Safeway NorCal Remodels and New Stores

[CalItalian]

Most of the produce at Vons/Albertsons hasn't gone up but some has. Brown/Spanish/Yellow (all the same item) went from .99 to $1.29 lb. in the last few months. 5 lb. bag of potatoes $2.49 to $2.99 (although I have a personalized price for $1.99 this month down from $2.13 last month - with my weekly $1/1 produce coupon they are .99 cents), red onion $1.49 to $1.99 lb.. Some of the out of season local fruits have also gone up to a new regular price.

Memorial Day weekend sales were spectacular at Vons/Albertsons. Had to be there on $5 Fridays to see the crowds. They sold more marinated Carne Asada for $5 per lb. than in any single day in their history. That was a fantastic price for their service meat dept.. Undercut Stater Bros. by $2 per lb.

Albertsons definitely cut prices on some products; the price cuts were largely rescinding previous hikes. Whipped Challenge butter, for example, dropped back to $3.49 - same price as Wallymart (which hiked it up from $1.88).

For me, the J4U offers are hit-or-miss, and mostly miss these days. Two weeks ago, I got 1.99 small watermelon (on sale for 3.99), 1.29 romaine hearts (3.49 everyday) and 88c sweet potatoes (1.79ish everyday). Last week I got 94c carrots (99c everyday) and 1.89 green beans (1.99 everyday). This week I got $1.99 green grapes (on sale for $1.49). Every-other-week I get a $5 off $50, but nothing else. My monthly offers also struck out: $1.59 for Signature Select two-liter (I only previously bought this with a Saturday freebie coupon) and $5.89 for Big Boy salad dressing ($4 at Wallymart & Target).

Albertsons local holiday ads have been underwhelming for the last 18 months or so. They ran a great ad in AZ/NV-LV, but Ralphs' handily beat them locally. It was so bad they highlighted 16 oz. Lucerne cheese slices for $1.99 w/J4U... but that's Ralph's everyday price. They did have 40 oz. Persil laundry detergent for $2.99. My wife raided the SmartSource coupon machine at Ralphs ($2 off), so we stocked up at 99c each.

Persil was a great deal at Vons/Albertsons for $2.99. I stocked up as much as I could find which was only 10 over two transactions. There was a $2/1 printable on coupons.com as well for the .99 cent price. Plus it was actually a MM (moneymaker). Ibotta has a $1.50 per bottle rebate up to 5 on a receipt. I have two accounts, two smartphones, so I was able to get it all for FREE. IF you still have your receipt, the offer is still available (you have 7 days from purchase to submit an Ibotta). I was able to reload it two days after my initial submissions and it is still in my Ibotta.

This week my personalized prices on produce are fantastic and include cucumbers for .55 each, brown/yellow onions .78 lb., green onions .48 bunch, medium Haas avocados $1.06, Lemons .65 each, Red Roma tomatoes .65 lb. (fantastic price since they are $1.49 lb.), Iceberg Lettuce .99 (although I had one for .98 last week).

Fresh garlic bulbs they keep sending out a personalized price of .51. But they are regular price .50 cents everyday. I don't get it.

Value Corner whole milk gallon monthly personalized price went up from $3.29 to $3.89 from May to June, Refreshe water 24 pack, 12 oz bottles went up from $2.57 to $2.92 from May to June. Only Russet Potatoes 5 lb. came down from $2.13 to $1.99. I'll be seeking out lower priced milk and water, if it can be found. Water 24 packs, any brand, I haven't seen below $2.50 on sale at any non-membership retailer lately.

Strawberries were also a great deal at Vons/Albertsons last week for $1.98 1 lb. and if you had the $1 produce coupon it was .98 cents.

Vons/Albertsons was extremely busy on $5 Friday for Memorial Day weekend. Most Friday's, they are. Customers have really caught on to the value of that weekly promotion. To my detriment as I've had to alter the timing of my shopping on Friday due to running out of stock.

The best deal I got on butter anywhere was at Vons/Albertsons/Pavilions for spreadable Challenge Butter with sea salt 30 oz. for $3 during most of April until May 3. I stocked up on enough for all summer. It was tagged 2/$6 for weeks (there were no coupons available for this brand during that time). Lower than the advertised price for 15 oz. same brand during Easter.

Check out Albertsons chains new Flavor Adventure game online that started yesterday. I've already won a $20 off $20 and 6 rewards (5 in one win, 1 in another). They get automatically loaded to your For U account. Someone in a coupon group that I am in won $50 off $50.

[Greggo]

Wait … some divisions are still doing $5 Friday?!? I thought that was dead! Randalls stopped doing it when COVID hit 2 years ago. I figured they’d bring it back eventually, but … nope. Wonder why. They could use all the help they can get and $5 Friday brings extra foot traffic.

[Romr123]

They had it all winter at Vons--some weeks were better than others, but was a good excuse to do the Vons shopping. They did discontinue the Starbucks $5 for a Grande beverage and bakery item at the end of February.

[CalItalian]

Wait … some divisions are still doing $5 Friday?!? I thought that was dead! Randalls stopped doing it when COVID hit 2 years ago. I figured they’d bring it back eventually, but … nope. Wonder why. They could use all the help they can get and $5 Friday brings extra foot traffic.

