Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Safeway Inc shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Safeway Inc offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Safeway Inc at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Safeway Inc ? Wrong! If the Safeway Inc is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Safeway Inc then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Safeway Inc ? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Safeway Inc and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Safeway Inc wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Safeway Inc then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Safeway Inc site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Safeway Inc , or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Safeway Inc , then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = Safeway, Inc. | company_logo = ] | company_type = [Public company({{NYSE|SWY-->)| company_slogan = "Ingredients for life" | foundation = ([American Falls, Idaho)| location = [Pleasanton, California| key_people = Steven Burd, CEO & Chairman| revenue = 38.4 billion [United States dollar (2005)| profit = 561 million [United States dollar (2005)| num_employees = 201,000 (2005) http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/64/64607/2006FactBook.pdf Safeway.Com (PDF file) Safeway Factbook 2006 | products = [Bakery, [dairy, [deli, [Dry Cleaning, [frozen foods, [general grocery, [meat, [pharmacy, [Photographic processing, [produce, [seafood, [snacks, [liquor, [flowers, [Western Union and [lottery| homepage = http://www.safeway.com/ www.safeway.com -->

Safeway Inc. (), a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain, with over 1750 stores located throughout the western and central United States and Canada. Stores by Division/State, Safeway, Inc. Last accessed February 17, 2007. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic States of the Eastern Seaboard. The company is headquartered in Pleasanton, California. Supermarket News ranked Safeway No. 4 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $40.5 billion. 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers, Supermarket News, Last accessed February 24, 2007. Based on 2005 revenue, Safeway is the tenth-largest retailer in the United States. Top 100 Retailers: The Nation's Retail Power Players (PDF), Stores, July 2006.

History Founding and merger The Safeway chain was created in a merger engineered by Merrill Lynch in 1926 of Skaggs Stores and Sam Seelig Company. The name "Safeway" was created at that time for the stores and group.

Skaggs Stores had its start in 1915, when Marion B. Skaggs purchased his father's grocery store in American Falls, Idaho, for $1,089. The chain, which traded under the name Skaggs' Cash Stores grew quickly, and Skaggs enlisted the help of his five brothers to help grow the network of stores which reached 191 by 1920.

Sam Seelig Co. was founded in Los Angeles in the 1920s.

By the time of the merger in 1926, Seelig Stores had 322 stores centered in Southern California, while Skaggs had grown to 673 stores centered in the Pacific Northwest region. The merger was orchestrated by Charles Merrill of Merrill Lynch, who later left Merrill Lynch, for a period of time, to run Safeway in the 1930s. At the time of the merger, the company was headquartered in Reno, Nevada. But in 1929, Safeway relocated its headquarters to a former grocery warehouse in Oakland, California.

Expansion Safeway, with financing supplied by Merrill Lynch, then began to aggressively acquire numerous regional grocery store chains, including MacMarr (a California chain also assembled by Charles Merrill), the Sanitary Grocery Company of Washington D.C., Daniel Reeves of New York, and Burd Stores of Kansas City, Missouri. The company also acquired the West Coast of the United States Piggly Wiggly stores in 1928 as part of the break up of that company by Wall Street. Most acquired chains retained their own names until the mid 1930s.

The number of stores peaked at 3,527 in 1931, when the numerous smaller grocery stores began being replaced with larger supermarket stores.

International expansion was an early part of the company's growth. The company expanded into Canada in 1929, into the United Kingdom in 1962, with the acquisition of the eleven store John Gardner Limited, into Australia in 1963, with the acquisition of three store Pratt Supermarkets, into Germany in 1964, with the acquisition of several Big Bear stores. The company also had operations in Saudi Arabia in partnership with the Tamimi Group in the 1970's and Kuwait during the 1970's and 1980s.

The company historically had drug store operations, under the Super S brand. However, these were sold in 1971.

1980s: Takeover and sell-offs Following a hostile takeover bid from corporate raiders Herbert Haft and Robert Haft, the chain was acquired by KKR acting as a White knight (business) in 1986. With the assistance of KKR, the company was taken private, and assumed tremendous debt. To pay off this debt, the company sold the West Germany and United Kingdom divisions (Safeway (UK), which is now part of Morrisons), Dallas, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Texas, Oklahoma stores, and the Liquor Barn divisions in 1987, and the Kansas City, Missouri, Little Rock, and Houston divisions in 1988. (The Houston division was bought by a management-led group and became AppleTree Markets.) Safeway's national presence was reduced to Northern California and several western states, plus the Washington, D.C. area. Safeway Australia was sold to the Australian-based Woolworths Limited in 1985. Altogether, nearly half the 2,200 stores in the chain were sold.

