Category: Feature

Safeway Talks Summer Contest wraps up with six winners

Posted on by Varinder Singh

With the Safeway Talks Summer Contest finished, we’ve got great news for six lucky Safeway employees who entered to win by signing up for regular updates from Safeway Talks.

The winners are:

Grand prize ($1,500 gift card):
Janna Zielinski, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta

Runners-up ($1,000 gift card):
Dixie Hallatt, Leduc, Alberta
Kaylee McLeod, West Vancouver, B.C.

Third place ($500 gift card):
Graham Clifton, Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Gail Lalonde, Abbotsford, B.C.
Helga Jensen, Camrose, Alberta

Please join us in congratulating our winners!

Keep checking in with us at Safeway Talks for news and updates, and stay tuned for future contests.

We’d like to thank everyone for joining the conversation and taking part in the contest. We encourage you to continue sharing Safeway Talks with your coworkers and keep communicating with us on Safeway Talks.

Your input is important to us, and we want to hear from you as we work together to build a stronger future for Safeway.

Alberta Court bans loyalty rewards on prescription purchases

Posted on by Varinder Singh

On September 22, Alberta’s Court of Appeal released its decision on pharmacies’ ability to issue loyalty rewards to customers purchasing their prescriptions, banning all pharmacies throughout the province from offering a rewards programs, overturning the previous ruling by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. Sobeys Inc. initially applied for judicial review of the proposed incentive ban by the Alberta College of Pharmacist in 2014, and the matter has been before the courts.

This is a ruling that affects all banners across Alberta, and, as it’s our goal to provide the best value and experience for our shoppers, we are obviously disappointed with the outcome.

“In addition to the professional services and trusted advice provided by Safeway, Sobeys and IGA pharmacists, we believe that we contribute to better patient care by offering rewards that help increase loyalty, adherence and ultimately improved health outcomes. While this ruling has now taken away loyalty rewards from all Albertans, our pharmacists will continue to offer trusted professional advice and the best possible care to our patients,” said Jedd Wood, Vice President and General Manager of Sobeys National Pharmacy Group.

We encourage all our Safeway employees to continue their work in building stronger connections with customers and providing great service in store. As this decision comes into effect immediately, please inform customers with questions that:

  • The ruling is province-wide, affecting all pharmacies
  • AIR MILES can still be earned on groceries, health and beauty products and all non-prescription medications
  • We still have a team of world-class pharmacists providing the same great level of service, advice and care as they always have

Our goal continues to be regaining our place as one of Western Canada’s leading grocery stores — a place that can provide good, stable jobs for thousands. And we’ll do this by ensuring our stores are simply best place for our customers to shop.

Financial Update For Employees

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Safeway employees,

Last week, our CEO Michael Medline announced this year’s first quarter financial results for Empire Company Limited, the company that owns Sobeys and Safeway.

While the results are positive, there is much more work that we need to do. The grocery industry is tough, competition is growing and we aren’t even close to where we need to be in the Safeway brand if we are to be successful.

On the business side, we’re focused on Project Sunrise. This is about cutting costs and realigning our business so we can put ourselves in a leadership position once again. To put it simply, this is about making sure our back-stage structures and staff are better organized and equipped to support our stores, making it simpler for us to do business and easier for you to do your jobs. We still have a long way to go and we know change isn’t easy, but we will see it through.

For Safeway, this means we must continue to tackle our challenges. Even with the changes we’re making through Project Sunrise, we still face some of the highest costs in the industry. This must change!

We want Safeway to regain its place as one of the top grocery stores in Western Canada. We want customers to think of Safeway first when they choose where to shop. In order to do this, we must get our costs under control.

Project Sunrise is one piece of this puzzle, as we continue working at store level to improve our bottom line, all with the goal of building a successful Safeway with good stable jobs for the future.

Thanks for your hard work and dedication. Only by working together can we make Safeway a leader again.

 

Jason Potter

Executive Vice President, Operations

Update on B.C. Quarterly Review Process

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Safeway’s on your side

As the backbone of our operations in British Columbia we wanted to update you on the status of our quarterly review process.

We believe the UFCW locals have a right to their views. But here is how we see it, as people dedicated to the future of this company.

To ensure a strong, viable company that can continue to provide thousands of stable jobs, we need to be competitive. That means we need to be the place our customers want to shop at, at a level of cost that allows us to operate.

And that’s why we’re looking at all our costs, at every level and in every detail of the company.

Wisely, our collective agreement provides for exactly this kind of review, when it is needed to keep this company operating. Delay will just make change more difficult and costly for everyone. We must tackle our challenges and we must do it now.

Here is what is happening:

Safeway is a proud Western Canadian brand, and we are proud of our employees

  • Sobeys has operated for more than 110 years in the grocery business with many of our stores in western Canada including British Columbia
  • We are in our stores every day, we know our markets and our customers and we continue to listen, learn and act

Yes, we have made some mistakes but we are taking action, including:

  • Investments in lower prices to better compete;
  • Work to update our product offerings to better reflect customer needs;
  • Updates to our Planograms and have better communication about stock to stores;
  • Continue to invest in remodels and renovations to attract more customers

Our operating and specifically our labour costs are a serious issue, and they’re putting stores at risk.

  • Safeway is not immune to the economic realities we are all facing in the West
  • We are facing tough competition especially from discounters and big-box stores that are driven by price and low costs
  • We are taking actions to lower costs across our operations, including reducing our back office costs by over $500 million, but we must tackle our labour costs in our stores and we must do it now

We have to act quickly and work together to build a strong Safeway if we are to continue to provide good, sustainable jobs in the future.

  • We all want to return Safeway to its place as one of the best grocery stores in Western Canada and we are all working hard to make this happen
  • We ask you to urge the union to work with us to tackle these challenges
  • Only by working together can we build a strong future for everyone who works here

SPEAK UP. MAKE SAFEWAY STRONG AND STABLE

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.”

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

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

A Summer Worth Celebrating!

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Our company, like this great country of ours, is shaped by the many people, cultures and communities that make us great.

2017 marks Canada’s 150th anniversary. We want to get the party started and celebrate this special summer in communities across Western Canada. Whether you’re a new employee or have worked with us for years, we have plenty of ways to get involved.

You likely already know that we had special t-shirts made for the occasion. You’ve been wearing them and it seems these beauties have created the right atmosphere in our stores. What else? Our Pier 21 initiative is something we’re especially proud of. We’ve partnered with Pier 21 to support their collection of stories on how Canadians became Canadians.

Before we explain, a bit of history for you: Pier 21 opened in 1928 in Halifax. It was the point of entry for some one million immigrants and has been called the Gateway to Canada.  Our founder, J.W. Sobey, was a member of the British Royal engineers and formally immigrated to Canada in 1867. Pier 21 is now the site of the Canadian Museum of Immigration.

With 125,000 employees from coast-to-coast, we’re inviting you to share your own stories and favourite family recipes, through www.sobeys.pier21.ca and help us create a living legacy for future generations.

Once you read our stories, we hope you will tell us yours! Talk to your Store Manager to find out how you can get involved.

We should all be proud to contribute to making Canada a stronger, healthier nation.