Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: August 5th, 2021, 9:43 pm Speaking of centralizing center store buying, I noticed that all their private label items have Safeway's old address in Pleasanton, including in the former Albertsons markets where Safeway did not operate. I wonder if they are going to turn that into a centralized buying office separate from the headquarters in Boise.
That is nothing new. It has been that way as long as the Safeway private label program has been on the shelves of the stores.

The only items with an address in Boise at present are a few random unbranded seasonal items.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Bagels »

The Super Market News published an article yesterday claiming that 2/3 of the respondents to a recent survey indicated that they’re planning on replenishing their stock piles. Among the most desired items included sanitizing and soap products. So maybe this move is premature? I recall in January when, for example, the Mexican toilet paper went from 10c a roll back to its regular $1 price.
storewanderer wrote: August 5th, 2021, 6:46 pm
CalItalian wrote: August 5th, 2021, 11:39 am
SoCal Vons & Albertsons are currently discontinuing a lot of products (see red tags in store) in every department - especially spirits and detergent & other cleaning products (I suspect a lot of product downsizing in that aisle). I've never seen so many at one time.
Same is going on at NorCal Safeway in cleaning. Frozen aisle is really being gutted too, ton of clearance tags. Entire Signature Select frozen meal line got discontinued, granted it had been shrinking for years.

I think this may have something to do with Albertsons recent move to centralize center store buying.
I’ve noticed the clearance tags too, but I don’t think it has anything to do with centralized buying as most of the items are private label. I suspect that Albertsons is changing suppliers for many of these products, and probably some - like the frozen entrees - will be discontinued. I will definitely miss the frozen entrees - IMO, they were among the best values in the store (they were nearly always on sale at $1.50). As you mentioned, there’s few products left in the line-up, and most other chains discontinued their private label versions, so it’s not entirely surprising. I read not long that sales of frozen goods had dropped such that Kroger was removing a row of freezers as they renovated stores. Quite a change from 15-20 years ago, when they were growing so fast Kroger and everyone else was adding rows!

I also noticed that Albertsons/Vons are marking many items with a tag that says “compare our every day low price” … which is a joke, given that we can now see the competition’s lower price on our phones :). Ralphs recently slashed the prices on a large number of groceries, which o found interesting. Probably had a lot to do with declining market share to Albertsons/Vons and Stater Bros in the last year.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: August 7th, 2021, 11:55 am

I’ve noticed the clearance tags too, but I don’t think it has anything to do with centralized buying as most of the items are private label. I suspect that Albertsons is changing suppliers for many of these products, and probably some - like the frozen entrees - will be discontinued. I will definitely miss the frozen entrees - IMO, they were among the best values in the store (they were nearly always on sale at $1.50). As you mentioned, there’s few products left in the line-up, and most other chains discontinued their private label versions, so it’s not entirely surprising. I read not long that sales of frozen goods had dropped such that Kroger was removing a row of freezers as they renovated stores. Quite a change from 15-20 years ago, when they were growing so fast Kroger and everyone else was adding rows!

The old Safeway frozen meal program goes way back. At one time Safeway had 2 full doors (or more in some stores) dedicated to that frozen meal line. A lot of resources were put into developing that line and it really was "better than name brand." Also had some different varieties. Of course in the old Safeway days the idea was to sell these Safeway frozen meals at 3.49 regular and do a 2.50 sale price every so often so they got a super high margin on them too.

Pricing fell over the years and NorCal's regular price sat at 2.25 for a long time, then 2.29, but constant 2.00 sales (sometimes lower).

Probably similar to categories like laundry detergent or toothpaste the big brands are willing to pay so much for the shelf space and promotion incentives, they make it worth the store's while to NOT offer a private label in the category.

I never saw a frozen meal program developed by any competitor with the quality or assortment of the program the old Safeway developed.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Bagels »

storewanderer wrote: August 7th, 2021, 1:19 pm
Bagels wrote: August 7th, 2021, 11:55 am

I’ve noticed the clearance tags too, but I don’t think it has anything to do with centralized buying as most of the items are private label. I suspect that Albertsons is changing suppliers for many of these products, and probably some - like the frozen entrees - will be discontinued. I will definitely miss the frozen entrees - IMO, they were among the best values in the store (they were nearly always on sale at $1.50). As you mentioned, there’s few products left in the line-up, and most other chains discontinued their private label versions, so it’s not entirely surprising. I read not long that sales of frozen goods had dropped such that Kroger was removing a row of freezers as they renovated stores. Quite a change from 15-20 years ago, when they were growing so fast Kroger and everyone else was adding rows!

The old Safeway frozen meal program goes way back. At one time Safeway had 2 full doors (or more in some stores) dedicated to that frozen meal line. A lot of resources were put into developing that line and it really was "better than name brand." Also had some different varieties. Of course in the old Safeway days the idea was to sell these Safeway frozen meals at 3.49 regular and do a 2.50 sale price every so often so they got a super high margin on them too.

Pricing fell over the years and NorCal's regular price sat at 2.25 for a long time, then 2.29, but constant 2.00 sales (sometimes lower).

Probably similar to categories like laundry detergent or toothpaste the big brands are willing to pay so much for the shelf space and promotion incentives, they make it worth the store's while to NOT offer a private label in the category.

I never saw a frozen meal program developed by any competitor with the quality or assortment of the program the old Safeway developed.
Not many retailers carried a private line up of frozen entrees, probably because a plethora of brands are available across pricing points. Meijer is one of the few retailers I can think of that did; they discontinued them awhile ago. They may have been manufactured by Safeway - I recall that Safeway sold its proprietary products to other retailers (and eventually included the brand itself) and Meijer’s were priced on the higher end. I never tried one so I don’t know about quality.

