I've noticed Fry's pricing (and even their ads) are not nearly as good as they were 2-3 years ago. Safeway almost always has lower egg prices (although some require Just 4 U) and I've noticed lower prices at Safeway for numerous other items as well. This More Ways to Save is going on at Fry's but the deals aren't there like they used to be and using the app to get deals is a pain in the butt.
Safeway / Albertsons (at least in Phoenix) is starting to be more competitive with everyone because the main competition (Fry's /Walmart) seems to have increased pricing and Bashas' was never really price competitive to begin with (except on some perimeter items).
WinCo is truly the only "low price" store in Phoenix these days (at least until Aldi opens).
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Up in Oregon, three different times in the past year, I definitely felt Safeway/Albertsons was competing very well against Fred Meyer. Many items were lower priced at Safeway/Albertsons and I felt their promotions were more in quantity and also more relevant to me as a customer. I also felt the quality of fresh departments at Safeway/Albertsons was better than Fred Meyer.
Different story back home with well run Smiths and extremely overpriced poorly run NorCal Safeway Stores (these Nevada Stores are operated like orphans; I am sure volumes are much lower than most of the stores in NorCal proper which seem to execute better).
Smiths has been running very strong ads the past couple of months (I think it is due to the Visa card situation) but earlier this year their ads were weak and regular prices were continually rising. Kroger has switched to zone pricing on milk, eggs, bread, and a handfull of other high frequency items so they will essentially price whatever surrounding stores are priced. So if the surrounding store they are price competing with is a Safeway, they will up their price to have the Safeway price. If the surrounding store is a Smart & Final or someone who undercuts on milk as a rule, they will drastically lower their price to meet that. This is different from the past when Kroger in a given market ran hot retails at every store every day on high frequency perishables like milk, eggs, bread, and I believe that old strategy was a real win for them in terms of luring customers away from Albertsons/Safeway 5-10 years ago. I think the current strategy is a loser because I never like prices being increased just because competitors are increasing prices...
Safeway has been increasing prices like gangbusters up here in NorCal Division the past month. Gallon of Value Corner Milk is 3.69, Bakery French Bread is 1.99, some stores still have dozen Value Corner Large Eggs at 2.99 (some did get them down to 1.69). Produce pricing is horrible and way above anywhere else. 2.49-3.99/lb for soft summer fruit peaches, nectarines, pluots, plums, etc. Mangos have been 1.99 (even the Manila ones) for weeks and sitting there rotting away; this week they finally went to $1 sale price on the green mangos but when Sprouts is 3/$1, even Scolaris 2/$1... still not a deal. Meat pricing is terrible (7.99/lb for 93% lean ground beef...?). I go there to buy some ad items, they are running some strong ads and I've spent more money at Safeway since April 4, 2019 than I have probably in the past 3 years combined, but I am not too happy with their store. I have really been trying to give this store my business but between quality issues, freshness issues, or pricing being way out of line compared to even Raleys, I find I leave with nothing beyond whatever ad items I had planned to go in for. I have had muitiple problems with expired product, poor service, and poorly trained employees out in Sparks. This store does not have near the customer traffic it once had and feels like it is in the process of dying; it looks great cosmetically- clean, stocked, and orderly, but once you shop it, you find it is a lifeless place with indifferent employees and poor product rotation (the surrounding Smiths, Sprouts, and Grocery Outlet Stores are very busy though). The paper towel dispenser in the men's restroom has been propped open now for 3 months because it doesn't dispense if it is closed and nobody cares or bothers to fix it (store has a male store director so this is absolutely something being seen by the store director and I am assuming various other management above who visits the store). The soap dispensers also are missing their outer covers (bottle of liquid directly visible) and again it has been this way for months and nobody cares. As I said this NorCal Division runs Nevada like orphan stores. Maybe it will change once they build the new Reno Store. I hope.