Safeway and Albertsons plan to get married

[ynkeesfn82]

Safeway and Albertsons plan to get married. No store closures are planned at this time.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/albertsons-safeway-plan-merge

[FitchMike26]

Shocker! I wonder if there will be any anti-trust issues.

[FitchMike26]

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Albertsons today purchased Safeway for $9 billion:

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140307_Acme_parent_company_buys_Albertsons_for__9B.html

[Stork of The Weak]

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Albertsons today purchased Safeway for $9 billion:

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140307_Acme_parent_company_buys_Albertsons_for__9B.html

Read the words in that link a second time. Acme parent company buys WHO? (not your fault for screwing this up but rather the error of the publisher)

[MikeRa]

My question is: Will the Audubon, PA Genuardi's location and the Safeway locations in Delaware and Maryland change their name to Acme?  The only reason why I ask is because Safeway is mostly in the western half of the USA, except for delaware, Maryland, and Audubon, PA.

[ynkeesfn82]

I don't know. Albertson's kept the Shaw's/Star Market names when they bought Shaw's/Star Market in 2004. Then in 2006 when SuperValu bought Albertson's they kept the different banners they had - Albertson's, Jewel-Osco, Acme, and Shaw's/Star Market.

[retailisking]

The only way Supervalu could unload Shaw's/Star Market was as part of the entire Albertsons bundle - they shopped Shaw's/Star separately for years and couldn't find a buyer. I tend to doubt there will be widespread changes of any of the Safeway banners. It WOULD be interesting if Albertsons did something radical like going with a single nationwide banner like Macy's did with all the department store chains it acquired from Federated and May. I'm not sure the advantages are the same with supermarkets. Walmart and Whole Foods would tend to disagree, though...

[MikeRa]

I don't know. Albertson's kept the Shaw's/Star Market names when they bought Shaw's/Star Market in 2004. Then in 2006 when SuperValu bought Albertson's they kept the different banners they had - Albertson's, Jewel-Osco, Acme, and Shaw's/Star Market.

Only reason why for Genuardi's is because it is down to 1 store, in Audubon, PA.  I can understand why if they keep the Safeway name for Delaware and Maryland.

[FitchMike26]

I would presume most store names will stay the same; but I absolutely see the Genuardi's store in Audubon PA converting to an ACME.

I would also speculate that a few empty Genuardi's stores in South Jersey could also become ACME. Several of them are nowhere near existing ACME stores, and the new owner would be paying rent on them anyway, so why not? Plus, ACME is already union; so there's no union vs non-union debate in this situation.

[Stork of The Weak]

Actually the name is "Acme" not "ACME"... and to prove that, their stores in the 50's used the "Acme Markets" name with the first of those two words NEVER in all caps.

[FitchMike26]

According to their website, the proper way to write it is ACME:

http://acmemarkets.com/careers/

I also believe their trademark is all capitalized, too.

[MikeRa]

Actually the name is "Acme" not "ACME"... and to prove that, their stores in the 50's used the "Acme Markets" name with the first of those two words NEVER in all caps.

According to their website, the proper way to write it is ACME:

http://acmemarkets.com/careers/

I also believe their trademark is all capitalized, too.

Acme first used the All-Caps "ACME" when they introduced the teardrop logo back in the 1960's, continued it with the 1980's oval logo right up to the current logo.  Their emails also uses the All-Caps Logo.  But when talking about Acme Markets, I won't use the All-Caps version.

[FitchMike26]

Acme first used the All-Caps "ACME" when they introduced the teardrop logo back in the 1960's, continued it with the 1980's oval logo right up to the current logo.  Their emails also uses the All-Caps Logo.  But when talking about Acme Markets, I won't use the All-Caps version.
[/quote]

I never said you had to! lol. You write how you want to write, and I'll write how I want to write.

[EddieJ1984]

Does it matter? I mean I know this is a board about retail stores, but some things are too ocd!
Whats next? Correcting people who say Weis, that it should be all lowercase?  ;D

[FitchMike26]

I agree, Eddie. I would never tell someone else how they should/shouldn't write something.

