’s kinda depressing but that’s business!! NEVER MAKE A CAREER AT A GROCERY STORE PEOPLE ITS NOT THE SAME. LEARN A TRADE
Safeway was actually my go-to until Albertsons took over, and suddenly all the incentive deals went away, and their prices started to massively suck. I'm a Kroger person now.
have I got news for you
@@alexwashburn5959Yeap Kroger and Albertsons will soon be one 😂
@@Sambam1981 Albertsons Chicken is so good and that's about it. 😅
Mike, do a series on the $ class stores… Erewhon, Bristol Farms, Gelson’s, Harris Teeter, Whole Foods, etc
I usually go to Walmart, but only Krogers has certain things like deli Fried Chicken that probably didn't sell while it was hot, but they put it into a plastic container and you can buy it cold with EBT. They also have a much better selection of meats in general.
We had Safeway in England until 20 years ago when Morrisons bought them and converted all those stores to Morrisons. The Safeway brand was revived recently for own label products when they became sole supplier to McColls convenience stores, which they now own. If you see a delivery truck with Safeway on the side its delivering to Mccolls
Thanks for bringing this up!
As far as I’m aware the American and the British Safeway were once related but ended up splitting after a while (a bit like the 2 Woolworths), and long after Morrisons buys it
I remember Safeways in England..what memories 😊
My wife and I work for Fred Meyer. A one stop shopping center located in the WA, OR, ID. Similar to Meijer’s in concept. Which was bought out by Kroger in the early 2000’s. We have Safeways and had Albertsons’ as well in Washington. When Albertsons bought Safeway they actually mostly closed the local Albertsons because the Safeways were newly remodeled here and had a much better rep. Then in 2022 like your video stats Kroger daddy gobbled them up as well. And all this consolations is for ONE reason. To compete with that horrible company WallyWorld aka WalMart. It’s the only way a union Grocery store can survive nowadays. Sad to say eventually there will only be 3 food markets. Walmart, Kroger, & Amazon
Safeways was the supermarket I remember most as a child in London, then they left the UK in the 80s and I still remember them fondly, their jam doughnuts were the best. "Everything you want and a little bit more"
If youre into supermarkets, do C&S next, they're the wizard behind the curtain of all these major grocery chains
My dad worked at C&S for around 40 years…until this past year when they decided to sell off his department.
They bought out affiliated stores. I sure miss Sure Fresh and Sure Fine.
I'm a 37 y/o in Oregon, been here my whole life. I shopped at Safeway as a kid with my mom and now do so as an adult with my wife. We were literally there yesterday. I love them, I like their new feel more than I did the old one.
My grandma shopped at Safeway her entire life. My mom always thought they were to high priced. My mom liked lucky supermarket. Her favorite one that she shopped at throughout my childhood was P&W.
When Safeway left the SLC area, they also left the rest of Utah and all but Northern Idaho. I live in Idaho only about 25-30 miles from where the original American Falls store was located, but now I would have to drive about 3 hours to the closest Safeway store in Montana. (Not counting Albertsons, like for an actual Safeway store)
In Washington state you always see Albertsons/Safeway pretty close by to QFC/Fred Meyer (Kroger) so the problem is that now all of these chains will be owned by 1 company under Kroger that is pretty crazy. Some areas in the Seattle suburbs you can find 3 of these near by each other so if all of them are owned by Kroger I have a feeling they are going to raise prices dramatically which is really bad the prices are pretty good out here due to the competition. I think the merger is a terrible idea between Kroger and Albertsons
Yeah, where I live we have two QFCs and one Safeway all on the same stretch of road. Unfortunately for me I am pretty sure they’ll end up closing the QFC closest to me, since of those three it’s the smallest, oldest, and does the lowest volume.
Kroger just announced they'll sell QFC along with about 400 other stores in a bid to get the merger through.
I used and loved getting birthday cakes at Safeway! They made the best birthday cakes there
Me and my sister used to walk to safeway for snacks all the time. When albertsons bought them they closed our nearby store because there was an existing Albertsons down the road. Ironically, that existing Albertsons was later converted to a Safeway store.