In Southern California, Safeway sold most of its stores to Vons in exchange for a 30% interest in the company. Safeway pulled out of established markets like Los Angeles and San Diego, and diminishing operations in Fresno, California, Modesto, Stockton, California, and Sacramento, California. Save-Mart purchased the few remaining Fresno stores in 1996.

In late 1987 Safeway acquired the Woodward’s Food Floors, which operated in the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

The company was taken public again in 1990.

1990s and beyond In the late 1990s, Safeway began to again aggressively acquire regional chains, including Randall's Food Markets in Texas, Carrs in Alaska, and Dominick's in Illinois. In 1997, it exercised its option to acquire control of Vons in Southern California.

In 2001, Safeway acquired the family-owned Genuardi's chain, which had/has locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. This was a failure at first, with local shoppers not pleased with Safeway's changes. Safeway also created subsidiary "Blackhawk Network", a prepaid and payments network, a card-based financial solutions company, and a provider of third-party prepaid cards.

In October 2003, a United Food and Commercial Workers#2003 California grocery strike was called by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers at Vons stores in Southern California. The strike (and concurrent lockout (industry) at Albertsons and Ralphs) lasted until the end of February 2004.

In January 2006, Dateline NBC conducted a grocery store investigation of ten of the largest grocery stores in the nation, and found Safeway to be the most hazardous grocery store, with 25 critical violations per each ten visits. The company reported to NBC that "Safeway has 'continued to enhance and re-energize store adherence to our food safety and sanitation standards.'"

In November 2006, speculation rolled around as The Chicago Sun Times reported that Sears Holdings Corporation may buy Safeway.

Corporate governance Current members of the board of directors of the company are: Steven Burd, Janet Grove, Mohan Gyani, Paul Hazen, Robert MacDonnell, Douglas Mackenzie, Rebecca Stirn, William Tauscher, and Raymond Viault. Corporate Governance (PDF), Safeway, Inc. Last retrieved January 29, 2007.

Environmental Issues On July 23, 2007, a city council hearing in Annapolis, Maryland, convened to consider a citywide ban on plastic shopping bags. These bags are made of polyethylene film, a petroleum product that persists in the environment for up to 1,000 years, allegedly killing wildlife in the process. The bill in question seeks to protect marine wildlife in Chesapeake Bay. Alexandra Cousteau, the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau and director of an environmental education group called Earth Echo, attended the hearing in support of the bill. Also present at the meeting was a lobbyist for Safeway, who vehemently opposed the measure in the heated rhetoric of the war on terror: "At the hearing, a lobbyist for Safeway called the bill un-American, saying it would take choices away from consumers." Plastic bags are a widely recognized cause of plastic waste pollution in the oceans and rivers of the world. According to the Sierra Club, " few years ago the Algalita Research Foundation took samples from a wide swath of the Northern Pacific Ocean and found it to be a plastic soup containing 6 pounds of plastic trash for every pound of plankton". Despite claims made by major purveyors of plastic shopping bags (like Safeway) about the recycling potential of polyethylene film garbage such as plastic grocery bags, only 1% of the trillion plastic bags made worldwide are ever recycled. "Safeway and Albertsons maintain collection bins for used plastic bags. In 2003 Safeway collected 7,000 tons of plastic grocery bags, pallet-wrap plastic, and dry cleaners' bags. The plastic is sold to a company that makes Trex, lumber-like boards generated from plastic bags and 'reclaimed pallet wood and waste wood.'Composite lumber made partly with plastic is not considered to be recyclable even though it may last a long time" .

Locations Safeway has a total of 1,534 stores in the United States and 221 stores in Canada, over 80% of which are located in Western states and provinces. The greatest concentration of Safeway branches is in California with 539 stores (including the 303 branded as Vons), followed by Washington with 168 stores and Colorado with 121. In Canada, the greatest number of Safeway locations is in Alberta with 89 stores and British Columbia with 77 stores. Safeway stores by location, Safeway Inc.

Brands Past brands The company's most notable private label brands from the past are Lucerne, Empress, and Townhouse. Of these three brands only Lucerne remains.

Brands today Today, Safeway Select is the company's signature private label that offers an upscale range of products, a sub-label Primo Taglio is used for deli products and Lucerne is still used as a dairy line. In 2006, Safeway introduced an Organic foodally grown and processed line of Product (business) named O Organics.