Kroger, Albertsons and even Target have gradually reduced the number of frozen entrees they carried in recent years, particularly as the product category has decreased. Like many people in my age group, I use to buy a lot of frozen entrees in my 20s, but not so much any more. Boston Market introduced its Carver entrees which I thought were quite tasty and a cut above the average frozen entree but retailers no longer carry them around here.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by BillyGr »

Bagels wrote: August 7th, 2021, 11:55 am The Super Market News published an article yesterday claiming that 2/3 of the respondents to a recent survey indicated that they’re planning on replenishing their stock piles. Among the most desired items included sanitizing and soap products. So maybe this move is premature? I recall in January when, for example, the Mexican toilet paper went from 10c a roll back to its regular $1 price.
Not sure if all of it is this, but at least around here the freebie items (and other good deals, like Walgreens had a bunch of soap/sanitizer for 25 cents) have been almost all the "odd" brands that no one had heard of before last March. The one exception was one supermarket that did 49 cent Softsoap bottles - the smaller ones that normally have a pump, these have a flip top instead.

They may figure that (hopefully) the bigger companies have now gotten to a point they can keep up with demand, and that most people will keep buying those brands they know over these other odd items, so the free or cheap deals are the only way to get the stuff out of the store before it gets to a point where the dates require it simply to be thrown out.

Of course, in a couple months they may be wishing they didn't, but then again hopefully not.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by HCal »

Bagels wrote: August 7th, 2021, 9:38 pm Not many retailers carried a private line up of frozen entrees, probably because a plethora of brands are available across pricing points. Meijer is one of the few retailers I can think of that did; they discontinued them awhile ago. They may have been manufactured by Safeway - I recall that Safeway sold its proprietary products to other retailers (and eventually included the brand itself) and Meijer’s were priced on the higher end. I never tried one so I don’t know about quality.

Kroger, Albertsons and even Target have gradually reduced the number of frozen entrees they carried in recent years, particularly as the product category has decreased. Like many people in my age group, I use to buy a lot of frozen entrees in my 20s, but not so much any more. Boston Market introduced its Carver entrees which I thought were quite tasty and a cut above the average frozen entree but retailers no longer carry them around here.
I wonder if the food delivery apps are eating into the frozen entree category. People used to have a stash of frozen meals in their freezer for days they didn't feel like cooking, but now they can just order Doordash or UberEats instead.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Bagels »

BillyGr wrote: August 8th, 2021, 1:49 pmNot sure if all of it is this, but at least around here the freebie items (and other good deals, like Walgreens had a bunch of soap/sanitizer for 25 cents) have been almost all the "odd" brands that no one had heard of before last March. The one exception was one supermarket that did 49 cent Softsoap bottles - the smaller ones that normally have a pump, these have a flip top instead.

They may figure that (hopefully) the bigger companies have now gotten to a point they can keep up with demand, and that most people will keep buying those brands they know over these other odd items, so the free or cheap deals are the only way to get the stuff out of the store before it gets to a point where the dates require it simply to be thrown out.

Of course, in a couple months they may be wishing they didn't, but then again hopefully not.
That's a fair point, but if there's another stockpiling wave, I'm not certain brands would matter as much. But in spite of these giveaways, there's still a ton of off branded merchandise at my local stores.
HCal wrote: August 8th, 2021, 10:07 pmI wonder if the food delivery apps are eating into the frozen entree category. People used to have a stash of frozen meals in their freezer for days they didn't feel like cooking, but now they can just order Doordash or UberEats instead.
The frozen entree segement exploded in the 1990s/early 2000s -- forcing retailers to add freezers -- before declining. I imagine it's largely due to changing consumer tastes. Sales of fresh meat & produce swelled, which is why farmers-type markets thrived over the past 10+ years.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Bagels »

Not related, but last night I was peaking at the app around midnight, when coupons changed over, and received two "special" coupons to celebrate the newly renamed app: one was $50 off $50 in-store purchase, the other was $25 off $25. The coupons expired in February and had harsh language limiting them to one per household; language stipulated that using multiple accounts to get multiple coupons per household constituted fraud. I laughed at this, thinking the super couponers would be up all night creating accounts. I wondered how long the funds would last -- a few weeks I received a coupon for 50% off my first delivery, with a maximum discount of $50. It was to expire in February but it was pulled after a week or so.

Well, looking at the app now, it appears they pulled the special coupons. Gotta wonder if it was a mistake.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Alpha8472 »

I visit a deal website everyday and everyone was talking about the Albertsons coupons last night. However, Albertsons probably realized their mistake and took the coupon away from everyone. There were some people who managed to take advantage and order an online pickup before the coupons were taken away.

I live in a Safeway area, but if you downloaded the Albertsons app it would detect your Safeway account and put the coupons on your Safeway app. I just noticed that update to the Safeway app last night. It was terrible.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 11th, 2021, 10:35 pm I visit a deal website everyday and everyone was talking about the Albertsons coupons last night. However, Albertsons probably realized their mistake and took the coupon away from everyone. There were some people who managed to take advantage and order an online pickup before the coupons were taken away.

I live in a Safeway area, but if you downloaded the Albertsons app it would detect your Safeway account and put the coupons on your Safeway app. I just noticed that update to the Safeway app last night. It was terrible.
I have mixed feelings about the new app. The one thing I do really like about the new app is you can click on a coupon and see what items it applies to. This will be very helpful. I can go on and on about what I didn't like about the new app but it is what it is, there were a lot of things I didn't like about the old app too.

Also the Just 4 U is now "Safeway 4 U" or "Albertsons 4 U" or "Vons 4 U"... and "club" price is now "member" price. Seems like pointless rebranding. "Member." Where have I heard that term misused before...?
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