Month: August 2019

Calling all store teams! Join the Safeway #myCFLFamily Contest today!

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

Back in June, we proudly announced our new partnership with the CFL. We know that football is more than just the game – it’s the league, the fans, the food, and the way it brings families together. We’ve had a blast bringing our CFL partnership to life with our customers, but we know that some of the ultimate CFL fans are our own Safeway store teams. Our teams never back down from a challenge and we’re ready to put your CFL pride to the test.

We’re challenging all of our Safeway store teams to join forces and come up with their very best CFL inspired product display. Displays can incorporate products from all departments and be as fun, unique and innovative as you can make them. This is the time to finally roll out that great idea that you’ve been pondering. Sounds fun, right? It gets better.

What’s the prize?

A replica of the Grey Cup? Nah, even cooler. Each winning store will receive $500 to host a team pizza party PLUS two pairs of tickets (four tickets per store) to the closest CFL game, as well as CFL merchandise!

Here’s how it works:

  • Starting today, teams have two weeks to build a great CFL inspired display. One team per store, please.
  • Photos of your merch masterpiece must be submitted on https://safewaytalks.ca/cfl-contest/ by September 11, 2019. All photo submissions will be displayed online.
  • From September 13 – 22, Safeway employees (plus friends and family) will vote for their favorite display.
  • Three winning displays will be selected per region (BC, AB, SMO) and announced on September 23 – for a total of 9 winning stores!
  • Full contest terms and conditions are available here.

A huge shout out goes to all teams who join us in celebrating our CFL partnership. We couldn’t be more excited to continue connecting our Safeway family through food and sport, and we look forward to checking out all of your hard work!

In the meantime, if you have questions about the Safeway #myCFLfamily merchandising contest, please contact your Store Manager. 

Safeway Alberta stores help make back to school a breeze

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

With summer slowly coming to an end and school bells beginning to ring around Alberta, our Safeway stores are geared up with all the best back to school basics to better serve our customers.

We know that the transition from summer to school can be a hectic time for many of our busy customers, but our Safeway teammates went above and beyond to make shopping the back to school check list a breeze for Alberta families. As the back to school grocery destination for our customers, our teams tested some of their best mechanising skills to create fun and engaging displays that spark a little back to school excitement – even for our smallest shoppers.

Take a look at just a few of the great displays below – and a special shout out to Safeway Heritage in Edmonton for their outstanding commitment to nurturing families and serving their local community. Supporting the Can Man Dan Foundation, the Heritage team gathered donations to help send less fortunate children back to school  with all the gear (and nutrition!) they need to succeed.

Way to go to all Alberta Safeway stores who continue to go above and beyond to delight our customers with not only the best product assortment and displays, but our world-class customer service. Happy back to school!

Safeway Heritage – Edmonton, AB

Safeway Chestermere Station – Chestermere, AB

Safeway Safeway Bonnie Doon – Edmonton, AB

Safeway Westbrook Shopping Centre – Calgary, AB

Introducing the new and improved Beltline Safeway!

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

Beltline Safeway has officially reopened! After months of renovations, Kevin Wilson, Store Manager and his dedicated and talented store team have officially revealed the beautiful store upgrades and extensive new offerings.

Beltline Safeway has been a fixture in the heart of Calgary’s downtown core since 1997. With a clear shift in customer preferences, including an increased focus on convenience and health and wellness, we knew it was the right time to invest in the store’s future.

The newly renovated store proudly showcases 38,000 square feet of outstanding improvements, including:

  • A new, larger salad bar
  • A self-serve hot food counter with a variety of freshly prepared, ready-to-eat meal options including hot breakfast, Chinese and Indian cuisine, and pizzas
  • Expanded full service meat and seafood departments.
  • A larger seating area that can accommodate up to 30 people, an increase from just eight originally….and more!

