RIP Safeway: 1962-2005 - Morrisons have finally done it

[cwathen]

A little over 18 months after Morrisons purchased and subsequently announced the death of Safeway, they've finally completed their rebranding of the chain. The final 4 Safeway stores to be 'converted' to Morrisons will close as Safeway for the last time tonight, before opening as Morrisons tomorrow morning, and the stores which aren't being retained and haven't been succsfullly sold yet will trade for the final time on Saturday.

Morrisons bigwigs are posting this day as a 'significant milestone' in Morrisons' history. Indeed it is a significant milestone; Their purchase of Safeway, and subsequent belief that immediately signing the death warrant for a nationally recognised brand with almost 500 stores in favour of a brand which only had general recognition in the north of England, and with just over 100 outlets was a good idea, has led them to post their first loss in more than a century, with them dropping from being in the black to the tune of around £120 million, to plunging into the red by more than £70 million.

Considering that they've rolled out a brand at breakneck speed with no national recognition, and bought a chain of almost 500 stores in the full knowledge that they'd have to loose more than a third of them, and have been the subject of a string of bad press reports (including many about ex-Safeway staff becoming disgruntled with their working environment since the takeover) which only increased in frequency after Morrisons believed that early setbacks could be countered by *accellerating* the rebranding so that it would be completed less than 2 years after takeover (I believe originally they were going for 5 years), one does seriously have to wonder whether or not they will survive as they are, and if we could see a takeover of the enlarged Morrisons and a subsequent further rebranding of all the stores sooner rather than later.

The takeover which could have been the biggest coup WM Morrison have ever pulled over appears to be collapsing around them through what many (including myself) perceive as being the shoddy and ignorant belief that the strong (and recently refreshed) Safeway brand should be abandoned immediately and the weaker (and greatly outdated) Morrisons brand should be rolled out nationally, at great expense, without allowing their books to recover from the cost of the takeover, and apparantly without considering whether or not it might be better to retain both brands and not try and establish what many perceive as a new brand in an area where they allready owned a suitably strong brand which required no such time and money to be spent on it.
.

This thread mourns the loss of the once mighty Safeway, but on an entirely serious note, it seems entirely possible that a similar thread about the death of Morrisons could be appearing on here sooner rather than later
So, here's a thread for your memories of Safeway, and to discuss what might happen in the future.

[Chris]

Here's a picture of our local Safeway taken on its last trading Sunday which is one of the handful closing for good on this week. It's been there since around 1983 and its loss means that there will only be 1 supermarket left, Sainsbury's.





Gone, but not forgotten.

[Boughton]

A little over 18 months after Morrisons purchased and subsequently announced the death of Safeway, they've finally completed their rebranding of the chain. The final 4 Safeway stores to be 'converted' to Morrisons will close as Safeway for the last time tonight, before opening as Morrisons tomorrow morning, and the stores which aren't being retained and haven't been succsfullly sold yet will trade for the final time on Saturday.

Morrisons bigwigs are posting this day as a 'significant milestone' in Morrisons' history. Indeed it is a significant milestone; Their purchase of Safeway, and subsequent belief that immediately signing the death warrant for a nationally recognised brand with almost 500 stores in favour of a brand which only had general recognition in the north of England, and with just over 100 outlets was a good idea, has led them to post their first loss in more than a century, with them dropping from being in the black to the tune of around £120 million, to plunging into the red by more than £70 million.

Considering that they've rolled out a brand at breakneck speed with no national recognition, and bought a chain of almost 500 stores in the full knowledge that they'd have to loose more than a third of them, and have been the subject of a string of bad press reports (including many about ex-Safeway staff becoming disgruntled with their working environment since the takeover) which only increased in frequency after Morrisons believed that early setbacks could be countered by *accellerating* the rebranding so that it would be completed less than 2 years after takeover (I believe originally they were going for 5 years), one does seriously have to wonder whether or not they will survive as they are, and if we could see a takeover of the enlarged Morrisons and a subsequent further rebranding of all the stores sooner rather than later.

The takeover which could have been the biggest coup WM Morrison have ever pulled over appears to be collapsing around them through what many (including myself) perceive as being the shoddy and ignorant belief that the strong (and recently refreshed) Safeway brand should be abandoned immediately and the weaker (and greatly outdated) Morrisons brand should be rolled out nationally, at great expense, without allowing their books to recover from the cost of the takeover, and apparantly without considering whether or not it might be better to retain both brands and not try and establish what many perceive as a new brand in an area where they allready owned a suitably strong brand which required no such time and money to be spent on it.
.

This thread mourns the loss of the once mighty Safeway, but on an entirely serious note, it seems entirely possible that a similar thread about the death of Morrisons could be appearing on here sooner rather than later
So, here's a thread for your memories of Safeway, and to discuss what might happen in the future.

Why on earth do you obviously care so much about this issue - unless you're an employee or a very close friend or relative is, then, really, who gives a toss?

