Safeway Sells Canadian Operations to Sobey's

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

From the Islanders I know - they all say that Thrifty's went down the tubes as soon as Sobeys bought it. Quality, pricing - all took a hit.

Since Jammies is so interested, the Island also has Quality Foods with 11 locations and one here. BC owned and operated and I prefer them over the local Safeway and Overwaitea.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Robotic

This is a rigged. When the weekly reporting is done for this, Coop knows what day and what items will be on 'random' selection of groceries. So they purposely put the items on sale for that day.

Edit - This is for produce only. I cannot comment on other competitors, but I wouldn't be surprised if they all do it.

Yeah. We have shopped at Coop before and always found it more expensive than Safeway (always) so I was surprised to see that news article.

[goodyear]

What if....

They rename all the current Safeway(s) as IGA?!

#boom
#flashbackfriday

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by goodyear

What if....

They rename all the current Safeway(s) as IGA?!

#boom
#flashbackfriday

They can't. Sobeys doesn't own the name, just done if the franchises. Oddly enough, London Drugs owns them in BC...

#imtooseriousallthetime

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by jammies

You forgot to mention where you shop.

Let me guess. For you Planet Organic?? hahaha

[AMG_G]

I have been to a Sobeys once and found it meh. I do most of my shopping at Coop mostly because it is a few blocks from my house, you really have to catch their sales to get good value there. When I run low on asian stuff I will make a trip to T and T (owned by Loblaws now) up north to stock up. If I am around 16th and center street I usually stop by Lamba to pick up some chinese fruits and vegetables too. I think the little family run asian market has the best prices for produce and mystery meats. Superstore rarely..Safeway never...Costco only when I use up my 10000 garbage bags. But I make an effort to avoid Costco because we never leave there with a bill less than $400.

[WilderPegasus]

Sobeys have wide variation between their stores. I've been in a crappy little one in downtown Edmonton, a couple of average ones in Ontario, a much nicer one in New Brunswick and some really nice IGA's in Quebec that had built in coffee roasters among other amenities (Sobey's uses IGA in Quebec as their store name).

[Stay Golden]

We buy most of our groceries at Super store. Produce and Meat at CO-OP tend to have better quality we have found anyways. Safeway really doesn't factor because of distance. CO-OP and Superstore are 5-6 min drives away.
We usually get B Day cakes from Sobey's though the one nearby has a good bakery.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Let me guess. For you Planet Organic?? hahaha

I'm a freegan, which goes along with my union job, hippy hygiene, and hatred of freedom.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

We buy most of our groceries at Super store. Produce and Meat at CO-OP tend to have better quality we have found anyways. Safeway really doesn't factor because of distance. CO-OP and Superstore are 5-6 min drives away.
We usually get B Day cakes from Sobey's though the one nearby has a good bakery.

All Sobeys cakes come in frozen from their warehouse. Some may not have been in the freezer for as long as at other stores so they may taste better. The decorating is different all together and can really vary depending upon who is doing it. Sobeys does still do scratch baking for the most part (breads, buns, doughnuts) which is something many other chains so do, so their bakery items should taste fresher, but maybe not taste how you like it.

Another thing about Sobeys is that there are quite a few which are franchised. They still have to follow the Sobeys programs, but you will see a difference as many owners are also store managers and have a lot more riding on the store. It could also go the other way, once the store is paid for, the owners can just sit back and enjoy their money they as they busted their butts off for 15 years. As for corporate store managers, they are just kissing the zone managers a$$ looking for a promotion and don't get near the support from the staff that an owner gets, mostly because of the pay structure at corperate stores which is awful.

[Violator]

Im happy that Save-on foods is coming they are average in everything Price Produce meat dairy and general goods they also have Western Family brand.I really wished they would have brought price mart instead I worked at superstore distribution food used to fall on the ground and they used to accept produce with mold on it Safeway has the highest standards for produce.

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Has anyone ever won that? Man, that $1M provision booked to their balance sheet must have sat there since the dawn of time.

Didn't Nieuwendyk score 5 once? Probably predates Score & Win, though.

[van fan down by river]

Originally Posted by NBC

Don't be too sure of that. Overwaitie, Save-On's parent company, might be in a similar position to Canada Safeway. Sobey's has virtually no retail presence in BC and this would give them an opportunity to break into that market. I could see either Loblaw's or Sobey's offering Jimmy Pattison loads of cash to sell out. This could ring the death knell for many retail food chains.

I have a source that tells that this close to happening. But with Sobeys taking over Safeway. who knows if the wheels will come off this bus.

[Derek Sutton]

The Sobeys/ Overwatiea rumor has been around for 10 years or so.

[darockwilder]

Safeway, 23 slaves, Old Liver Hopkins....

G/S/B

[troutman]

Talked to Safeway cashier on the weekend. She is worried, saying Safeway in unionized, and Sobeys is not.

[mrkajz44]

My girlfriend worked at Safeway a little ways back and the stories I heard about the union were just gross. I sure hope Sobeys gets rid of the union - there were so many people she worked with that wouldn't have a job if not for senority and the union.

[cKy]

Originally Posted by BloodFetish

Didn't Nieuwendyk score 5 once? Probably predates Score & Win, though.

He did it on January 11, 1989 according to Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...in_an_NHL_game

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by troutman

Talked to Safeway cashier on the weekend. She is worried, saying Safeway in unionized, and Sobeys is not.

There are 3 unionized Sobey's locations in Calgary, also Sobey's is pretty heavily unionized out East.

They have very little to worry about.

[stampsx2]

Attention service desk, 2......0.....1