We just had our local Albertson's go through a major remodel and it is now a Safeway. The store is well laid out and very appealing. I also appreciate that they kept the fantastic fried chicken that we had in Albertson's. I last heard that the US Government stopped the buyout by Kroger because it would have put too much of the competition under one company.
"Government stopped the buyout by Kroger"
Nope. Not yet anyway. Still ongoing review.
Safeway started price gouging during the pandemic, way beyond inflation. I used to shop there, but now do pickup orders at WalMart. I still buy produce and deli items at a couple local chains, but Safeway is 100% off my radar.
the way our prices are set up is you get murdered unless you buy sale items.
Good to know. I'll keep Safeway in mind, in case other stores are ever out of stock from selling below market.
@@timewave02012 A decent amount of stuff is out of stock every time I’d go to Safeway, so it may not help much. None of the stores around me are selling stuff at a loss except a few occasional loss leaders. Sounds like you live in an awesome grocery market!
There is no such thing as price gouging. It's emotionalism nonsense. If you have a limited supply of something, the price should increase to reflect the true market value brought about by scarcity.
@@mikeg8276 Safeway moved out of my area several years ago, but I don't notice shortages at Mariano's (Kroger) or Jewel-Osco. What I do notice is fluctuating prices. I also have Aldi, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, a few local stores/chains, and a bunch of ethnic stores, all in a fairly affluent area, so that probably helps too.
I have a few fond memories of shopping with my Mom at Dominick's when I was little.
I grew up on Safeway, and I had a job at my local Safeway as my first summer job, and I honestly liked it, and the other employees were helpful and friendly. Not only that, but my family and I knew (and still know) an employee there who helped me during my time at Safeway and who helped my siblings work there too. I still wish I could have continued working there if I didn't have college in another town.
Me too! I was actually sorry to leave my job at Safeway after I graduated and got my first "real" job. I didn't hate the work, and my friends were there.
My store was incredibly ableist, I’m glad you enjoyed your time there though! Glad to see it isn’t all bad haha
Don't worry. It changed. It's awful now, and they treat high schoolers poorly. It's barely a good job if you've been there for 20+ years and are active in the union.
The unions need to push for living wages and community incentives-
I am a lighting designer based in PNW. I currently help Albertsons upgrade the lighting in all of their stores. One thing that has been told to me during this time, is that Albertsons never wanted to eliminate the Safeway name. It's too powerful, especially in the PNW. And I have seen that Albertsons treats their employees extremely well. The people who work in the stores are amazing, always upbeat, and happy to talk. They are investing heavily in the infrastructure of every store constantly. Just a great job I have and I love working for them.
Been to Safeway many times :) they're a nice store, my only complaint is how expensive they are now.
I was in London England in the mid-80s and saw a billboard for Safeway with the slogan "A grocery store and a little bit more". In America the slogan at that time was "A grocery store and a WHOLE lot more".
Where I was living in Austin in the late 90s had a Randall’s as the closest grocery store. It was a bit more expensive than HEB, but had higher quality groceries and a wider selection, including import food and drinks. After the buyout, the selection dwindled, and the quality went down just as HEB was improving quality and selection-particularly as they integrated more Central Market items into their offerings. Safeway shot themselves in the foot by dragging a higher-tier brand to the middle of the road while others (Whole Foods, HEB) were doing the opposite. Since 99, I’ve probably set foot in a Randall’s less than ten times.
This sums it up well HEB killed it
The organics line is at my local Randall’s here in Houston. One building in my old neighborhood has been a Safeway then Albertsons then a Kroger before it became a charter school. When Albertsons left my city I always wondered what happened. Safeway was when I was really young because they had the best gallon milk. Walmart didn’t really become that prominent until I was maybe in college around 2000. We shopped at fiesta and local store like rice epicurean which is still around but in rich neighborhoods. So to see how everything has been connected and evolved is pretty cool. You don’t miss man!
I used to be a Dominick's employee for 13 years.They closed the stores in 2013 and put a ton of people out without jobs. Also I'm pretty sure the higher up's stole from the employees. And the union was a complete and utter joke.
I whole-heartedly agree!!!
