Author: Varinder Singh

We often have products in our flyers that are not on the shelves. This continues to be a problem in our stores and we are regularly apologizing to our customers for our out-of-stock items. What are we doing to fix this issue?

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We understand that having out-of-stocks is extremely frustrating for you, especially when such products are advertised.

In Grocery, the more significant issues that we face are:

  • Forecasting: Following the acquisition, we had to integrate our systems resulting in changes to tools and processes.  People needed to be retrained.  Our RSCs were consolidated which led to logistical issues.  All of this led to shortages on our shelves.  We continue to work hard to improve the collaboration between our Buyers, our Category Managers and our Vendors.
  • Delisted items: In some cases, stores are ordering delisted or seasonal items that are no longer available.  We are working very hard to update our POGs (Planograms ) and getting better at communicating our delists to the stores.
  • Vendor shortages: We are experiencing a number of problems with vendor shortages that are higher than usual.
  • Frozen Food was a major issue a couple of months ago when we consolidated several of our frozen RSCs. Our service levels are recovering although we are still not where we need to be.

In the case of Fresh:

  • Our produce service levels have been challenged by the growing conditions in California, which have been worse this year than in previous years.
  • The supply of beef has been very tight so, if the stores sell more than forecasted, we run into problems getting replacement stock. Even if we find product, our standard of 21 days of aging means that we likely can’t ship it even if we have it.

In warehousing, we have made a significant investment in leading-age technology at our Rocky View warehouse. This warehouse is one of the most sophisticated and smart warehouses in the country and will position us well in the future.

So, while it is true that we are still experiencing problems with out-of-stocks, we are happy to hear that the stores are reporting progress every week. As time goes on and our people become more familiar with their new systems, tools and processes, we will continue to see improvements in our stock levels in our stores.  This is a priority for us and it will continue to receive the highest level of attention and focus it deserves.

Lawson Heights is moving on to bigger, better location

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We are excited to announce we are relocating Safeway’s Lawson Heights location in Saskatoon to a newly-renovated space on the opposite end of the mall, in what was formerly a Target location. The official opening is expected to take place in early 2018.

We are working to determine staffing requirements for the new store. This includes relocating employees from the current location, which will continue serving the area’s shoppers until the move takes place.

This is one more step in our commitment to re-invest in our Safeway community, building and strengthening our business in an ultra-competitive market. We know our staff are working hard to provide the best service to our shoppers and we will continue these investments in our store network, offering a high-value shopping experience with a focus on quality products at affordable prices.

The updated, full-service Safeway store will be larger than the current Lawson Heights location, offering a better assortment of products and greater variety for our Saskatoon customers.

We still face extremely tough and growing competition from our competitors. If we want to return to our role as Western Canada’s leading grocery store — providing thousands of good, stable jobs — we must get our costs back into line. Considering the success we’ve seen with our franchised stores in Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, we plan to franchise this location when we have better insight on the sales in this new store. We believe that building a mix of both corporately owned and franchised stores is critical to the overall success of our business.

We will share more details on timing as they become available, and we are happy to answer any questions our employees may have. Lawson Heights staff can direct their questions to their Store Manager Jim Buzzard, Director of Operations Todd Leibel, or Human Resources Manager Cheryl Tomlinson.

This relocation is an exciting move for us, and one that will help us face and overcome our challenges as we move forward building a better Safeway future, together.

CFL, Blue Bombers and Safeway/Sobeys Reach out to Karen Kuldys

Posted on by Varinder Singh

You might have heard about last week’s CFL close call where Karen Kuldys almost won the Safeway/Sobeys $1,000,000 Touchdown to Win contest. Twitter lit up with #whataboutkaren tweets, and we’re happy to share the following on how we came together with our partners in the CFL in support of Karen.

 

Friday, July 14, 2017 — WINNIPEG – Canadian Football League Commissioner Randy Ambrosie spoke with Winnipeg Blue Bomber fan and Safeway and Sobeys’ Touchdown To Win contestant Karen Kuldys today and invited her and her family to attend this year’s 105th Grey Cup presented by Shaw in Ottawa as VIP guests of the League.

“We’re all fans and whatever team you root for, we would all love to see a CFL fan win a million dollars. So we all feel for Karen and what she must have gone through last night, and what she must still be feeling today. I was in Winnipeg for the game and I spoke with her today. On behalf of the CFL, I invited her and her family to come to Grey Cup this year as our guests,” said Randy Ambrosie, the CFL’s Commissioner. “I know Karen’s a Blue Bomber fan and her son plays football, so we spoke with Wade Miller, the President and CEO of the Bombers, this morning. He immediately pledged to provide Karen with Bombers season’s tickets for the rest of this season and next season as well. We all know these things can’t compare to a million dollars but we wanted to do something to let her and her family know that we all wished she could have won last night.”

He added: “It was a very tough call made by our official last night, one that could have gone either way. There are tough calls made all the time in our game because these are world class athletes, moving at tremendous speeds, and we ask our officials to make difficult judgement calls in the blink of an eye, and we have to respect their decisions.”

Safeway and Sobeys’ Touchdown to Win Contest, which awards a Visions $25,000 home theatre package to a contest entrant if one kickoff is returned for touchdown, and a million dollars if a second kickoff is returned for a touchdown in the same game, is part of the grocery chains’ partnership with TSN, which along with RDS is the exclusive broadcaster of the CFL. Today, Sobeys announced that, in addition to the home theatre package, it will provide Karen with free groceries for one year at any Safeway or Sobeys.

