Author: Sudhanshu Rewari

For almost a year now, our frontline teammates at Safeway have been true champions for your communities. Every day, you come to work with an inspiring passion to serve Alberta families – and our customers have told us loud and clear just how much they appreciate you.

Through this terrible pandemic, we worked through a long, drawn-out labour negotiation process in Alberta. We’re proud that we finally reached a fair and equitable deal for all this past summer. A deal that was overwhelming supported with a 90% ratification rate by our teammates. A deal that will ensure we continue investing meaningfully in Safeway and welcome FreshCo into the right markets for our customers. We’ve invested millions in the Safeway network and we will continue to progress to the promised $200 million dollar mark by 2025.

With all of this tremendous momentum, it is confusing to hear the recent criticisms from Tom Hesse and the Union Leadership who are campaigning against the deal that they negotiated last summer. This type of communication from the Union only leads to confusion and unnecessary anxiety amongst our hardworking teammates.

We can feel it, the spirit of Safeway is back in action. The Safeway brand is back to celebrating its legacy as Alberta’s hometown grocer, who truly supports local communities, suppliers, charitable causes and families. We are so happy to see the entire network thrive as one team.

We want to be very clear with our Safeway teammates. We are completely committed to supporting the Safeway network in Alberta so it can continue to thrive and reclaim its position as Alberta’s number one grocer. We are also completely committed to ensuring we have the right stores, in the right markets and in some cases, that will mean opening FreshCo stores. We have and will continue to treat all of our teammates fairly and respectfully through this process to secure a strong future for all of us.

There is no room for these useless politics in our stores. We need to stay focused on what is most important – our customers, teammates and our communities. This attempt at creating uncertainty and distraction is particularly disappointing.

It’s important to us that you have access to accurate information. If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with your HR Business Partner or Store Manager – they’re always there to help.

We are hopeful that UFCW 401 will join us, as they have in the past, to refocus on what counts: supporting our teammates and customers through this terrible pandemic, strengthening Safeway and bringing FreshCo to Alberta.

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, our Pharmacy teams have been proud to provide local families with pharmacy services that they can count on. Earlier this week, Alberta Health announced that community pharmacies will be the primary service providers for Alberta’s COVID-19 immunization efforts.  Twelve Safeway locations in Calgary and Edmonton were among the selected pharmacies by Alberta Health. The health of our community is important to us and we’re proud to continue our role of supporting the health and wellbeing of Albertans.

Vaccinations will be available for Albertans aged 75+ at the following Safeway locations:

Calgary:

• Safeway Pharmacy #8803 – Northgate
• Safeway Pharmacy #8816 – Market Mall
• Safeway Pharmacy #8842 – Glenmore Landing
• Safeway Pharmacy #8913 – North Hill
• Safeway Pharmacy #8916 – Montgomery

Edmonton:

• Safeway Pharmacy #8879 – Manning Crossing
• Safeway Pharmacy #8891 – Westmount
• Safeway Pharmacy #8892 – Northgate
• Safeway Pharmacy #8904 – Southgate
• Safeway Pharmacy #8906 – Jasper Gates
• Safeway Pharmacy #8928 – Abbotsfield
• Safeway Pharmacy #8906 – Windermere

We will continue to share additional information on vaccine roll-out plans with our pharmacy teams, store teammates and our patients in the coming days.

For the past year, our Safeway teammates in Alberta have been working hard to provide local families with an essential service that they can count on. We know this is no small feat, but we continue to rise to the challenge and serve our customers with determination and pride. As you know, despite these hurdles, we worked collaboratively with our teammates and UFCW 401 which resulted in a ratified agreement in 2020 – with 90% acceptance – that will help us solidify a strong future in the province.

Making sure that our teammates were positioned for success was important to us, and the agreement contained a number of significant benefits for teammates in converting stores, including:

• An enhanced severance offering (greater than in the previous agreement)
• The option to transfer to another Safeway store, should their location be planned for conversion
• The ability for the 25% most senior teammates in the store, who choose to go to a new FreshCo store, to retain their Safeway economic terms. Those who don’t fall within the 25% most senior will receive a buydown payment and a guaranteed job at FreshCo.