Beltline’s new Wellness and Natural Source department is stocked with extensive organic, gluten free, natural and locally sourced products. Some of the store’s local offerings include delicious gluten free and vegan donuts and cinnamon buns from Mountain Rhino, healthy and refreshing drinks from Happy Belly Kombucha and Well Juicery, power-packed 100% vegan energy bars from Viabar, and fresh-roasted coffee from Analog Coffee. And to further support our customers, a wellness counsellor is available on-site to answer any nutrition and health-related questions.

A huge shout out goes to Kevin and the Beltline store team for maintaining top-notch customer service levels throughout the renovations. Outstanding job, team!

We also want to recognize all the folks who worked hard during the remodel and the preparation for the Grand Opening. We sincerely appreciate your expertise, leadership, attention to detail and customer service. Thank you!

Stay tuned to Safeway Talks as we share more updates on our commitment to investing in Safeway’s future.

More than $900,000 raised for Special Olympics Canada!

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

Thanks to the dedication of our outstanding colleagues and the generosity of our customers, the 2019 Special Olympics Check-Stand Campaign raised more than $900,000 in support of Special Olympics Canada; an amazing milestone and a huge increase over last year’s campaign!

From June 20 to July 3, we rallied cashiers and teammates across the country in support of our friends Special Olympics Canada. Over a two-week period, we invited customers to make a $2 donation at the check-stand at their local Safeway, Sobeys, Foodland, IGA West, Urban Fresh and Thrifty Foods store, with a goal of raising $1 million.

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of employees and customers, plus a donation from Sobeys Inc., we are excited to announce that we raised a total of $929,980 in support of Special Olympics Canada! Although we were just shy of our $1 million goal, we are so proud to say we raised over $200,000 more than last year’s campaign!

100% of funds raised will support Special Olympics programs across Canada. We know that we have many Safeway teammates and customers who are Special Olympics athletes, family members, coaches and volunteers, so we couldn’t be more excited and proud to support the cause and help shift the focus from disability to ability.

A huge thank you to the Safeway team for stepping up to the challenge! You didn’t hesitate to join forces and unite our customers in support of a very worthy cause. As a national partner, we are proud to continue to support Special Olympics Canada as they enrich the lives of 47,500 Canadians with intellectual disabilities through the transformative power of sport. Outstanding job, team! Thank you very much!

Taking a closer look at our store network

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

Teammates,

Today, we are meeting with UFCW 401 to continue collective bargaining.

At the bargaining table, we are sharing information about the store network in Alberta that helps explain the challenges we are facing. It’s important to me that we continue to be transparent with you.

There are approximately 50 stores within the Safeway Alberta network that are struggling. The balance of our Safeway stores are holding their own, although they have some challenges.

Of these struggling stores, 20 are in the wrong markets. We know customers are looking for discount shopping options and we cannot meet their needs with full-service stores. We are considering converting these 20 Safeway stores to FreshCo. These conversions would allow us to better compete and provide more viable jobs for employees.

Converting some of our Safeway stores to FreshCo stores does not solve all of the challenges we are facing in Alberta. We have a solid plan to win at Safeway. We are investing in marketing and merchandising. We also have a significant amount of capital allocated to bring this plan to life.

It’s our current intention to invest $200 million in the Safeway network over the next five years. The challenge is we cannot accomplish these plans if we do not have the right collective agreement in place to provide stability for our business. We need stability through a number of factors to invest the money. The FreshCo expansion plans are not included in the $200 million investment.

I’ve been on the Safeway team for 43 years and I’m committed to winning with you. You have my commitment that my leadership team and I will do everything we can to work with you now and through any changes, so we can win together. We will continue to be transparent with you.

We take collective bargaining seriously and want to move the conversation forward. If we can work together to lay the proper foundation for the Company’s future, including the introduction of FreshCo into Alberta, we are confident that we can win together.

Thank you for your continued hard work and commitment to Safeway and our customers.

 

Scott Chollak

VP, Operations, Alberta

A commitment to reducing plastic in our stores

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

Our customers and teammates have told us they want to use less plastic, and we agree with them. Last week, ​​​​​​we proudly announced our commitment to removing plastic grocery bags from all Sobeys banner stores by January 31, 2020. This change will take 225 million plastic grocery bags out of circulation at our 255 Sobeys locations across Canada each year and remove 800 million plastic bags from circulation when we remove them from all banners, including Safeway.

