Which stores were placed under Quarterly Review?
UFCW Locals 1518 and 247 were notified on June 12, 2017, that we are triggering the Quarterly Review process for the following 20 stores:
- #121 Lougheed Mall Burnaby
- #92 Strawberry Hills Surrey
- #1 Surrey Central
- #184 Newton Town Centre Surrey
- #62 Fleetwood Surrey
- #161 Broadmoor Richmond
- #20 Sunwood Square Coquitlam
- #70 Trail
- #84 Collingwood Vancouver
- #90 English Bay Vancouver
- #33 City Square Vancouver
- #138 Blundell Richmond
- #89 Sahali Kamloops
- #14 Sunshine Hills Delta
- #7 Dilworth Kelowna
- #75 100 Mile House
- #2 West Broadway Vancouver
- #36 Robson Vancouver
- #179 Trenant Park Ladner
- #182 Powell River
We’ve since announced that we will be closing #90 English Bay in Vancouver to make way for the redevelopment of the property. We do not own this property, and due to the landlord’s revised redevelopment timelines, we’ve removed this store from the Quarterly Review Process as it will be closing on August 31, 2017.
How many of the 19 stores do you already have in mind to close?
Our goal is to have stores where people want to shop. That is how we’ll renew Safeway. It is the only road to stable jobs for thousands of people.
To get there – as Safeway people know well – we need to make these stores viable. That’s what this process aims to do. These stores can’t keep operating at a loss.
We do not want to have to close stores. But to keep them open, we need to lower our costs and increase our sales in our non-profitable stores.
Will any stores under Quarterly Review be re-bannered?
The Safeway banner has a long history in western Canada. Our ultimate goal is to transform our business, better serve our customers, engage our employees and move from defence to offence in the market.
We do not currently have any specific plans to alter or change this banner in any stores under Quarterly Review.
When does this process start? When does the 180-day countdown begin?
The 180-day timeline runs from the beginning of the Quarterly Review process until the presentation to the arbitrator. Safeway triggered the Quarterly Review process on June 12, 2017. No meeting dates have been set.
How come some of our competitors (e.g. Ferrero Foods in Rossland, BC) are selling our Compliments items for less than we are? Why are we supplying them our product line?
The grocery business is competitive, and the economic pressures in the west have added even more pressure to our business. This means to stay viable as a company, we need to grow revenues.
Wholesaling allows us to sell our products, including our private label brands, from our warehouses to smaller independent grocers like Ferrero Foods, and generate revenues from outside of our own stores.
Our wholesale business has been a significant part of our company for decades, and will continue to be an important way for us to offset operating costs at our warehouses, grow our brand, our business and our customer base and keep people employed with strong, stable jobs.
If there are no concessions made, and the store under review closes, will employees be given the opportunity to transfer?
Safeway will respect the rules set out in our collective agreements.
Our employees are the backbone of our business, without you we couldn’t keep the customers coming back. No matter the outcome of the Quarterly Review process in each store, we will honour the obligations in respect to transfers set out in our Collective Agreements.
My store was already under Quarterly Review. Why is it part of this process again?
We are still not achieving the results we want at some stores that had been previously been under Quarterly Review so we’ve decided to have another look at those stores. The original Quarterly Review decisions remain in place, but we are seeking further adjustments to improve the viability of those stores through this process.
If someone is on disability and a store closes, what will happen to them?
We want to be clear, we do not want to close stores. But even with the actions the Company is taking through Project Sunrise to cut costs and simplify the way we do business, we still face the highest costs in the industry.
However, if a store closes, we would work to address the situation of employees who are impacted by the closure. This will include those on disability and their specific circumstances. In all such situations, our intent will be to always do what is required in accordance with our legal obligations and our collective agreements.
