Category: British Columbia

Safeway B.C. is beyond excited to celebrate the arrival of the Beyond Burger!

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

Just in time for barbecue season, the revolutionary plant-based Beyond BurgerTM that everyone’s been buzzing about has officially hit Safeway! With 20g of plant protein, no GMOs and no soy or gluten, it’s the world’s first plant-based burger that looks, cooks and satisfies like beef.

The Beyond BurgerTM is ideal for vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians or meatless Monday marauders who want grillable, plant-based alternatives that deliver on flavour.  Whether they’re grilled on the deck, the dock, the campground or the kitchen, the Beyond BurgerTM is sure to satisfy our customers’ cravings!

As a destination for plant-based alternatives, we’re committed to providing Canadian families with the diverse food offerings they love, including great-tasting meat, dairy and gluten alternatives. We continue to focus on expanding our vegan and plant-based offering and are excited to welcome many new and innovative products to our shelves in the near future.

In addition to Safeway, the Beyond BurgerTM is also available in our Sobeys, Foodland & Co-op, IGA, IGA extra, Marchés Tradition, Bonichoix, Rachelle-Béry, Thrifty Foods and FreshCo stores across Canada.

Take a look at a few of the exciting Beyond BurgerTM displays in our B.C. Safeway stores, and keep an eye on our website, flyer, mobile apps, email, social media and billboards as we celebrate May as “Beyond Meat Month!”

Safeway Quesnel – Quesnel, B.C.

Safeway Castlegar – Castlegar, B.C.

Safeway Ocean Park – Surrey, B.C.

Safeway McBride – New Westminster, B.C.

Safeway B.C. proudly celebrates 30 years of partnership with Special Olympics

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

At Safeway, the foundation of our business has always been rooted in meaningful relationships with the communities we serve. While we’ve created many traditions over the years, one we are most proud of is our commitment to giving back.

One of our treasured and longest-standing partnerships is with Special Olympics British Columbia (SOBC). As we proudly celebrate 30 years with SOBC, we’re taking a look back at what started it all.

In 1989, Safeway and Coca-Cola Canada joined forces to raise funds for SOBC by donating 25 cents from every six-pack of Coca-Cola sold in stores across the province during the month of March, which was proclaimed as Special Olympics month by the provincial government. Our campaign was a resounding success, raising more than $40,000 for SOBC! Over the next four years, the campaign raised more than $125,000 to support SOBC’s growth during a crucial time in their development.

Today, Sobeys Inc, remains a strong supporter of Special Olympics athletes. To date, together with our customers and teams, Sobeys Inc. has contributed more than $2.8 million in support of nutrition education, food access, and local community programming through Special Olympics.

We are so proud to be a driving force in defining the Special Olympics movement in Canada. In addition to raising vital funds for SOBC programs, our campaigns offer an important opportunity to raise awareness for Special Olympics, and help to spread a message of acceptance and inclusion across the globe. Thank you to our teams who continue to join us on this journey!

Sensory-friendly is welcomed with open arms at Willowbrook Safeway

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

At Safeway, we pride ourselves on creating an inclusive shopping environment that meets the diverse needs of our customers. We know that not all families are the same, and we are committed to doing our very best to ensure that each and every one of them feels invited and welcomed in our stores.

For those with autism or sensory sensitivities, lights and sounds can often be overwhelming. Visiting a grocery store, like ours, can be an intimidating and uncomfortable experience. After seeing the positive reception in Nova Scotia and PEI stores, the Willowbrook Safeway team, spear-headed by Deli Manager and Mom of a four year old son with Autism, Ashley Baresinkoff, saw an opportunity to introduce sensory-friendly shopping in Langley.

Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., Willowbrook Safeway turned off half of the lights; silenced music, telephone and register sounds; halted shopping cart gathering, and rather than using the store’s intercom, assigned a runner to pass messages around the store. With the outstanding support of our retail employees, the store was truly transformed into an inclusive sensory-friendly environment that meaningfully impacted our customers. Read more about Willowbrook’s work in the great story covered by CBC News.

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we sometimes take advantage of seemingly quick and easy tasks such as shopping for groceries. But when we take a step back and evaluate the needs of our customers, we know this isn’t the case for all families. Way to go, Willowbrook team, for serving our communities and creating an inclusive environment that welcomes all customers to Safeway

*Willowbrook Safeway will continue to host sensory friendly shopping hours in the coming weeks, including April 12, 19, May 3, 17 and 31 from 4-5 p.m.

Safeway B.C. Stores jump on-board to celebrate first of the season halibut!