I remember when Frys / Krogers used to give out coupons for free Rotisserie Chickens if the hot counter was empty when you wanted to buy one. Those were slightly better times.
I'm from AZ. Safeway is for people too snooty for Frys but not rich enough for AJs.
TRUE LOL
? AJ Bayless I thought it closed
Would love to see company man do a video on Wegmans. Been nice to see all the other videos on supermarkets and grocery stores!
Canadian here. Although Save-On Foods is now my go to grocery store, Safeway has a soft spot for me, mainly because there was one only a five minute walk from where I used to live. They had a Starbucks inside, which I used to always get when I get home from university. Also, my sister says they have a deli where you can make your own sandwiches and she likes it a lot! On a side note, I thought Safeways were common across Canada, but I found out that they are only located on the Western side of the country.
Save on foods is almost as expensive as Safeway when they don’t have deals, Safeway level prices for Walmart level quality. Also, I think there’s like one or two Safeways in Ontario but that’s as east as it goes.
@@TheGamingCanadian Yeah I think the furthest east Safeway goes is in Thunder Bay. I guess it's personal preference, but I'm willing to pay a little bit more for Save-On or Safeway rather than Wal-Mart. Also just to clarify, I usually go to Superstore for the weekly grocery shopping. I only go to save-on or Safeway if I only need a few items or to visit their Starbucks.
Canadian here. My save on is more expensive than the Safeway but they're both con artists. Also, fuck Starbucks, just because.
Its due to the massive hold Sobeys has in the east. Sobeys in Atlantic Canada and then Sobeys owned IGA in Quebec and Sobeys owned Foodland in Ontario. Loblaws also utterly dominates Ontario.
Even in the west Sobeys owns Safeway now!
@MR101722 Also apparently there is another grocery store called Metro that is in Ontario and Quebec
Albertsons basically sells Safeway products, but change the name to Signature Select from Safeway Select.
I used to live in a town that was very rough, and every night after work I go home via the supermarket. It was the Safeway.
Safeway was my parents' go to grocery store. I rarely set foot in one though. There's just not much to distinguish them from other chains. Walmart is cheaper, Superstore has a better selection, and No Frills has great loss leaders (and is super close to my house.)
Yeah, Canadian Safeway is ridiculously expensive. I avoided them and opted going to Superstore when I lived in Winnipeg a decade ago.
Your comparing apples to oranges though....your life is at a huge riks going into satans lair I mean Wal Mart 😂
When I was younger my parents used to shop at Lucky's in California and of course I remember Von's from when I lived in Las Vegas.
Safeway has gotten better in recent years, I remember in the 1980s, Safeway in California were like the best grocery store! When I moved to Texas, all the Safeway stores in our area were sold off and it took years for them to make a comeback, thanks to the renovation that turned around the company with better services, stuff that big box stores like Walmart and Target doesn’t offer!
If you live in a larger city, H.E.B is still the best option. They have the best food, selection, customer service, and prices in Texas..
@@arcademania7544 I already talked about HEB in another video, they’re good too.
Safeway ownes Tom Thumb grocery stores in Texas.
@@mrazt3ca1 I know, they barely use the Safeway brand in Texas. Because Tom Thumb has a better brand recognition in Texas.
Great video as always. I saw my first Safeway when I visited Colorado. My family there actually don’t really like Safeway. I remember them taking me there just because I was interested and it was on the way. I won’t judge all of them on one store, but the one I saw I definitely wouldn’t be excited to shop there. Odd structure, prices seem higher for select things, the classic Walmart thing where they have 12 check-out lanes and only 3 open, to name a few.
I shop at ACME so I’m used to slightly higher prices but ACMEs organised store, bakery, and coupons keeps me coming back.
Two things I didn’t really understand were:
1) the “hostile takeover” I’m not sure if that just how CompanyMan chose to say it, or if that’s an actual business term/legal term.
2) And the “leveraged buyout” to escape Dart. They took in debt, from being purchased?
I’m not complaining as This video is well made as usual . I can easily search them up, it’s just that those questions just pestering me through the video.