[cdd]

A little over 18 months after Morrisons purchased and subsequently announced the death of Safeway, they've finally completed their rebranding of the chain. The final 4 Safeway stores to be 'converted' to Morrisons will close as Safeway for the last time tonight, before opening as Morrisons tomorrow morning, and the stores which aren't being retained and haven't been succsfullly sold yet will trade for the final time on Saturday.

Morrisons bigwigs are posting this day as a 'significant milestone' in Morrisons' history. Indeed it is a significant milestone; Their purchase of Safeway, and subsequent belief that immediately signing the death warrant for a nationally recognised brand with almost 500 stores in favour of a brand which only had general recognition in the north of England, and with just over 100 outlets was a good idea, has led them to post their first loss in more than a century, with them dropping from being in the black to the tune of around £120 million, to plunging into the red by more than £70 million.

Considering that they've rolled out a brand at breakneck speed with no national recognition, and bought a chain of almost 500 stores in the full knowledge that they'd have to loose more than a third of them, and have been the subject of a string of bad press reports (including many about ex-Safeway staff becoming disgruntled with their working environment since the takeover) which only increased in frequency after Morrisons believed that early setbacks could be countered by *accellerating* the rebranding so that it would be completed less than 2 years after takeover (I believe originally they were going for 5 years), one does seriously have to wonder whether or not they will survive as they are, and if we could see a takeover of the enlarged Morrisons and a subsequent further rebranding of all the stores sooner rather than later.

The takeover which could have been the biggest coup WM Morrison have ever pulled over appears to be collapsing around them through what many (including myself) perceive as being the shoddy and ignorant belief that the strong (and recently refreshed) Safeway brand should be abandoned immediately and the weaker (and greatly outdated) Morrisons brand should be rolled out nationally, at great expense, without allowing their books to recover from the cost of the takeover, and apparantly without considering whether or not it might be better to retain both brands and not try and establish what many perceive as a new brand in an area where they allready owned a suitably strong brand which required no such time and money to be spent on it.
.

This thread mourns the loss of the once mighty Safeway, but on an entirely serious note, it seems entirely possible that a similar thread about the death of Morrisons could be appearing on here sooner rather than later
So, here's a thread for your memories of Safeway, and to discuss what might happen in the future.

Why on earth do you obviously care so much about this issue - unless you're an employee or a very close friend or relative is, then, really, who gives a toss?

Safeway was a loved and cherished brand, a supermarket placing a considerable degree of value on the quality end of the spectrum. Considerably smaller than its UK competitors, its image was seen in an especially postive light. Its rebranding as a Morissons, which is a notoriously budget supermarket parented by a huge, unfriendly corporate brand and monstorous company, makes one yearn for the "friendly" supermarket we all grew up with. Supermarkets such as Tesco and Morrissons have aboslutely no "personal" image whatsoever and are a bleak representation of 21st Century "big business" monopolisation.

Safeway will be rembered fondly in all of our hearts!

[Jenny]

I used to live quite near a Safeway. When it opened it was the first supermarket anywhere in the UK to offer a self-service checkout, and Tomorrow's World filmed there.

Personally I can't stand supermarkets, only ever went in there once, and despised it for coming in and killing off the independent shops in the village.

[Fireboy]

killing off the independent shops in the village.

Though there's two independent shops in my home village which have gone through a bit of a revival recently, and they seem to do very well now: one sells fruit, veg & other general groceries and another sells papers, DVDs, essential foods & cards. And this is just in a small village...

I find it much more convenient as well - one of the shops opens at 5am, meaning I can run down if there's a shortage of something before I'm off to college or work on the 8am bus. Tesco Delves don't open til' 8am, like I'd go 3 miles anyway. And coming back to Morrisons - I couldn't give a fuck now, I've not been back since they rebranded!

[Nick Harvey]

Devizes must have been one of the last to be changed over, then; having only re-opened as a Morrisons in the last month.

I've now completely given up on the place.

I WAS still using the pharmacy, as I don't have to pay for my drugs any more, just to see their upset faces when I walked out with two huge bags of stuff for free every time.

I've even given up on that now, and have moved to a small, independent chemist, because Morrisons never seemed to have all my drugs in stock and I always seemed to have to go back again the following day for the rest of the script.

Morrisons seem to be a picture of incompetence from top to bottom.

[Jamez]

as I don't have to pay for my drugs any more, just to see their upset faces when I walked out with two huge bags of stuff for free every time.

That's a lot of drugs, Nick!

Got any good ones?

[Nick Harvey]

Got any good ones?

'Fraid not.

[TVDragon]

Well now there still remains a Safeway [branded] distribution depot in Warrington -- it's very pretty.

Never been any Safeway stores in the town mind you.

[martindtanderson]

Our local Safeway became a Morrissons 3 weeks back, and it is so much better surprisingly. The old safeway felt run down and forgotton...