While we work together to will eliminate plastic grocery bags and introduce paper bags, our ultimate goal is to shift shopping patterns to focus on reusable shopping bags. This is a significant step in our company’s journey to eliminate unnecessary plastic from our stores and we’re committed to making meaningful progress, where possible.

​​While we phase out plastic grocery bags at our banners, we’ll continue to launch innovative and unique programs to reduce plastics in other areas of the store and encourage customers to choose reusable bags.

This August, in the produce aisle, Sobeys will introduce a line of reusable mesh produce bags, made from recycled water bottles, to provide customers with an alternative for their fresh produce. These reusable bags were launched at our IGA stores in Quebec in June and received highly positive feedback from customers.

In July, we launched a pilot to phase out unnecessary plastic at nine of our Sobeys Urban Fresh stores in Toronto, where customers are provided recyclable paper bags at our plastic-free tomato bars to carry their snacking tomatoes.

We will continue to work with our supplier and industry partners to eliminate plastics from our system, where possible, while ensuring we balance important factors like food waste and food safety when assessing the need for plastic packaging in grocery retail. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as we continue our sustainability commitment.

Don’t forget to pick up your reusable Safeway bag the next time you’re in store!

Click here​ to read the full Press Release.

A Commitment to Fair Bargaining

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

We continue to be dedicated to keeping you informed with relevant updates directly from the bargaining table. Last week, we shared that progress with UFCW 401 has been slow and we haven’t achieved the momentum that we’ve been hoping for. The Union has been distracted from proposals that impact you and your teammates. Instead of working collaboratively to come to a fair agreement, the Union continues to slow the process down and focus on pulling us apart.

After bargaining had concluded last week, we received an unfair labour practice complaint brought on by UFCW 401. The unfair labour practice complaint alleges that the Company has engaged in activity that involves prohibited conduct under the Alberta Labour Code. The Union expressed particular concerns with:

  1. The closure of Southland Crossing Safeway
  2. The introduction of FreshCo & associated disclosure of Alberta Safeway store financials, profitability and sales

We were open and honest, both with the Union and our teams, on the Southland Crossing Safeway closure. Store closures are never easy decisions to make. We frequently review our real estate assets and the decision to close this store was in line with our normal course of business. Various factors were carefully considered and unfortunately, despite the hardworking efforts of the store team, the store had been unprofitable for a number of years, sales were stagnant and not expected to improve, and the store’s lease was up for renewal. The decision to close this store was not made until the week of May 6, 2019, and had no relation to ongoing bargaining. As always, we are so grateful for the dedicated service of the Southland Crossing team and will continue to work closely with impacted employees, and their respective unions, to ensure all collective agreement terms are met.

We have always been eager to discuss store financials with Union leadership in an attempt to advance bargaining. We want the Union to fully understand the reality of the financial state of many of our underperforming Safeway stores. UFCW 401 has refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement that is necessary to protect confidential competitive information. We are prepared to provide Union leadership with financial information to further demonstrate why it is necessary that we introduce FreshCo in Alberta. As the Company pointed out in response to the Union complaint, detailed evaluations and final decisions on which stores will be converted have not yet been finalized, however, the candidates for conversion all fit the same profile: they are currently unprofitable, their sales are flat or declining, they are in neighbourhoods where market research indicates that the majority of consumers are cost conscious, and they are in otherwise solid grocery retail locations.

We’ve approached every bargaining session with clear goals and objectives and a commitment to coming to a fair agreement that balances everyone’s needs and interests. UFCW 401’s unfair labour practice complaint is without merit and will only stall our progress towards securing new collective agreements. We have respectfully requested that the Union’s unfair labour practice complaint be dismissed.

Now more than ever, we have to stick together and stay true to our Safeway values. Our bargaining committee will continue to come to the table prepared to advance negotiations. Thank you, again, for your continued patience, hard work, and commitment to Safeway.

Click here to read the Company’s full response to UFCW 401’s complaints.