I had like 10 safeway cards with 10 emails, used to get tons of free food every week from their weekly member emails, once the 'rona came around they stopped giving away lots of free stuff :(
You deserve to be in jail.
They're my favorite grocery store. They're generally more expensive, but nicer to shop in and less crowded. They also carry certain varieties of food and beverage that you can't easily find at other stores.
In Canada Safeway is doing pretty well, not as well as it used to since a lot of them have been converted into other stores by it’s parent company (Sobeys converted a lot of Safeways into Freshco). But overall Safeway is doing pretty well still!
Safeway Canada feels more like the high-end brand for groceries now.
I miss the Safeway select brands, the compliments brand seems really cheap.
And since FreshCo came around, my Safeway carries allot less of the store brands.
@@Actionronnie I noticed the same thing. A lot of the Safeway brands were good food for a decent price. The Safeway deli section used to be way better for sandwiches and ready made foods. Now it feels like a Sobey's wearing a different name. Being they shuttered the one close to my neighborhood, I haven't shopped there in years aside from maybe grabbing a sandwich for lunch if one is close to a jobsite.
I really liked your take on Safeway. I myself worked there for a little bit. I'm hoping you cover Sprouts some day.
I'm from Wisconsin where we havent really ever interacted with Safeway, but with the constant changing of ownership, it reminded me of one store there. There's a building thats always been a grocery store, but it keeps changing. Right now, its a Sendeks, but before that, it was a Jewel Osco, before that, it was just a Jewel, before that it was a Cubs Foods, and before that it was something else that I've long since forgotten about.
I do not blame the dairy farmers of Wisconsin for being angry at Canada. Canada charges them a tariff of 270%. No politician in Canada has the courage to take on the dairy farmers of Quebec. As a result Canadians pay among the highest prices in the world for dairy products. Actually no politician in Canada has the courage to take on Quebec.
Back in the 1960s my grandfather lived in the house behind Safeway, and they shared the alleyway, He never had to buy food because they would toss out a lot of it in their trash bin, like dented cans, produce, and even meat scraps. He would cut off as much of the good meat from the fat and make a stew with it. and cook/boil the fat for his dogs, back in those days stores would toss away boxes of food that were damaged. He collected so much of it that his friends would come over and get some of it. That is what I remember about Safeway in my hometown. It was a small neighborhood store, you do not find stores in neighborhoods anymore.
My first job was at Randall's around 2008 and I remember it being not busy most of the time, except Sundays. There was an HEB across the street that was much much better to shop at. Eventually, the Randall's around me started closing and hardly anyone I know talks about them anymore. If you're in Texas, HEB is the way to go
In my area Safeway has always been consistent with their quality (especially with their produce), but their prices are a bit high. I usually just go to Walmart or Costco.
Had no idea there was such a place. Albertsons used to be around here but that was a long time ago.
When I was a kid throughout the 1980s, my family would often visit relatives who lived in Southern California, and I had always known/remembered/been to Safeways in that area. However, in 1991, and for the most part ever since, I've lived in Southern California and it wasn't until seeing the suggested thumbnail for this video that I realized I haven't seen a Safeway anywhere around here since no later than the late 1990s, if that. After watching this video, now I know why. 😊
@skyden24195, I used to go to a Safeway in the Long Beach area in southern California in the early-mid 80's. I still remember the iconic safeway logo on their shopping carts. There used to be a burn down Safeway at a corner in Gardena california just when all Safeway stores dissappeared from southern california.
I've been a Safeway shopper for many years and will continue to be for many more years to come.
I worked at Safeway from from January to March of 2020. I almost always worked the 4am to 12 shift, it sucked but at least I didn't have to deal with customers most of the morning. Being the beginning of the pandemic we would always be out of toilet paper, paper towels, soap and powdered milk for some reason. I got fired for being "too slow", even back then everything was pretty expensive and its only gone up. the only reason to shop there is for the deli.
Safeway has always been overpriced, no clue why anyone shops there when there are so many other cheaper options out there.
@@GrumpyWolfTech Where I live with a nearby Vons [Safeway] the neighborhood aging population don't want to drive far, such as three miles to the nearest Smith's grocer.