“We were thrilled that Karen won a $25,000 home theatre package after one kickoff was returned for a touchdown,” said Lyne Castonguay, Executive Vice President, Sobeys Inc. “And while we can’t reverse a referee’s on-field call, we are delighted to be able to offer Karen a year’s worth of free groceries in addition to the great football offers made by the CFL and the Blue Bombers.”

What is the purpose of providing a questions and answer section on Safeway Talks?

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Safeway Talks is a way that we can communicate with you about the big changes going on in the Company. This includes everything from Project Sunrise, to local initiatives that we’re proud of in your community!

That being said, we understand there will be employees who take this as an opportunity to ask questions about Human Resources, Operations or other departments. We want to encourage those with questions pertaining to specifics departments to reach out to their Store Manager, DO or HR manager with these questions so they can get you an answer in a timely manner.

We are very excited about the questions we have been receiving and we hope you continue to reach out with all questions about what we are doing to make Safeway a better place for our customers to shop and for you to work!

We hope you have the opportunity to discuss Safeway Talks with your coworkers and get involved in the conversation. We’re listening!

What is Safeway doing to be more competitive on our pricing?

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Our position on pricing is that we will be competitive. This happens through a variety of programs like our new Weekly Savings program, our expanded Buy More/Save More program, a variety of AIR MILES offers, our Enhanced Everyday Value Program and Dollar Days, etc.

However, this does not necessarily mean that we will have the lowest prices on everything or match all of our competitors’ prices. No full-service store, including our competitors, can do this.

Instead, our customers look for other “value” in their shopping experience…value that is found in great service, knowledgeable staff, clean stores, convenient locations, variety, not to mention availability, freshness and quality of products.  All of these and more are the reasons why customers shop at Safeway. At the end of the day, we want our customers to come away from our stores happy and knowing that they have received “value” for their hard earned dollar.

Why do we not charge a baggage fee in our stores?

Posted on by Varinder Singh

From a sustainability perspective, we support reusable bags as the preferred option for customers to take their groceries home. In fact, our reusable ‘Bag for Life’ program encourages customers to purchase a reusable bag, and if that bag gets damaged in any way, we will replace it for free!

We also appreciate that our customers want choice and convenience when it comes to their grocery bags, so while many of competitors are now charging, we continue to provide single-use bags at no charge and reusable polypropylene bags for a minimal fee.

We are committed to providing an exceptional shopping experience for our customers including providing free single-use bags for our customers at Safeway. This is one of the ways we are differentiating ourselves from our competitors who charge for these bags and we believe our customers appreciate this service.

FAQ Update: B.C. Quarterly Review Process

Posted on by Varinder Singh

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.

B.C. Wildfires: How We’re Helping

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Since the fires began to escalate on July 6, we’ve been working closely with our community partners, the Canadian Red Cross, and local emergency response teams to provide emergency supplies to those affected.

On July 11, we launched an in-store campaign in the province of BC, where customers can make a donation towards the Red Cross at their local Safeway or Thrifty Foods store. One hundred per cent of donations will support relief efforts.

Sobeys Inc. will match customer donations made in-store throughout BC up to a maximum of $25,000. In addition, Sobeys has provided more than $7,000 in provisions to date such as food, meals and water.

Thank you to our incredible employees and generous customers.  Together we can help provide further support to our neighbours impacted by the approximately 250 fires raging in BC.

If you would like to make a donation and you are outside BC please visit the Red Cross website at www.redcross.ca

Update for Employees Affected by B.C. Wildfires

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We’re thankful all employees from our 100 Mile House store and their families were evacuated safely and we are aware the Williams Lake employees are currently on standby for possible evacuation. We recognize this is an extremely difficult and challenging time filled with uncertainty. We are here to help support you.

Time lines for residents and businesses to return to their communities are still being determined. It remains unclear when our store will reopen and our employees will be able to return to work.

We continue to closely monitor the situation and are working with the BC government to ensure we have the latest information.

We’re committed to keeping impacted employees up-to-date as the situation unfolds as it relates to return to work timelines, employee support and relief efforts. Employees can:

Financial Update for Employees

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Safeway employees,

Earlier this week our CEO Michael Medline announced quarterly results for Empire Company, the company that owns Sobeys and Safeway.

These results are important not only to our shareholders, but also to you, our employees. Ultimately you, are a big part of tackling our challenges and securing our future. These results are a measure of how we are all doing. The numbers Michael announced this week told us we are on the right track. But they also confirmed there is much more to be done.

As Michael said, “we are not where we want to be and we are most certainly not out of the woods yet. Although we are doing a better job of managing our day-to-day business, we remain in the nascent stages of delivering significant cost savings while addressing a number of brand and customer offering opportunities that will provide a compelling reason for consumers to shop us more.”

What does this mean for Safeway? It means we are at the very early stages of getting back to being the place where customers want to shop. That is how we will build a strong and growing company, with stable jobs for our people. To be able to do that, we have to do many things at Safeway — including getting a handle on costs which, right now, are among the highest in this crowded and brutally competitive industry. We have to address this issue since doing nothing won’t make our challenge go away. Addressing it gives us a path forward.

For more information on the results, you can find the full comments here.

You can also read some of the coverage here.

We’re in this together.

Jason Potter