Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

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marshd1000
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Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by marshd1000 »

Now that Albertsons and Safeway are one, maybe it is time to start talking about how the banners from both companies are being integrated. I already know that at the Jewel-Osco stores, O-Organics and Open Nature products from Safeway, are being offered. So I am wondering when we will see Lucerne Dairy and Safeway Select in the Albertsons family of stores.

I know that here in the Northwest, I have seen O-Organics veggies and eggs at Albertsons. What is funny is that I saw that at the 5 Corners-Burien Albertsons. This store turns Haggen on June 2nd. I would have thought they would have waited until the store transfers were complete.

I also looked online at the United Family of Stores in Texas ads. O-Organics has made it there.

In terms of Safeway, I don't think there will be much migrating over from Albertsons. I really don't expect to see that as Albertsons brands were killed off by Supervalu. The only things that have crossed over are the yummy fried chicken and the fruit bowls in produce.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by kr.abs.swy »

Private brands are definitely an area where I expect the Safeway programs to be dominant in the merger. I think this is an area where Albertsons was almost entirely reliant on SuperValu and is an area where Safeway had done better than average compared to peers.

I am wondering if they are going to consolidate everything under a more generic brand than Safeway Kitchens, Safeway Care, Safeway Farms, etc. I know that Safeway has used the Safeway brands in Vons ... I will be surprised if Albertsons management is too crazy about Safeway brands in Albertsons stores. But I would think that "O" will spread throughout the chain. I agree that Lucerne and Open Nature are also good candidates to spread. I think that Lucerne probably still has a bit of brand equity among customers with very long memories in areas like southern Idaho where Safeway used to have stores. My grandma swore by Lucerne.

At Safeways in Oregon, I have noticed very few changes so far. I noticed the fried chicken. They seemed to be using Albertsons POS signs (designed with the Albertsons fonts, etc.) but without the Albertsons logos in store for the fried chicken for a while, although these were subsequently replaced with Safeway-style signs.

I've also noticed that job postings now show the Albertsons and Safeway logos at the top and show the logos of all of the various banners of both the former Albertsons and the former Safeway at the bottom.

My local stores (Corvallis, Oregon) now have an Albertsons division manager, I'm told.

The Oregon ads have not changed and I still seem to get a couple of freebie offers through Just4U a month. Marketing doesn't seem to have changed yet -- the $10 off a $50 purchase still surfaces in the paper once a month or so.

There seemed to be one more checkstand than usual open yesterday ... not sure if they have added some marginal staffing. Front-end staffing at the store closest to me has always seemed tight and lines are generally longer than at Fred Meyer.

All of the Albertsons stores close to me have closed, so I can't report on what's happened at Albertsons.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by marshd1000 »

I was again in the soon to be Haggen 5 Corners Burien, WA Albertsons store. There are even more Safeway brands. They have started moving away from Supervalu's Super Chill soda and have started carrying Safeway Refreshe. I also saw Safeway Farms Valu Pack chicken. So it looks like maybe they are going to do what Safeway has done with their private labels, and that is put them in non Safeway bannered stores. Although I am under the impression that Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, etc, have kept their banner brands. But those I believe are sourced by Supervalu.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

I was in the Elko, NV (Intermountain Division) Albertsons this weekend and didn't see any Safeway items anywhere. All I saw was a table of bakery items priced at $5 with what was an obvious Safeway $5 sign.

I did notice most of the Wild Harvest items on the shelves were on sale, small discounts, and the tags did not indicate discontinued or clearance but I suspect that is what is going on.

The other thing I noticed in this store, and it really stood out, was the employees seemed to have a terrible attitude. I don't remember it being this way in the past. From deli, to cashiers, to a supervisor I dealt with on a price scan error, these people seem to barely be able to crack a smile. I am not sure what their problem was; the store looks pretty good, seems to have decent traffic, ample level of staffing, was remodeled less than a year ago, and has far better pricing than it used to.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by CalItalian »

Vons, Pavilions and Albertsons for the first time ever are co-sponsoring a promo together, Feed SoCal with ABC 7 in Los Angeles. In each store, they're cross promoting each other... This is the first time I've seen anything extend across all the banners in SoCal since the merger.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by arizonaguy »

O Organics and Open Nature have made it to Albertsons stores in Arizona (although not the ads). This seems to be a VERY recent occurrence (as there even still was a gallon of Open Nature milk mixed in with the O Organics milk shown below.

See the attached photos:

Image

Image

Image

Also, Signature Cafe has made its way into Arizona Albertsons ads.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by jamcool »

Safeway has a dairy plant in Phoenix, which will no doubt supply Albertsons (If they don't already-Safeway/Lucerne supplies milk to other chains such as WinCo)
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by Super S »

I do not have an Albertsons convenient to my home, and very rarely shop at Safeway. However, just yesterday I heard a Safeway commercial on a local radio station which was still heavily advertising the club card, which is interesting in that many sources indicate that the card will be going away. (This may get me to at least do some shopping there again as I do not like the club card program.)

One other observation: I noticed that, at the Safeway closest to my house, the LED gas price sign has all prices blank except for diesel, and the other side has everything working. It has been this way for several months now, and there is a smaller sign on the ground below it in both directions. This looks cheap and cluttered. It also makes me wonder if, after the merger, the gas stations could be spun off like they were at Albertsons. That could explain why they aren't fixing things.

The nearest Albertsons, in Vancouver at Salmon Creek, is a store I am kinda expecting to close as there is a much busier Safeway about a mile away which is also still open. This area seems to have been overlooked as an area where stores had to be sold off because of how close together they were.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by arizonaguy »

Super S wrote: The nearest Albertsons, in Vancouver at Salmon Creek, is a store I am kinda expecting to close as there is a much busier Safeway about a mile away which is also still open. This area seems to have been overlooked as an area where stores had to be sold off because of how close together they were.
There are at least 5 Albertsons and/or Safeway stores in the Phoenix area that I would put into this same category as that store. I was pretty shocked that when they announced their last round of store closings, none of those stores were on the closure list. Instead, two very low volume Safeways that are nowhere near an Albertsons closed.

I believe Albertsons-Safeway is keeping the nearby stores open until they can find a tenant to fill the space that isn't another supermarket (namely Walmart Neighborhood Market, Smart and Final Extra, or even Fry's). Many of the Arizona locations would be places that Walmart, Smart and Final, or Fry's would be interested in.
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Re: Integration of Albertsons and Safeway

Post by storewanderer »

So far in my view the Albertsons=Safeway combination isn't great. Safeway Stores still seem understaffed and very high priced. Safeway Stores are still sloppy operations (probably due to being understaffed). One big thing I've seen is the Safeways have far more product out in the perimeters in produce, meat, and bakery. Product freshness is an issue and I see a lot of items that are rotting in produce, produce is not properly rotated, meat has way more markdown product than it ever had before, bakery has far too many items with today or tomorrow as sell by, and it appears they've gone from one extreme to the other as far as their perimeter departments go. Safeway for years had very strict controls on those department to not display much product to control shrink and it seems that has been thrown out the window. That would be fine if Safeway did markdowns in the perimeter departments like Kroger does, but aside from meat, Safeway marks nothing down and sells everything in produce at full price until it is rotten and everything in bakery at full price until the day of its sell by.

I don't see much change in the Albertsons operations.
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