I even have that on good authority, as years ago when I shopped at Vons (Safeway), the employees there shared stories of lament about the customers complaining the store didn't carry a certain product, so the Vons employees would suggest going to Smith's. The typical customers' response: [in a tone of outrage] "That's THREE MILES AWAY! I'm not going to drive that far!"
When Costco opened up a location five miles away, I asked the Vons employees if that membership retailer put a dent in Vons's business. Their response: "Nope! Our customers feels that's too far away to drive for groceries."
Prior to relocating where I am at now, my previous rural residence required a half-hour drive to the nearest full-service grocer; so I have no issues driving 10 miles to a full-service grocer that offers low prices and decent service, which happens to be Walmart Neighborhood Market [WNM]. WNM everyday prices for items average around 20 ~ 50 percent less than my nearby Vons. The employees at WNM have a better attitude than Vons when it comes to customer service. I chalk up the deplorable attitude at Vons is due to getting annoyed with the feeble-minded customer base they serve.
I have never once seen a Safeway store. I was born and raised in New Jersey, so I'm familiar with Wegman's, ShopRite, PathMark, A&P, Stop&Shop, FoodTown, and Grand Union.
Games Workshop would be very interesting. Biggest fish in a small pond. Some absolutely baffling business choices Alongside comparatively smart ones
Pioneer and reigning champion of the "oh so you finally spent a thousand dollars to get all the stuff you wanted to use? Surprise it's no longer viable / legal for use, now start over" strategy
Until they made another change but this change that stinks of woke ideology by adding female custodies in 40K most 40k fans rage usually dies out as time goes by when there are retcons but this time its gonna be different and if they made woke changes when it comes to space marines in the future its gonna be the nail in the coffin
Rise and fall of Blimpies, the sub shop. They had over 1000 locations in the 90s and were listed on the NASDAQ but now they’re down to just 156 locations
Meanwhile Subway, a similar store has exploded in that time
Safeway is more expensive than others but it's the store I grew up on. It'll always be my favorite
Safeway was huge here but was taken over by King Soopers (Kroger). They didn’t keep up with renovations/updates and super sizes stores.
I don't live near a Safeways. But this is an interesting story behind them.
We have them here in the DC area. For some reason, they're in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as the West Coast.
I've lived almost my entire life in either Maryland or Northern California, both places with an abundance of Safeways. I was surprised to eventually learn it wasn't everywhere.
I like the feel of Safeway stores and their product selection, but it's really expensive, which is why I never do my week's worth of shopping there. I basically go when I need a few things I'm running low on.
Same. I grew up in Maryland and Safeways were pretty commonplace (those and Giant Grocery) but live in SoCal now and I think the closest and pretty much only Safeway nearby is like over an hour away lol. It's mainly Albertsons,Stater Bros,or Vons in SoCal
@@OneDrewThree Giant has been redesigning their stores to be more Safeway-like recently, which I find kind of funny. I've heard reports that Safeway is actually starting to underperform in the DC area.
We used to shop at Dominicks but they were really pricey at the time. Jewel Osco was cheaper in the Chicago area.
Now it's Meijer, Aldi, and in the suburbs Woodman's.
Safeway effed me over by cutting my hours massively (only 4 hours a week!) and specifically stated it was because I have scoliosis. They also won’t let you sit at register. Only negative experiences with the company and the store from my end, a lot of ableism, and not just the discrimination due to my scoliosis, I also had to deal with incredibly rude and insensitive comments by supervisors regarding my being autistic. Perishable items were also set out in produce for DAYS, becoming incredibly rotten. It was embarrassing to be there with my parents and having them see the state of the store. So much rotten food. I smelled the worst things in my life in that store, specially meats. There were meats people tried to buy with WHITE FLUID coming out of it 🤢.. I really wish I could have fought my employers more but I was 17 at the time and my parents didn’t want me contacting the ADA.
When I think of Safeway I think of being a little kid in the 70s, it's been decades since I've seen their stores in Northwest Louisiana
FIRST!
In 2014, as a teenager, I went to a Safeway for the first time. My Dad and I drove past it, and he wanted to go in due to fond childhood memories he had of shopping at Safeway. We'd moved to a medium-sized prairie town with a few grocery stores. We only had one Safeway that apparently nobody talked about.