Posted on by Sudhanshu Rewari

When you think of spring in B.C., there’s a pretty good chance that you also think of Halibut. Halibut has been commercially-harvested off the west coast of Canada since the late 1880s and has played a vital role in shaping our economy, culture and cuisine. While our fishery has provided the world with delicious (and healthy!) food for years, we think it’s safe to say that nobody appreciates first of the season halibut quite like us at home.

As they always do, our Safeway stores in B.C. pulled out their very best merchandising skills to mark the first of the season. From outstanding product displays and fun in store signage, to employees in fishing gear and even a boat parked out-front, our stores went above and beyond to surprise, delight and excite our customers. Throughout the season, a variety of top quality halibut products will take centre-stage in our seafood departments for our customers’ cooking pleasures.

Our Safeway teams never back down from a fun challenge, and your skill, pride, and creativity continue to shine bright as we create exceptional customer experiences. Take a look at just a few of the excellent displays below, and jump on-board with us to celebrate B.C. halibut in your local Safeway store!

 

Safeway Oakridge – Vancouver, B.C.

Lynn Valley Safeway – North Vancouver, B.C.

Safeway Prince Rupert – Prince Rupert, B.C.

Safeway Extra Willowbrook – Langley, B.C.

Safeway Peninsula Village – Surrey, B.C.

Safeway Powell River – Powell River, B.C.

B.C. Safeway store closures – delayed to July 5

Posted on by Varinder Singh

To our valued employees,

As you are aware, we have been in negotiations with UFCW 1518 regarding the reopener of our Collective Agreement. Negotiations with UFCW 247 and BCT have not yet begun.

We continue to focus our negotiations on reaching collective agreements that will ensure competitive operating costs in our Safeway stores and allow us to introduce our FreshCo. banner to customers in B.C.

Also, you may be aware the Labour Relations Board has appointed Mr. Vince Ready as Special Officer in this file. As part of Mr. Ready’s appointment, the company has agreed that the Safeway stores slated to close on May 5th will instead be closed on July 5th.

The store closure date changed to allow more time for discussion with the labour unions to take place. The store closure dates will not be changed beyond July 5. Through our discussions with Mr. Ready, we are hoping that this 2-month adjournment of store closures will allow him the time he needs to do his job and we believe that this is best for both the company and our employees.

Over the coming weeks, we will be working with the unions to ensure employee bumping rights and seniority are preserved and realigned in accordance with the new closure date of July 5th as required.

We will provide you with information you can share in store to respond to customer questions.

Be sure to visit SafewayTalks.ca regularly to stay up to date. We will continue to provide updates here and with your store manager.

Special Officer Appointed to help us move forward in British Columbia

Posted on by Varinder Singh

On March 28, Hon. Harry Bains, Minister of Labour, appointed a Special Officer to help us move the reopener and the New Banner bargaining along with UFCW 1518.

It’s important that we reach agreements that work for everyone and we look forward to working with Special Officer, Vince Ready and your unions to help us get there.

Competition is growing and in recent years our competitors have added more than two million square feet of store space across B.C. – that’s equal to 57 Safeway stores! We also know that our customer demands are changing; discount stores like No Frills now make up nearly 44 per cent of the Canadian food retail market. Reaching collective agreements that will allow us to compete more effectively will help us tackle these challenges head on in B.C.

We look forward to working collaboratively with Mr. Ready and your unions to achieve agreements that will help us take on the competition, respond to changing customer preferences and bring our FreshCo. stores to B.C.

Together we’ll get it done.

Keep up-to-date with what’s going on at www.SafewayTalks.ca.

Setting the record straight: we’re working hard to get a deal with UFCW 1518

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We have met with UFCW 1518 for 10 days of negotiation over the last several weeks. We are committed to getting a deal that will help save jobs.  That’s a fact.

We’re correcting the record because UFCW 1518 has been spreading misinformation.

Last week was the first point in negotiations where the union explained their proposals, many of which were not specific to collective agreement terms and conditions. Unfortunately, many of the proposals put forward by the union would increase costs and limit our ability to get our stores back on track.

It is no secret that our stores have been struggling. It costs us more to run our stores then it does for the competitors to run theirs. We can’t continue to operate this way. The union is aware that we must achieve real reductions to our labour related costs.   They have not put forward any proposals that will help achieve that.

We’ve agreed to continue bargaining next week with the understanding that we will begin discussions on specific proposals. We hope UFCW 1518 President Ivan Limpright or Chief Spokesperson, Gary Caroline will join us at the bargaining table so we can come to an agreement together.

We’re at the table to listen and discuss, but now is the time for action. We need to move forward toward an agreement that works for everyone. If we can’t achieve this quickly, the next step of the process will be a move toward final offer selection as laid out in our collective agreement.

