Albertsons’ Soaring Prices

[storewanderer]

I saw that the 20 count cookies at Safeway were on sale for $1.99 for a 4 Day Sale, and I bought one package. They were rock hard and truly awful. It was a total waste of my money. I just want to toss them in the trash. Who came up with these recipes? Do they not have a taste tester? Or is the recipe purely to save money and sell something that people will mindlessly buy. I now know why they have piles of unsold Bakery items on display at the front of the store.

I went to Sprouts and actually found some decent cookies.

Safeway muffins have always given me a stomach ache. There is something about the recipe that makes me ill. I once bought muffins that were totally filled with mold. Apparently, the store was relabeling expire Bakery items and several packages were totally filled with mold. Years later that Safeway Bakery was closed down for mold removal. It took them long enough.

I got hooked in on those terrible Safeway NorCal 20 count cookies about 4 times this fall. They kept having various sales at 1.50-1.99. One sale may have even been .99. So I tried a different flavor every time (sugar, M&M, oatmeal, chocolate chip) and I also made sure to get a package with a recent "packed on" date since they hold these for like 14 days after they make them. I cannot even imagine paying the $5.00 asking price for these cookies (still at 3.99 up here in Reno, but frankly .25 is too much for this trash).

These are not the old and good Albertsons cookies (you can however find the old Albertsons cookies in the bakery of Food Maxx).

Every time- these Safeway bakery cookies are terrible. Bad aftertaste in the mouth. Bad texture. Bad flavor. Terrible product. I threw most of the package away all 4 times. I will not make this mistake again.

Same observation as you on the Safeway muffins. They taste too oily and they have an odd texture/crumble too easily. Again this is a product that Albertsons made very good but whatever Safeway is offering in NorCal seems to be a really bad formula.

With terrible cookies, bad muffins, and now awful cakes, Safeway NorCal bakery has turned into something that is basically of no use. They may as well shut it down. Some of the breads are still okay at least.

Perfecting the art of fresh?

[Romr123]

yep--111/Gene Autry. Staff there is amazingly good; we got our COVID boosters there in November---nice facility with waiting room etc. Just the prices...oy!

[storewanderer]

Yet the Vons in Palm Spring makes some delicious jalapeno cheese bread (short baguettes with cheese and jalapenos browned on top) which is an incredible buy every day at $1.99...sometimes pricing is just so "not thought through"...it would be a reasonable value at $2.99...

That is the Filone bread. Safeway was selling that 10 years ago at the .99 price point. Over the years it kept escalating in price. NorCal is 2.29 on it now (was 2.19 a couple months ago). It is the same roll they use for sandwiches in the deli. Half is for a small sandwich, whole is for a large sandwich. I am not crazy about the taste of the bread plain though... and it is dry already if you don't buy it and consume it the day of purchase. I have found the sizes of it to vary somewhat by day and the amount of cheese/japapeno also widely varies by day. It is supposed to be a 6 ounce portion as I recall, but often I find them weighing closer to 12 ounces.

I'm not sure 2.99 would work as this bread at least in Safeway is merchandised next to focaccia breads of the same jalapeno/cheese that are about 3x as large looking (but really only about 2.5 times the size due to being flatter) and sell around 4.29. I think the current 2.29 price point in NorCal is pushing it. This is one of the few items their bakery has that I am still satisfied with the quality of. But Smiths sells a full 16oz loaf size cheese (japapeno or hatch) bread loaf at 2.79 but that bread base they use is really awful.

Albertsons LLC used to have "half loaves" 8 oz. of French Bread in the AZ Stores (pre Safeway merger), then topped; some were garlic, some were jalapeno cheese, some were just cheese; those were always 1.00.

[Romr123]

Filone---that's it. Thought that term was some term of art at Vons. The portion size definitely leans toward the 12 oz at that store, so the price:value is spot on. At 6 oz it probably wouldn't be a good value.