It was revolting and creepy.
All the produce had been reduced to moldy heeps that they'd clearly just been piling more produce on top of. Half the floor and ceiling tiles were missing, half the lights were burnt out, and the whole place smelled like sewage. Crushed boxes and ripped packaging were strewn about, with lots of mice and water damage. Most of the refrigerated and freezer sections were empty and turned off, and the pharmacy, bakery, and butcher were abandoned and dark. No customers were inside, and any employees were nowhere to be found. The front automatic doors were out of order, so they just had them propped open, and there was no AC. It was hot and humid inside, like a greenhouse. To top it off, all but one of the checkouts were completely taken apart in what looked like an attempt to cannibalize parts for the only one in working order. My Dad was shocked, embarrassed, and speechless.
Apparently, the county had been trying to shut them down for worsening public health and safety violations, but Safeway had laid off everyone except the General Manager and had been fighting the shutdown in court. When Albertsons bought Safeway the next year, they withdrew the lawsuits, closed the store voluntarily, demolished the building, and sold the mid-town property to a local credit union for their new headquarters. The next year, Albertsons bought cheaper land on the outskirts of town and built a new Albertsons store.
While traveling, I've seen Safeway stores, but I've never been inside one since.
lol wow i’m actually first
No, you are second sadly
I recently started shopping Safeway again; After ten years of not going there. There prices were higher than most of the other big chains in my area. I would still shop Safeway for there red meats; Because they have in house meat cutters, & could custom cut your meat to your desire; If they had that portion you desired. Since I started going back to Safeway there prices are just about the same or better on Items that are on sale compared to the other big chains, & find that there name brand items are just as good; If not better than some national name brands. The last I heard Safeway was acquired by Acme Stores. IMHO Safeway seems to be back on tract. I prefer to shop at Safeway again, & the area I shop in is located in Northern VA. Thanks for the video.
Fun fact: Chris Pratt's mom worked at a Safeway in Lake Stevens, Washington.
That wasn't fun at all...
@@KaijuKev Why? I thought it would be fun to share a fun fact about a movie star's mother working at Safeway.
@@alexmapp5444it’s not. I didn’t have ANY fun 😡
Why should I care?
@@AriesFireTiger As weird as it sounds, I'm obsessed with celebrities. I like learning what their parents did for a living.
you should do a video on lularoe! it's got some juicy history
In the Beaverton, Oregon, area - Albertsons has been rebranded as Safeway....
Both my grandparents worked in the grocery business. My grandmother worked for Safeway in California and loved it. She retired early after the Vons buyout because she did not like Vons' culture. I would love to see what you think about Haggens. I now live in Las Vegas and Haggens bought up many supermarkets in my area and closed a month later. Leaveing many people without supermarkets near them.
Haggen got royally screwed by Albertsons who lied about the stores they sold off. Would to see Company Man do a video on the downfall of Haggen; it would have been nice to have had some competition for Albertsons. Thank goodness for Winco!
Growing up In Dallas in the 60's and 70's...Safeway was the first store I remember...they always had both S&H Green stamps and Gold Bond stamps...
I’ve been waiting for this as an Albertsons Vons employee
I used to work for Safeway...Somehow I am always cursed with living near a Safeway ever since. Think twice before working there...
I’d like to see a video about the supermarket ACME, another Albertson’s store
Safeway had a bunch of stores in Missouri and Kansas for many years, until 1988, when these stores were bought by a group of Kansas City investors. These stores lost money and sales to other supermarket chains in these two states. Today, Hy-Vee has filled the void left by Safeway.
Hi, Indiana native here.
We also have 'Safeways' here but they're locally known as 'Preston('s) Safeway'. Growing up, I assumed these stores were local to just Indiana but when I learned a friend from Washington worked at a Safeway I was surprised but the ownership appeared to be different. So I don't know if the Indiana version is the same as the one that is the subject of this video.
I would love to see more grocery stores on this channel even the regional chains
My favorite thing about Safeway is the freebies every week for members, Beyond that it's not my main supermarket to shop at.