There is something in the negotiation strategy/government affairs side of things that says you need to keep a store open to keep these contracts alive. Albertsons did it back in 2006 (then LLC closed it... but probably knew they were selling the division to Save Mart at that point so it didn't matter), Raleys appears to be doing it.HCal wrote: ↑December 19th, 2023, 3:06 amThat's rather unfortunate, but I guess it explains why so many of the stores have closed. High prices and limited service doesn't exactly attract customers.storewanderer wrote: ↑December 19th, 2023, 12:51 am
Pak N Save has been on Safeway pricing for the past 15+ years. They have run common ads with Safeway for the past 25+ years. Pak N Save has also had common perishables from Safeway for the past 25+ years. In the late 90's Safeway used to circulate a coupon book (monthly)- that had Safeway and Pak N Save logos. That coupon book was one version for all of NorCal plus Reno area. Pak N Save logos right next to Safeway logo all over, and on every coupon.
Honestly, I don't see why Safeway bothers keeping this contract alive. It's not like they are going to expand the concept in the future. If the Kroger merger falls through, there will still be no use for it.
But thanks for the detailed explanation.
There could be a point in time where Safeway wants the option to expand the Pak N Save concept again and wants to have the contract in place so they can engage in a somewhat seamless/quick expansion of the concept. There could be a variety of reasons for wanting to keep this option open such as economic fears, government incentives to set up shop in underserved areas that they may decide to go after in the future, labor shortages that make the labor intensive Safeway format not viable, etc.