# What has happened to Safeway's store brands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033 "2016-05-05T23:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/1 "2016-05-05T23:30:52Z")
I’ve been doing my grocery shopping at Safeway for years, and have cheerfully purchased a number of their store brand products because, most of the time, they were every bit as good as the name brand versions, and sometimes better. Over the last couple years, their store brand products have exhibited a very noticeable drop in quality. These “Snack Artist” snack foods are godawful - I tried some “roasted, salted cashews” that seemed to be neither roasted nor salted. Some mixed nuts had a distinctly chemical taste to them. Picked up some cheap “Pantry Essentials” toilet paper to tide over until payday, and each roll had about enough paper on it for two and a half shits. I recently bought a bottle of the store brand Nyquil knockoff, which in the past was a very close product, flavor-wise, but now tastes so horrible I could barely get it down. Is this in any way related to Albertson’s purchase of Safeway? ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/2 "2016-05-06T00:32:13Z")
I really can’t explain it. I regularly shop at one supermarket chain that was owned by Albertson’s before the merger and it had pretty decent store brand stuff. But since the merger, all of the old store brand stuff has been replaced with Safeway stuff, but with the word “Safeway” scrubbed from the label. You can tell it’s Safeway stuff because the distributor’s address on the label is in Pleasanton CA and because it has names like Lucerne and Signature (instead of “Safeway Signature”). So, no they are not downgrading Safeway stuff because Albertson’s is now supplying it. They seem to be downgrading the Safeway stuff and then replacing the merchandise in their other stores with it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/3 "2016-05-07T04:10:48Z")
Perhaps they have gone to another supplier to save money/increase margins? Safeway store brands have been spotty for 20 years. Their ice cream is good, but their microwave popcorn is awful. Interesting that Albertson’s has adopted the Safeway brand though. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/4 "2016-05-07T04:39:42Z")
I miss the lady lee brand Albertsons killed off they had ok stuff for a store brand although their \*janet lee \* brand was good in their lower income store chain aka grocery warehouse aka max foods … ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/5 "2016-05-07T04:54:26Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Interesting that Albertson’s has adopted the Safeway brand though. Well, it’s either that or Kroger, since the two just about comprise the totality of supermarkets in North America. These are just the generic brands that used to be in plain white packages. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were both produced by the same company. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/6 "2016-05-07T07:20:05Z")
Albertsons split into two companies, unrelated for awhile. I haven’t been to Albertsons branded stores for more than a decade and there aren’t any nearby. Kroger isn’t anywhere near either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/7 "2016-05-07T07:35:59Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > . Some mixed nuts had a distinctly chemical taste to them. Picked up some cheap “Pantry Essentials” toilet paper to tide over until payday, and each roll had about enough paper on it for two and a half shits. I recently bought a bottle of the store brand Nyquil knockoff, which in the past was a very close product, flavor-wise, but now tastes so horrible I could barely get it down. > > Is this in any way related to Albertson’s purchase of Safeway? You have brain cancer, it affects one’s tasting senses. You also have colon cancer. My condolences. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/8 "2016-05-07T08:49:57Z")
guizot writes: \> Well, it’s either that or Kroger, since the two just about comprise the totality of \> supermarkets in North America. While Albertson’s and Kroger are the two largest supermarket chains, they aren’t remotely all of the ones in North America. The following Wikipedia entries give lists of the many different chains. Some areas don’t have any Albertson’s or Kroger stores. Around my area, the ones that I know of are Giant, Safeway, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter, and Wegmans. Supermarkets are more of a regional thing than you suppose: > **[List of supermarket chains in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_the_United_States)** > > This is a list of supermarket companies in the United States of America and the names of supermarkets which are owned or franchised by these companies. For supermarkets worldwide, see List of supermarkets. > **[List of supermarket chains in Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_Canada)** > > This is a list of supermarket chains in Canada. For supermarkets operating in other countries, see List of supermarket chains. > **[List of supermarket chains in Mexico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_Mexico)** I wasn’t sure what counts as North America, so I entered “supermarket chains in North America” into Google and got the following Wikipedia entry which links to the three above: > **[List of supermarket chains in North America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_North_America)** > > This is a list of supermarket chains in North America. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/9 "2016-05-07T12:21:41Z")
Grocery is a weird business in Chicago. Formerly, we had two big chains, Jewel (owned by Albertsons/SuperValu) and Dominick’s (owned by Safeway). Jewel had SuperValu store brands (Essential Everyday, etc.), and Dominick’s had Safeway store brands (Signature, etc.). Most small, independent grocers in the area (Cermak, Valli, and Edgewater Produce come to mind) also had deals where they sold SuperValu store brands. Eventually, Mariano’s (owned by Roundy’s) started moving in, Jewel got bought by Cerberus, Dominick’s got shut down entirely, Safeway got bought by Cerberus and now Jewel has mostly (but not completely) transitioned to Safeway-branded stuff. The small independents are still, weirdly, on SuperValu stuff, and I’m wondering how long that can last considering the major local distribution of that has evaporated. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/10 "2016-05-07T14:20:06Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > guizot writes: > > \> Well, it’s either that or Kroger, since the two just about comprise the totality of > \> supermarkets in North America. > > While Albertson’s and Kroger are the two largest supermarket chains, they aren’t remotely all of the ones in North America. The following Wikipedia entries give lists of the many different chains. Some areas don’t have any Albertson’s or Kroger stores. Around my area, the ones that I know of are Giant, Safeway, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter, and Wegmans. Supermarkets are more of a regional thing than you suppose: > > [List of supermarket chains in the United States - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_the_United_States) > > [List of supermarket chains in Canada - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_Canada) > > [List of supermarket chains in Mexico - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_Mexico) > > I wasn’t sure what counts as North America, so I entered “supermarket chains in North America” into Google and got the following Wikipedia entry which links to the three above: > > [List of supermarket chains in North America - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_North_America) I realize all of this–obviously I was exaggerating. My point is that those two chains own more stores than people usually consider. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/11 "2016-05-07T14:21:34Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Well, it’s either that or Kroger, since the two just about comprise the totality of supermarkets in North America. These are just the generic brands that used to be in plain white packages. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were both produced by the same company. 😕 😕 😕 You must be the only person in the world who has never heard of Walmart. > [@](#): > > Walmart’s largest merchandising category is groceries. It accounts for 56% of sales—or $188 billion. > > According to the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Walmart was the largest seller of grocery items in the US in 2013. It was followed by Kroger (KR), Safeway (SWY), and Publix Super Markets—in that order. [http://marketrealist.com/2015/02/competitive-forces-walmart-dominates-grocery-industry/](http://marketrealist.com/2015/02/competitive-forces-walmart-dominates-grocery-industry/) > [@](#): > > This statistic shows the market share of the leading grocery retailers in the United States in 2014. In that year, Walmart captured the highest market share in the U.S. food retail sector with about 24.5 percent. > **[Food market share grocery retailers United States, 2016 | Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/240481/food-market-share-of-the-leading-food-retailers-of-north-america/)** > > Walmart captured a 17.3 percent share of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/12 "2016-05-07T14:31:57Z")
Safeway still exists? They used to be everywhere, but he last Safeway store I remember shut down more than 20 year ago. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/13 "2016-05-07T17:15:53Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Safeway still exists? They used to be everywhere, but he last Safeway store I remember shut down more than 20 year ago. They’re primarily a West Coast thing. But I just checked their Wikipedia: “It was acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015.” This company were the people behind Albertson’s, huh. The West coast Albertson’s were sold several years ago, and became Lucky, Save Mart, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/14 "2016-05-07T18:20:37Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > They’re primarily a West Coast thing. > > But I just checked their Wikipedia: “It was acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015.” This company were the people behind Albertson’s, huh. The West coast Albertson’s were sold several years ago, and became Lucky, Save Mart, etc. I grew up in the midwest. When I was a kid the name Safeway was pretty much synonymous with grocery store. They were the only chain you could count on there being one in pretty much any town. But in the early 80s, they started converting stores to “Super Safeways” and seemed to grow for a few years, but in the mid 80s they started declining, and most of the stores got renamed “Food Barn”. By the mid 90s they were all shut down, but few people took notice because nobody shopped there anymore anyway. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/15 "2016-05-07T19:33:48Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > 😕 😕 😕 > > You must be the only person in the world who has never heard of Walmart. Yes, but Walmart isn’t a supermarket–or rather, it’s more than a supermarket–so it has fewer locations. The closest Walmart to me is 10 miles, but I’m in practically walking distance of four supermarkets (Von’s, Food 4 Less, Pavillon’s, Ralph’s), that are all from one or the other of these companies. Really, my point is not that literally there are only two companies, but rather that the conceit we maintain of all this variety of store names could be in some ways a meaningless difference, at least when buying packaged food. When ConAgra once recalled some chicken pot pies it was producing, they were being sold as Hill Country Fair (HEB), Food Lion, Great Value (Walmart), Kirkwood (Aldi, Costco), and Kroger (or Ralphs, Food 4 Less), and some others, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/16 "2016-05-07T20:14:00Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > They’re primarily a West Coast thing. > > But I just checked their Wikipedia: “It was acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015.” This company were the people behind Albertson’s, huh. The West coast Albertson’s were sold several years ago, and became Lucky, Save Mart, etc. I only recently noticed that the Alberston’s in my town (in eastern Washington) is now a Haagen (sp?). That change had to have been only within the last year or so. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/17 "2016-05-07T22:05:18Z")
Albertson’s is still here in Portland. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/18 "2016-05-08T00:14:16Z")
where I live vons bought out safeway which had a very nice store but in the late 90s said people didn’t want a bakery a deli ect so it became a “express” so they took them out so about 2004 or 5 vons closed the store because they didn’t want to put those very things back in when people decided they wanted those things after all an “outlet” store moved in for a bit then that closed and after several years its a church … Now theres only 1 vons where we had 6 or 7 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/19 "2016-05-08T00:51:24Z")
Costco is KirkLAND. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-safeways-store-brands/754033/20 "2016-05-08T18:18:27Z")
In the last year my local Safeway has clearly become one of the deeper pits in Hell for the employees. You can see the exhausted desperation everywhere. I feel too guilty to buy meat at the deli anymore, since they cut maximum staffing to 2 employees at any given hour and the workers are clearly in so much pain, psychologically and physically. Every checker I know has whispered to me they would walk out if they could. “Cerberus Capital Management” explains a lot. These evil empires aren’t even really trying to conceal their evil anymore, are they? Might as well re-brand as Dark Satanic Mills, Inc.