[zonemad96]

Safeway and Albertsons plan to get married. No store closures are planned at this time.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/albertsons-safeway-plan-merge

“Working together will enable us to create cost savings that translate into price reductions for our customers,” Miller said." Yeah I'm sure it does

[MikeRa]

I wonder if Albertsons will stop having SuperValu distribute their products and start using the Safeway brands?

[retailisking]

I wonder if Albertsons will stop having SuperValu distribute their products and start using the Safeway brands?

Safeway has their own manufacturing facilities, so it wouldn't surprise me. Just the same, Cerberus owns a 30% stake in Supervalu so they have to consider the impact to Supervalu's bottom line. There are a lot of moving parts in this deal and it's anyone's guess as to how it's going to play out.

[Stork of The Weak]

I would love to see Safeway Select brand soda at Albertsons/Acme/Jewel/Shaw's. The Albertsons "Max" cola (named after the short-lived Max Foods division of Albertsons?) from the later pre-Supervalu years was awful, as is the Supervalu "Super Chill" line of soda.

At the same time I hope Acme will soon revive their "Ideal" store brand for everything that was used in the 60's and 70's (not sold at the few Acme Super Saver stores though, which sold items with the Super Saver name). Acme is a brand with a very rich history and heritage that unfortunately none of its owners have cared about preserving. Take a look at the website called Groceteria that "explores supermarket history" all over the USA and Canada. It has very little or no mention of Acme but has huge sections on A&P, Safeway, and Kroger (even the Food Fair/Pantry Pride chain which started in Philadelphia as did Acme, but is now long gone). Worst of all not only does it act like Acme never existed, it has quite a lot of Albertsons coverage, even though Acme has a lot more history. But other important and influential chains such as Grand Union, Pathmark, Stop & Shop, and the Super Fresh division of A&P are also neglected by Groceteria, so Acme isn't the only important piece missing. I'm really surprised about Stop & Shop being completely absent because along with their supermarkets they once owned Bradlees and the drugstore chain Medimart (sold to Walgreens long ago). And around the same time as Medimart was dissolved, Stop & Shop started building Super Stop & Shop stores, which set a new standard for supermarket size in New England, and raised the bar high for supermarket features.

[Stork of The Weak]

Shouldn't this merger have been done a long time ago, before Albertsons and Safeway both closed so many stores, each under multiple names? Even when Albertsons and Safeway were both much bigger than they are today, they didn't overlap too much for a merger to have been a good idea (but yes a small number of stores perhaps should have been closed for one to happen).

[retailisking]

http://supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/ftc-oks-albertsons-safeway-merger

[MikeRa]

The new Albertsons-safeway company will have 3 Regional Units and 14 Divisions:

1. East Region
a) Acme Division: East Region, existing Acme Markets
b) Eastern Division: East Region, existing Eastern Division of Safeway
c) Jewel-Osco Division: East Region, existing Jewel-Osco
d) Shaw's Division: East Region, existing Shaw's/Star Market

2. North Region
a) Denver Division: North Region, existing Safeway Denver division with Albertsons stores from Intermountain
b) Intermountain Division: North Region, existing Albertsons division with some Safeway stores from Seattle Division
c) Northern California Division: North Region, existing Safeway division
d) Portland Division: North Region, existing Safeway Portland division with Albertsons stores from Northwestern
e) Seattle Division: North Region, existing Safeway division with some Albertsons stores from Northwestern

3. South Region
a) Houston Division: South Region, existing Randalls/Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy division from Safeway
b) Southern California Division: South Region, merged Vons Safeway division with Albertsons division
c) Southern Division: South Region, existing Albertsons South division
d) Southwest Division: South Region, merged Southwest Safeway and Albertsons divisions
e) United Division: South Region, existing United division

[JimSawhill]

I was looking at retail jobs in Connecticut and I saw something interesting. It said Safeway is hiring for a Bakery manager in Waterbury, CT. Is it a Shaws or what? Anyone knows?

[ynkeesfn82]

I was looking at retail jobs in Connecticut and I saw something interesting. It said Safeway is hiring for a Bakery manager in Waterbury, CT. Is it a Shaws or what? Anyone knows?

Is Save-a-Lot part of the Albertson's/Safeway company? They don't usually have them, but maybe they're putting an in-store bakery inside Save-a-Lot. Save-a-Lot is in 1/3 of the old Shaw's at The Brass Mill Commons in Waterbury.