Some of the brands in use today are:

Lifestyle branding .On April 18, 2005, Safeway began a $100 million brand re-positioning campaign labeled "Ingredients for life." This was done in an attempt to differentiate itself from its competitors, and to increase brand involvement. Steve Burd described it as "branding the shopping experience". Safeway ready to unveil new 'branding' campaign, Supermarket News, March 2005.

The launch included a redesigned logo, a new slogan "Ingredients for life" alongside a four-panel life icon to be used throughout stores and advertising. Many locations are being converted to the "Lifestyle" format. The new look was designed by Michigan-based Avizia Inc. In addition to the "inviting decor with warm ambiance and subdued lighting", the move required heavy redesign of store layout, new employee uniforms, sushi and olive bars, and the addition of in-store Starbucks kiosks (with cupholders on grocery carts). The change also involved differentiating the company from competitors with promotions based on the company’s extensive loyalty card database. At the end of 2004 there were 142 "Lifestyle" format stores in the United States and Canada, with plans to open or remodel another 300 stores with this type of theme the following year. "Lifestyle format" stores have seen significantly higher average weekly sales than their other stores. By the end of 2006, shares were up proving that this rebranding campaign had a major impact on sale figures.

Safeway fuel As well as groceries Safeway has fuel stations at some stores, along with a club card discount. Stores are required to monitor gas prices of competitors and adjust theirs accordingly. Stores offer a six, seven, ten, or eleven cent per gallon discount on purchases over $50 (after club/coupon savings), encouraging consumers to buy more products. Products typically not included range from alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, lottery tickets, fuel purchases, and sales tax.

Safeway ATM Network The Safeway ATM Network is operated in Colorado, Wyoming and Washington. There are typically two machines located near the front of each store. Cirrus, Plus, Star, NYCE, Co-Op and most credit unions are on the network. The network was started in late 1998 in Denver and was expanded to Wyoming and Washington.

Banners In addition to the Safeway name, the company also operates stores under the following banners:

Logos

Slogans

Image gallery Image:lifeicon.jpg|Safeway's "life icon" was introduced as part of its brand-repositioning in 2005Image:Safewaystore.jpg|Exterior appearance of an early 21st century Safeway store in Sunnyvale, California.Image:Safewaysupermarketolderdesign.jpg], storeImage:Safewaydeliverytruck.jpg|A Safeway.com delivery truck, used for deliveries to people who buy their groceries online.

SCOP: Safeway Category Optimization Process Safeway recently transitioned from regional control of their product assortments to national category management, known as the Safeway Category Optimization Process or SCOP. With all dry grocery corporate buying done from Safeway's Pleasanton offices, it is said to it will increase representation of manufacturers by experienced sales professionals with extensive product and category knowledge. Corporate Produce buying offices are located in Phoenix Arizona. This will mean consistency across the Safeway Chain, meaning you could go into a store in Winnipeg or San Francisco and find the same products at the same price as all negotiation is now done at the corprate level.

Trivia In Washington, D.C., many of the neighborhood Safeway stores have been given nicknames by residents both to identify the particular store and as a cultural comment of the state of the store or the stereotypes of the demographics of the shoppers inside the stores. Examples include the "Soviet Safeway" (known for bare shelves and slow service), the "Not-So-Safeway" (in a not-so-great neighborhood), the "Senior Safeway" (located in the Watergate complex and patronized mostly by elderly residents there), the "Social Safeway" (located in upper Georgetown and patronized by many young singles and embassy personnel), the "Salsa or Spanish Safeway" (in a mostly-hispanic neighborhood), and the "Secret Safeway" (located in a nondescript building in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, VA and known mostly to neighborhood residents but few passersby). NotForTourists.com (PDF file) A Tract On Washington, D.C., Safeway Identities

Nicknaming has also taken place in the company's home territory of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Safeway in the Marina District of San Francisco is commonly called "Dateway", a reference to the high number of singles who shop in the store A Blog one of many referring to the Marina Safeway in San Francisco as "Dateway".

In addition, Safeway employees have been known to nickname the company as "Slaveway".

"SAFEWAY Music" Often referred to as "Safeway Music" the Safeway Radio network provides a plethora of music for customers to listen to as they shop. The satellite network also beams commercials and advertisements for Safeway products and brands that play intermitently with the music.

In Canada, the "Bread song": Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" Plays at both 5 local time to remind the bakery staff to remove the fresh bread from the ovens and bring it to the floor for the Fresh French Bread at 5 campaign.