When bargaining with UFCW 401, it was so important to establish conditions that support the introduction of FreshCo stores on existing Safeway pads. We agreed on a process that allowed five months of bargaining and final offer selection arbitration. Not only did the Union ratify the final agreement, but they also received a voluntary recognition agreement for all FreshCo stores in Alberta that didn’t fall on Safeway pads.

We worked together to finalize the new FreshCo agreement as quickly as possible, spending two months bargaining and agreeing to an arbitration hearing for outstanding items. UFCW 401 agreed with the selection of Ms. Norrie as the arbitrator, knowing that she’s highly regarded for being fair and unbiased. The decision issued on February 1, 2021, that UFCW feels is unjust, was the outcome of this arbitration process.

Bargaining with UFCW 401 has been a long process, but from the very beginning, we’ve been open and honest that several Safeway stores are unprofitable. It’s clear that the only way to secure a strong future in Alberta is to introduce a discount option. FreshCo stores allow us to provide customers with the items they want, at the prices they’re looking for, at the same locations where our Safeway stores are currently struggling. Without converting these stores, we have no other option to secure our long-term presence in these markets. While COVID has created a temporary increase in sales, we can’t count on this lift lasting forever, and customers have told us that they prefer to shop at discount grocery stores in several markets.

As we look to the future, we’re confident that we have the hard-working teammates, and the necessary collective agreements, that will help us win together. Thank you for your unwavering dedication to Alberta families during these tough times. Every day, we’re so proud to be on your team.

Despite the challenges that our Safeway teammates faced in 2020, they never missed an opportunity to show up when their communities needed them most.

When we learned that the pandemic had only heightened the need for food donations in communities across Alberta, our teams across Alberta truly stepped up to the challenge and championed our holiday checkstand campaign like never before.

From December 3 to 26, 2020 , our Safeway teammates put in tremendous effort to support local food banks through at-the-register cash donations and the sale of pre-packaged food hampers containing the most needed items. A very special shout out goes to each and every cashier that committed to making the campaign a topic of importance with every customer that passed through your till, inviting them to purchase a hamper or make a donation. This campaign couldn’t be what it is without you!

Through determination, hard work, and an immeasurable commitment to their local communities, our Alberta Safeway teammates doubled their fundraising goal, raising more than $316,300 in food hamper sales and more than $667,400 in cash donations for a total of more than $983,800! Such an absolutely incredible achievement!

A huge thank you goes out to every single teammate for continuing to show up everyday and put your local communities first throughout these challenging times. It is amazing what a large team of good hearted and determined people can accomplish!

​​​​ As part of Sobeys Inc.’s plans to expand the FreshCo discount banner into Western Canada, today we are excited to announce the next six FreshCo locations in Alberta and the first location in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Opening in Fall 2021:

• FreshCo, Court Street, Thunder Bay, ON
• FreshCo Brentwood, Calgary, AB
• FreshCo Millbourne Mall, Edmonton, AB
• FreshCo Coliseum, Edmonton, AB
• Chalo! FreshCo Saddle Ridge, Calgary, AB
• FreshCo Palisades Square, Edmonton, AB
• FreshCo Gateway Village Mall, St. Albert, AB

All six of the Alberta locations and the one Northern Ontario location are currently Safeway stores. Starting this Spring they will close for renovation and construction and will re-open as FreshCo locations.

Our full-service grocery stores are an important part of our customer offer and a valued part of our business. By expanding our store network to include full-service Safeway stores, as well as additional discount FreshCo stores, we are better equipped to win market share by having customers shop with our company rather than discount competitors.

We will be working closely with impacted employees and the respective unions in the coming weeks to ensure the terms of their collective agreements are met and to provide support through this transition.

Pharmacies at these Safeway locations will remain open throughout the closures, renovations and FreshCo re-openings.

We are sincerely grateful for our employees’ commitment and dedicated service to Safeway.

Stay up-to-date at SafewayTalks.ca.