Safeway NorCal has it, too. Both Southern California and Northern California in recent weeks have started a new dark meat only chicken deal on Friday's for $5, 4 legs, 4 thighs. They've never had this before. Was always 8 piece, 2/2/2/2 Breast, leg, thigh, wing.

[storewanderer]

Wait … some divisions are still doing $5 Friday?!? I thought that was dead! Randalls stopped doing it when COVID hit 2 years ago. I figured they’d bring it back eventually, but … nope. Wonder why. They could use all the help they can get and $5 Friday brings extra foot traffic.

Safeway NorCal has it, too. Both Southern California and Northern California in recent weeks have started a new dark meat only chicken deal on Friday's for $5, 4 legs, 4 thighs. They've never had this before. Was always 8 piece, 2/2/2/2 Breast, leg, thigh, wing.

NorCal's fried chicken sales have only been for 4 leg/4 thighs for many years now. Even pre-Albertsons merger. They used to offer the 2/2/2/2 option for an extra $1 but that stopped a while ago. Some of NorCal stores do not fry any breasts or wings on these sale days to avoid issues.

[SamSpade]

Off Topic

Wait … some divisions are still doing $5 Friday?!? I thought that was dead! Randalls stopped doing it when COVID hit 2 years ago. I figured they’d bring it back eventually, but … nope. Wonder why. They could use all the help they can get and $5 Friday brings extra foot traffic.

Both NW divisions do, but not Albertsons Intermountain. (Seattle and Portland)

[CalItalian]

Wait … some divisions are still doing $5 Friday?!? I thought that was dead! Randalls stopped doing it when COVID hit 2 years ago. I figured they’d bring it back eventually, but … nope. Wonder why. They could use all the help they can get and $5 Friday brings extra foot traffic.

Safeway NorCal has it, too. Both Southern California and Northern California in recent weeks have started a new dark meat only chicken deal on Friday's for $5, 4 legs, 4 thighs. They've never had this before. Was always 8 piece, 2/2/2/2 Breast, leg, thigh, wing.

NorCal's fried chicken sales have only been for 4 leg/4 thighs for many years now. Even pre-Albertsons merger. They used to offer the 2/2/2/2 option for an extra $1 but that stopped a while ago. Some of NorCal stores do not fry any breasts or wings on these sale days to avoid issues.

We've never had this in SoCal until two weeks ago. Plus it was a choice of fried, baked and mango habenero chicken. Now only fried.

[storewanderer]

We've never had this in SoCal until two weeks ago. Plus it was a choice of fried, baked and mango habenero chicken. Now only fried.

NorCal recently switched this to fried chicken only as well, it used to give the option of baked or fried.

Are the stores still making the baked and mango habenero? Seems odd they wouldn't allow the deal on those. I would think cost to prepare is similar.

The $5 Friday in NorCal has good weeks and not very good weeks. This week is one of those not very good weeks. They struggle to keep bakery/deli ad items in stock for $5 Friday many weeks because demand is so high. Center store has been pretty weak for quite some time. The 3 for $5 Tostitos (regular price 5.59...) were a good deal last week. Also sometimes since these $5 Friday promotions are "division level" they will have a corporate nationwide cents off digital coupon on something that is on $5 Friday. Have run into that in the past on the deli pizza, Signature Ice Cream, Signature Soda/Seltzer, Case Water, and some other things and come out real well.

[CalItalian]

We've never had this in SoCal until two weeks ago. Plus it was a choice of fried, baked and mango habenero chicken. Now only fried.

NorCal recently switched this to fried chicken only as well, it used to give the option of baked or fried.

Are the stores still making the baked and mango habenero? Seems odd they wouldn't allow the deal on those. I would think cost to prepare is similar.

The $5 Friday in NorCal has good weeks and not very good weeks. This week is one of those not very good weeks. They struggle to keep bakery/deli ad items in stock for $5 Friday many weeks because demand is so high. Center store has been pretty weak for quite some time. The 3 for $5 Tostitos (regular price 5.59...) were a good deal last week. Also sometimes since these $5 Friday promotions are "division level" they will have a corporate nationwide cents off digital coupon on something that is on $5 Friday. Have run into that in the past on the deli pizza, Signature Ice Cream, Signature Soda/Seltzer, Case Water, and some other things and come out real well.

I asked. They're only making fried chicken (just drumsticks and thighs) on the day of the special. This ad week they are having it on Monday, another first, and it's $6.

Another item that seems to sell out on $5 Friday's is their rose bouquet special. Most weeks it or a similar rose bunch is part of $5 Friday's as it is this week.

[lake52]

The Roseville / Granite Bay store on Sierra College Blvd recently got the standard Florida Package remodel. This store was built as a Safeway flagship and does very good volume. It also has a somewhat unique layout, I believe taken from Genuardi’s.

I was a bit surprised that they didn’t go the Pavillions route similar to San Ramon with this store given the volume and wealth in the area. I think it reveals that Safeway isn’t planning a large scale rollout of this format in NorCal.