Popular favorites in the Safeway music library include songs by:



References

External links

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = Safeway, Inc. | company_logo = ] | company_type = [Public company({{NYSE|SWY-->)| company_slogan = "Ingredients for life" | foundation = ([American Falls, Idaho)| location = [Pleasanton, California| key_people = Steven Burd, CEO & Chairman| revenue = 38.4 billion [United States dollar (2005)| profit = 561 million [United States dollar (2005)| num_employees = 201,000 (2005) http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/64/64607/2006FactBook.pdf Safeway.Com (PDF file) Safeway Factbook 2006 | products = [Bakery, [dairy, [deli, [Dry Cleaning, [frozen foods, [general grocery, [meat, [pharmacy, [Photographic processing, [produce, [seafood, [snacks, [liquor, [flowers, [Western Union and [lottery| homepage = http://www.safeway.com/ www.safeway.com -->

Safeway Inc. (), a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain, with over 1750 stores located throughout the western and central United States and Canada. Stores by Division/State, Safeway, Inc. Last accessed February 17, 2007. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic States of the Eastern Seaboard. The company is headquartered in Pleasanton, California. Supermarket News ranked Safeway No. 4 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $40.5 billion. 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers, Supermarket News, Last accessed February 24, 2007. Based on 2005 revenue, Safeway is the tenth-largest retailer in the United States. Top 100 Retailers: The Nation's Retail Power Players (PDF), Stores, July 2006.

History Founding and merger The Safeway chain was created in a merger engineered by Merrill Lynch in 1926 of Skaggs Stores and Sam Seelig Company. The name "Safeway" was created at that time for the stores and group.

Skaggs Stores had its start in 1915, when Marion B. Skaggs purchased his father's grocery store in American Falls, Idaho, for $1,089. The chain, which traded under the name Skaggs' Cash Stores grew quickly, and Skaggs enlisted the help of his five brothers to help grow the network of stores which reached 191 by 1920.

Sam Seelig Co. was founded in Los Angeles in the 1920s.

By the time of the merger in 1926, Seelig Stores had 322 stores centered in Southern California, while Skaggs had grown to 673 stores centered in the Pacific Northwest region. The merger was orchestrated by Charles Merrill of Merrill Lynch, who later left Merrill Lynch, for a period of time, to run Safeway in the 1930s. At the time of the merger, the company was headquartered in Reno, Nevada. But in 1929, Safeway relocated its headquarters to a former grocery warehouse in Oakland, California.

Expansion Safeway, with financing supplied by Merrill Lynch, then began to aggressively acquire numerous regional grocery store chains, including MacMarr (a California chain also assembled by Charles Merrill), the Sanitary Grocery Company of Washington D.C., Daniel Reeves of New York, and Burd Stores of Kansas City, Missouri. The company also acquired the West Coast of the United States Piggly Wiggly stores in 1928 as part of the break up of that company by Wall Street. Most acquired chains retained their own names until the mid 1930s.

The number of stores peaked at 3,527 in 1931, when the numerous smaller grocery stores began being replaced with larger supermarket stores.

International expansion was an early part of the company's growth. The company expanded into Canada in 1929, into the United Kingdom in 1962, with the acquisition of the eleven store John Gardner Limited, into Australia in 1963, with the acquisition of three store Pratt Supermarkets, into Germany in 1964, with the acquisition of several Big Bear stores. The company also had operations in Saudi Arabia in partnership with the Tamimi Group in the 1970's and Kuwait during the 1970's and 1980s.

The company historically had drug store operations, under the Super S brand. However, these were sold in 1971.

1980s: Takeover and sell-offs Following a hostile takeover bid from corporate raiders Herbert Haft and Robert Haft, the chain was acquired by KKR acting as a White knight (business) in 1986. With the assistance of KKR, the company was taken private, and assumed tremendous debt. To pay off this debt, the company sold the West Germany and United Kingdom divisions (Safeway (UK), which is now part of Morrisons), Dallas, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Texas, Oklahoma stores, and the Liquor Barn divisions in 1987, and the Kansas City, Missouri, Little Rock, and Houston divisions in 1988. (The Houston division was bought by a management-led group and became AppleTree Markets.) Safeway's national presence was reduced to Northern California and several western states, plus the Washington, D.C. area. Safeway Australia was sold to the Australian-based Woolworths Limited in 1985. Altogether, nearly half the 2,200 stores in the chain were sold.