[Bobsketball]

I was looking at retail jobs in Connecticut and I saw something interesting. It said Safeway is hiring for a Bakery manager in Waterbury, CT. Is it a Shaws or what? Anyone knows?

Is Save-a-Lot part of the Albertson's/Safeway company? They don't usually have them, but maybe they're putting an in-store bakery inside Save-a-Lot. Save-a-Lot is in 1/3 of the old Shaw's at The Brass Mill Commons in Waterbury.

No, because Albertsons is no longer part of Supervalu, which owns Save-A-Lot. However... Save-A-Lot stores are franchised, and Albertsons/Safeway could buy a franchise if they wanted to. In fact, the Weis chain in PA has Save-A-Lot stores in a few places thought to be too poor for a Weis.

And many, many older, smaller Acme buildings are now home to either Save-A-Lot or CVS.

[retailisking]

I was looking at retail jobs in Connecticut and I saw something interesting. It said Safeway is hiring for a Bakery manager in Waterbury, CT. Is it a Shaws or what? Anyone knows?

That might be a mistake, but Safeway in California is now handling PR for Shaw's.

[retailisking]

We don't really focus on the West Coast on this forum, but you might have noticed the dramatic expansion of the Pacific Northwest-based Haggen chain into the Southwest with the acquisition of 146 stores required to be divested as a result of the Albertsons-Safeway merger. The deal went sour almost immediately, as shoppers shocked at high(er) prices stayed away, and waves of layoffs and store closings followed. Now comes word that suppliers are concerned about getting paid, and the B-word is being bandied about. Stay tuned...
http://morningnewsbeat.com/News/Detail/47690/2015-08-28/

[BillyGr]

Meanwhile on the East Coast, we have the 1a (East Region Acme Division) planning to take over approximately 80 A&P stores as that long running chain dissolves, bringing Acme back into parts of NY State, bringing them to a small corner of Connecticut (after the 1d Shaw's Division pulled out of the state several years ago) and adding additional stores in NJ, PA and DE to fill in areas they had no stores or had closed stores in the past.

Which of course leaves the question if they will continue to expand in the future (either in NY state, where there COULD be some available stores if the Hannaford/Stop&Shop merger occurs due to those two overlapping, or in CT to connect their new Acme stores to the existing Shaw's footprint in RI/MA and the rest of New England).

[JimSawhill]

We don't really focus on the West Coast on this forum, but you might have noticed the dramatic expansion of the Pacific Northwest-based Haggen chain into the Southwest with the acquisition of 146 stores required to be divested as a result of the Albertsons-Safeway merger. The deal went sour almost immediately, as shoppers shocked at high(er) prices stayed away, and waves of layoffs and store closings followed. Now comes word that suppliers are concerned about getting paid, and the B-word is being bandied about. Stay tuned...
http://morningnewsbeat.com/News/Detail/47690/2015-08-28/

If I had an 18 store chain, I wouldn't buy 146 stores in a different region. Reason #1 would be different markets, reason #2 would be you are buying something that is 70 times bigger than you. If I had a 20 supermarkets (Sawhill's for instance) in Connecticut and Western Mass and (lets say) Federal Tea offered me 150 stores in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia, or 7 stores in Rhode Island, Eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut, I would buy the 7 stores, because I know the market.

[store215]

If I had an 18 store chain, I wouldn't buy 146 stores in a different region. Reason #1 would be different markets, reason #2 would be you are buying something that is 70 times bigger than you. If I had a 20 supermarkets (Sawhill's for instance) in Connecticut and Western Mass and (lets say) Federal Tea offered me 150 stores in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia, or 7 stores in Rhode Island, Eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut, I would buy the 7 stores, because I know the market.

Exactly...it seems like common sense to me for a teeny tiny business to suddenly grow 15x times your size, in completely unfamiliar territory, but what do I know....I swear people in these executive positions have zero common sense..all they see is possible dollar signs.
I almost want to believe it was don't purposely so Haggen will fail, close all the stores, then Safeway/Albertsons can swoop back in and pick up some of the locations again (unless there is some kind of clause about this), as I can't believe a business could make such an asinine move.