In 2020, we launched our new corporate strategy, Project Horizon, a three-year ambitious growth plan focused on core business expansion and e-commerce acceleration. Project Horizon is rooted in evolution, change and growth, and above all, it will put our stores at the heart of our decisions.

To truly support our stores in a meaningful way, backstage and store teams are collaborating like never before. To help our store teams thrive, many new initiatives are well underway to better equip our stores with the right tools, technology, training and processes to deliver an exceptional customer experience and improve the overall store environment.

One of the first steps to putting our stores first is understanding what’s currently working and where there are opportunities for improvement. Based on feedback received from Store Leaders regarding their ongoing experience with Operations, our backstage Operations team aims to respond to the areas of opportunity identified and work to alleviate some of the backstage operational pain points through the creation of new roles within our Alberta team.

As part of these efforts we’re expanding our operational support teams in Alberta with the creation of a Director of Execution Support (DES) position, supported by a team of Execution Specialists (ES).

Addition of new Execution Specialist roles in Northern and Southern Alberta

 

Ten Alberta Execution Specialists (ES) will provide hands on, in-store leadership support through high caliber teamwork and clear lines of communication, while nurturing our winning culture of success. They’ll also work collaboratively with Stores, District Operators, MROs and backstage partners to drive mutual success. Through training, coaching and mentoring, the Execution Specialists will provide stores the tools, best practices, innovative ideas and program deliverance that will guide them to a consistent and industry-leading execution.

The new backstage operations structure will increase and harmonize Operations leadership support for stores across all regions, while identifying pain points in the current structure and using them to build an action plan for our shared future success. Together, we’ll monitor progress and performance and pivot where needed to ensure that our stores are receiving the support they need to win. Once we determine the recipe for success this model will be rolled out across Canada.

We all have an important to role to play in executing our new structure, and your support and engagement will truly contribute to the success of this project. If you have any questions about Project Horizon or our commitment to Supporting Our Stores, please reach out to your Department or Store Manager. We look forward to sharing more updates as the project unfolds.

For more than 90 years, Safeway has proudly served the distinct needs of Albertan families in cities across the province. We know that Safeway has strong roots right here at home, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue meaningfully investing in the province.

Our customers and our communities across Alberta are changing, and it’s more important than ever that we invest in the right stores, in the right markets, to meet the shift in consumer preferences. This means giving many of our old-favourites a much-needed facelift to bolster the Safeway brand and better serve our customers.

Recently, our talented teams across the business spent months planning, renovating and reopening both Garneau Safeway in Edmonton and Canmore Safeway.

On December 10, we celebrated the long-awaited grand reopening Garneau Safeway. Not only did the renovation include a beautiful new polished exterior, but the inside of the store is full of incredible enhancements, including an expanded deli and Home Meal Replacement (HMR) department, new antipasto and olive bars, and expanded self-serve salad bars and cheese selections. Garneau Safeway is also now home to a new pharmacy consultation room to support customers with all of their grocery and pharmacy needs.

Safeway Garneau: Before and After

Just a few months ago, amidst the incredible demands of the pandemic, our Canmore Safeway team also wowed us all with the grand re-opening of their beautiful new store. Since this time, countless customers (both the regulars and the new-comers!) have praised the store’s bold new look. The renovations included everything from expanded aisles to broaden the grocery selection, to a broadened wellness section and new produce tables to create a fresh market-like feel. The store also boasts upgraded lighting, freshly painted walls, and new signage throughout.

While these stores haven’t been open for long since being remodelled, customer response has been strong and we’re continuing to focus on driving footsteps and bolstering the customer experience. We’re proud to say that these stores have proven to be the right investment, in the right markets.

But we’re not stopping there. Over the coming years, we’ll continue investing in Safeway in Alberta through the remodeling and grand re-opening of many more, including Mission Safeway, Crowfoot Safeway and Bonny Doon Safeway.

We’d like to send our sincere thanks to everyone who played an important role in making the Garneau and Canmore openings a reality – and to everyone who will continue to help us drive Safeway success in Alberta in the years to come. We know these projects are no small feat, but your hard work, dedication and true Safeway pride make it all possible. Way to go, team!