In Southern California, Safeway sold most of its stores to Vons in exchange for a 30% interest in the company. Safeway pulled out of established markets like Los Angeles and San Diego, and diminishing operations in Fresno, California, Modesto, Stockton, California, and Sacramento, California. Save-Mart purchased the few remaining Fresno stores in 1996.

In late 1987 Safeway acquired the Woodward’s Food Floors, which operated in the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

The company was taken public again in 1990.

1990s and beyond In the late 1990s, Safeway began to again aggressively acquire regional chains, including Randall's Food Markets in Texas, Carrs in Alaska, and Dominick's in Illinois. In 1997, it exercised its option to acquire control of Vons in Southern California.

In 2001, Safeway acquired the family-owned Genuardi's chain, which had/has locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. This was a failure at first, with local shoppers not pleased with Safeway's changes. Safeway also created subsidiary "Blackhawk Network", a prepaid and payments network, a card-based financial solutions company, and a provider of third-party prepaid cards.

In October 2003, a United Food and Commercial Workers#2003 California grocery strike was called by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers at Vons stores in Southern California. The strike (and concurrent lockout (industry) at Albertsons and Ralphs) lasted until the end of February 2004.

In January 2006, Dateline NBC conducted a grocery store investigation of ten of the largest grocery stores in the nation, and found Safeway to be the most hazardous grocery store, with 25 critical violations per each ten visits. The company reported to NBC that "Safeway has 'continued to enhance and re-energize store adherence to our food safety and sanitation standards.'"

In November 2006, speculation rolled around as The Chicago Sun Times reported that Sears Holdings Corporation may buy Safeway.

Corporate governance Current members of the board of directors of the company are: Steven Burd, Janet Grove, Mohan Gyani, Paul Hazen, Robert MacDonnell, Douglas Mackenzie, Rebecca Stirn, William Tauscher, and Raymond Viault. Corporate Governance (PDF), Safeway, Inc. Last retrieved January 29, 2007.

Environmental Issues On July 23, 2007, a city council hearing in Annapolis, Maryland, convened to consider a citywide ban on plastic shopping bags. These bags are made of polyethylene film, a petroleum product that persists in the environment for up to 1,000 years, allegedly killing wildlife in the process. The bill in question seeks to protect marine wildlife in Chesapeake Bay. Alexandra Cousteau, the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau and director of an environmental education group called Earth Echo, attended the hearing in support of the bill. Also present at the meeting was a lobbyist for Safeway, who vehemently opposed the measure in the heated rhetoric of the war on terror: "At the hearing, a lobbyist for Safeway called the bill un-American, saying it would take choices away from consumers." Plastic bags are a widely recognized cause of plastic waste pollution in the oceans and rivers of the world. According to the Sierra Club, " few years ago the Algalita Research Foundation took samples from a wide swath of the Northern Pacific Ocean and found it to be a plastic soup containing 6 pounds of plastic trash for every pound of plankton". Despite claims made by major purveyors of plastic shopping bags (like Safeway) about the recycling potential of polyethylene film garbage such as plastic grocery bags, only 1% of the trillion plastic bags made worldwide are ever recycled. "Safeway and Albertsons maintain collection bins for used plastic bags. In 2003 Safeway collected 7,000 tons of plastic grocery bags, pallet-wrap plastic, and dry cleaners' bags. The plastic is sold to a company that makes Trex, lumber-like boards generated from plastic bags and 'reclaimed pallet wood and waste wood.'Composite lumber made partly with plastic is not considered to be recyclable even though it may last a long time" .

Locations Safeway has a total of 1,534 stores in the United States and 221 stores in Canada, over 80% of which are located in Western states and provinces. The greatest concentration of Safeway branches is in California with 539 stores (including the 303 branded as Vons), followed by Washington with 168 stores and Colorado with 121. In Canada, the greatest number of Safeway locations is in Alberta with 89 stores and British Columbia with 77 stores. Safeway stores by location, Safeway Inc.

Brands Past brands The company's most notable private label brands from the past are Lucerne, Empress, and Townhouse. Of these three brands only Lucerne remains.

Brands today Today, Safeway Select is the company's signature private label that offers an upscale range of products, a sub-label Primo Taglio is used for deli products and Lucerne is still used as a dairy line. In 2006, Safeway introduced an Organic foodally grown and processed line of Product (business) named O Organics.