UFCW 1518 is not helping us build a strong future, we all need to work together

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We want to set the record straight on the incorrect statements made by UFCW 1518’s leadership.

Store closures are not lockouts

UFCW 1518 is incorrectly stating that the recent store closure announcements in BC are a lockout by Safeway. The reality is, these stores have been struggling for quite some time and would have closed regardless of the outcome of our current negotiations.

UFCW 1518 backed away from the tough conversations

Since June of last year, we tried to sit down with UFCW 1518 to review stores that were facing financial difficulty to keep stores open and save jobs, under a process set out in the collective agreement. Unfortunately, the union would not engage in that process. Our company can no longer operate stores that are losing money without a sustainable plan for the future.

UFCW 1518’s actions will drive customers away from our stores

Lately, UFCW 1518 has been handing out materials to customers that diminish our brand and credibility with customers. They have launched campaigns in the public eye focused on turning employees and customers against Safeway.

Tell your union representatives that the only way we can improve conditions is if we work together and allow our store teams to do what they do best, proudly serve their customers and communities. Negative publicity will only drive customers away.

We can only continue to strengthen our stores if we work together

We need a new labour deal that allows us to set solid terms to continue operating our Safeway stores in BC. We have a long history of working with our employees to face many challenges in this tough retail environment. As you know, we have faced some of our most difficult challenges during the recent ownership change. Every member of our team, in and out of our bargaining units, worked hard to address those challenges and we are seeing improvements. We can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done as part of this process.

FreshCo provides us with a unique opportunity to strengthen our business

FreshCo is an exciting opportunity that will provide jobs and strengthen our company overall. UFCW 1518 needs to work with us to reach a new agreement that will allow us to open FreshCo.

To solve the problems we are facing now, we need to roll up our sleeves and work together, as soon as possible.

As always, if you have any questions you can ask us here on Safeway Talks or talk to your store manager. Keep checking www.safewaytalks.ca for updates on this and other issues.

Taking the first step to work together and bring FreshCo. to B.C.

Posted on by Varinder Singh

In our ongoing talks with UFCW 1518, we have made it clear that we would like to start discussing a new collective agreement for our FreshCo. discount grocery stores in British Columbia.

We hope that this discount option could help provide jobs for many Safeway employees who may otherwise be impacted by the store closures that were announced for May of this year.

We have a real opportunity to provide our customers with the shopping experience they are looking for with our FreshCo. banner. This is an exciting opportunity for all of us.

To get there, we need the right terms in our collective agreement. We have worked hard to engage with the unions in B.C. to discuss a discount banner collective agreement, but haven’t made any progress. Because of that, we have sent the respective unions a letter formally announcing our intention to see a new collective agreement for our discount stores. We are using the “New Banner” process in our current collective agreement to kick-start these discussions.

We need to get these conversations underway now. The longer we wait to begin these talks, the more customers we risk losing to our competitors. Delays are bad for our business and bad for our team members.

We look forward to bringing FreshCo. to British Columbia. By working out these tough issues together, we can move ahead to a more stable, successful future for our company.

Stay with us on SafewayTalks.ca for up-to-date information on B.C. negotiations.

Let’s Get It Done Together

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We’re back at the bargaining table with UFCW 1518 in Vancouver this week to get an agreement in place for our valued team members.

Our goal is to negotiate a fair deal that will work for everyone. The grocery industry is more competitive than ever, and we need a new agreement that will allow us to face these challenges head on, together.

In recent years our competitors have added more than two million square feet of store space across the province. That’s equal to approximately 57 Safeway stores!

Much of this new store space is occupied by discount grocery banners. More than half of all grocery shopping now takes place at discount stores like No Frills, and Walmart Supercentres. If you’ve shopped in one of these stores, you know they don’t look much like a traditional Safeway.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t committed to our Safeway stores. It means that to compete we need to provide our customers with more options so they continue shopping with us.

One of the biggest challenges we face is that it costs us more than our competitors to run our stores. We need competitive operating costs if we’re going to stay in business. And most importantly we want to be in a position to introduce our exciting new FreshCo. stores into the province to take on the competition.

It’s important for you to understand some of these facts so that you understand why we have to take action to save jobs and keep stores open.

We love our community in British Columbia and look forward to a bright future here. We’ve expanded and remodeled beautiful new Safeway Extra stores in Dawson Creek, Burquitlam and Willowbrook in Langley and recently renovated the Shaughnessy Station location.

We look forward to working with your union to find the right solutions to secure a strong and exciting future for all of us.

Keep checking in with us at www.safewaytalks.ca for updates. Don’t forget to sign-up to receive email updates at Safeway Talks.