[storewanderer]

Filone---that's it. Thought that term was some term of art at Vons. The portion size definitely leans toward the 12 oz at that store, so the price:value is spot on. At 6 oz it probably wouldn't be a good value.

Filone is the type of term that was the art of the Lifestyle Safeway marketing. This product was sold at Dominick's and Genuardi's too. Vons would probably call it a large roll. That is what it is though I suppose.

[CalItalian]

Vons & Albertsons seem to be having major restocking issues currently. I can only speak for the store locations in Southwest Riverside County that I have seen since Sunday to today (been to 6 locations twice or three times) but one of the deals groups I participate in is seeing the same in other SoCal areas. Dairy (especially items such as creamer, sour cream, butter), crackers, refrigerated biscuits/cookies (completely out in all stores since prior to Christmas), various baking needs (such as sugar, flour), multi-pack water to name a few are either completely out or in short supply.

[storewanderer]

Vons & Albertsons seem to be having major restocking issues currently. I can only speak for the store locations in Southwest Riverside County that I have seen since Sunday to today (been to 6 locations twice or three times) but one of the deals groups I participate in is seeing the same in other SoCal areas. Dairy (especially items such as creamer, sour cream, butter), crackers, refrigerated biscuits/cookies (completely out in all stores since prior to Christmas), various baking needs (such as sugar, flour), multi-pack water to name a few are either completely out or in short supply.

Noticed the entire refrigerated biscuit/cookie dough area (every single SKU) was empty on Christmas Day at Safeway which I found odd. Safeway has tons of out of stocks in center store and many are private label items so they just stretch out the name brand item in its place.

The highway from CA (Safeway distribution) into Reno was closed for 4 days (finally reopened last night) and somehow Safeway still managed to have a good supply of many items even yesterday after being very busy and not getting trucks for days. Raleys and Save Mart had some major in-stock issues the past few days. Safeway "stocked up" the local stores and aside from the already out of stock SKUs they had things in good supply. Of course this didn't impact Smiths or Wal Mart since they supply from NV/UT.

[CalItalian]

Vons & Albertsons seem to be having major restocking issues currently. I can only speak for the store locations in Southwest Riverside County that I have seen since Sunday to today (been to 6 locations twice or three times) but one of the deals groups I participate in is seeing the same in other SoCal areas. Dairy (especially items such as creamer, sour cream, butter), crackers, refrigerated biscuits/cookies (completely out in all stores since prior to Christmas), various baking needs (such as sugar, flour), multi-pack water to name a few are either completely out or in short supply.

Noticed the entire refrigerated biscuit/cookie dough area (every single SKU) was empty on Christmas Day at Safeway which I found odd. Safeway has tons of out of stocks in center store and many are private label items so they just stretch out the name brand item in its place.

The highway from CA (Safeway distribution) into Reno was closed for 4 days (finally reopened last night) and somehow Safeway still managed to have a good supply of many items even yesterday after being very busy and not getting trucks for days. Raleys and Save Mart had some major in-stock issues the past few days. Safeway "stocked up" the local stores and aside from the already out of stock SKUs they had things in good supply. Of course this didn't impact Smiths or Wal Mart since they supply from NV/UT.

A poster on Winco's FB account asked about the same out of stock issues at their Reno stores. Winco acknowledged they were having issues particularly at one location.

[storewanderer]

A poster on Winco's FB account asked about the same out of stock issues at their Reno stores. Winco acknowledged they were having issues particularly at one location.

WinCo supposedly only gets produce from CA for the Reno Stores and gets the rest of their products from either ID or OR. So I am not sure why WinCo was having issues with dairy (yogurt, butter, juice) in Reno, but yes, they were, even on Thursday. I guess the truck from OR couldn't get to Reno either. Center store was fully stocked, maybe that is what comes from ID.

[Bagels]

Shortly before Thanksgiving, the two Albertsons nearest me pulled the shelf stickers for various Lucerne Whipped Cream (both canned and raw whipping) and have been carrying only Reddi-wip and name branded raw whipping. I thought this was extremely odd!