Some of the brands in use today are:

Lifestyle branding .On April 18, 2005, Safeway began a $100 million brand re-positioning campaign labeled "Ingredients for life." This was done in an attempt to differentiate itself from its competitors, and to increase brand involvement. Steve Burd described it as "branding the shopping experience". Safeway ready to unveil new 'branding' campaign, Supermarket News, March 2005.

The launch included a redesigned logo, a new slogan "Ingredients for life" alongside a four-panel life icon to be used throughout stores and advertising. Many locations are being converted to the "Lifestyle" format. The new look was designed by Michigan-based Avizia Inc. In addition to the "inviting decor with warm ambiance and subdued lighting", the move required heavy redesign of store layout, new employee uniforms, sushi and olive bars, and the addition of in-store Starbucks kiosks (with cupholders on grocery carts). The change also involved differentiating the company from competitors with promotions based on the company’s extensive loyalty card database. At the end of 2004 there were 142 "Lifestyle" format stores in the United States and Canada, with plans to open or remodel another 300 stores with this type of theme the following year. "Lifestyle format" stores have seen significantly higher average weekly sales than their other stores. By the end of 2006, shares were up proving that this rebranding campaign had a major impact on sale figures.

Safeway fuel As well as groceries Safeway has fuel stations at some stores, along with a club card discount. Stores are required to monitor gas prices of competitors and adjust theirs accordingly. Stores offer a six, seven, ten, or eleven cent per gallon discount on purchases over $50 (after club/coupon savings), encouraging consumers to buy more products. Products typically not included range from alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, lottery tickets, fuel purchases, and sales tax.

Safeway ATM Network The Safeway ATM Network is operated in Colorado, Wyoming and Washington. There are typically two machines located near the front of each store. Cirrus, Plus, Star, NYCE, Co-Op and most credit unions are on the network. The network was started in late 1998 in Denver and was expanded to Wyoming and Washington.

Banners In addition to the Safeway name, the company also operates stores under the following banners:

Logos

Slogans

Image gallery Image:lifeicon.jpg|Safeway's "life icon" was introduced as part of its brand-repositioning in 2005Image:Safewaystore.jpg|Exterior appearance of an early 21st century Safeway store in Sunnyvale, California.Image:Safewaysupermarketolderdesign.jpg], storeImage:Safewaydeliverytruck.jpg|A Safeway.com delivery truck, used for deliveries to people who buy their groceries online.

SCOP: Safeway Category Optimization Process Safeway recently transitioned from regional control of their product assortments to national category management, known as the Safeway Category Optimization Process or SCOP. With all dry grocery corporate buying done from Safeway's Pleasanton offices, it is said to it will increase representation of manufacturers by experienced sales professionals with extensive product and category knowledge. Corporate Produce buying offices are located in Phoenix Arizona. This will mean consistency across the Safeway Chain, meaning you could go into a store in Winnipeg or San Francisco and find the same products at the same price as all negotiation is now done at the corprate level.

Trivia In Washington, D.C., many of the neighborhood Safeway stores have been given nicknames by residents both to identify the particular store and as a cultural comment of the state of the store or the stereotypes of the demographics of the shoppers inside the stores. Examples include the "Soviet Safeway" (known for bare shelves and slow service), the "Not-So-Safeway" (in a not-so-great neighborhood), the "Senior Safeway" (located in the Watergate complex and patronized mostly by elderly residents there), the "Social Safeway" (located in upper Georgetown and patronized by many young singles and embassy personnel), the "Salsa or Spanish Safeway" (in a mostly-hispanic neighborhood), and the "Secret Safeway" (located in a nondescript building in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, VA and known mostly to neighborhood residents but few passersby). NotForTourists.com (PDF file) A Tract On Washington, D.C., Safeway Identities

Nicknaming has also taken place in the company's home territory of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Safeway in the Marina District of San Francisco is commonly called "Dateway", a reference to the high number of singles who shop in the store A Blog one of many referring to the Marina Safeway in San Francisco as "Dateway".

In addition, Safeway employees have been known to nickname the company as "Slaveway".

"SAFEWAY Music" Often referred to as "Safeway Music" the Safeway Radio network provides a plethora of music for customers to listen to as they shop. The satellite network also beams commercials and advertisements for Safeway products and brands that play intermitently with the music.

In Canada, the "Bread song": Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" Plays at both 5 local time to remind the bakery staff to remove the fresh bread from the ovens and bring it to the floor for the Fresh French Bread at 5 campaign.

Popular favorites in the Safeway music library include songs by:



References

External links



 

Safeway Inc



 
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