Safeway Inc. - Past Concepts

Past Concepts

Safeway has tried a range of new store formats over the years, most of which have ultimately failed.

In 1963, Safeway developed the Super S format, a general merchandise and drug store opened adjoining a new Safeway supermarket. The stores would share a common entrance, but were operated as separate businesses with their own checkstands. The first outlet was opened in Anchorage, Alaska. In 1965, 22 existing Super S stores were divested to Skaggs Drug Stores. Safeway divested the remaining stores in 1971.

In 1964, Safeway opened a trial two-level International Store at 12th and F Street in Washington, D.C., with a conventional Safeway downstairs and a gourmet store on the upper floor. The Safeway International Store range included wild boar steaks, snow hare, suckling pig, and reindeer steaks.

The company also made a number of attempts to repurpose older, smaller store sites, opening Food Barn, a discount grocery outlet, and Liquor Barn, a discount liquor outlet, in the 1970s. Safeway also trialled Town House in Washington, D.C., small stores targeting apartment dwellers, and a gourmet store concept, Bon Appetit in San Francisco and Tiburon, California.

In 1969, Safeway formed a joint venture with Holly Farms Poultry Industries (now part of Tyson Foods) to open Holly Farms Fried Chicken in an effort to diversify into fast food restaurants and compete with KFC. The first store opened in Colonial Heights, Virginia in August, 1969.

In western Canada in the 1980s, Safeway would open Food Barn, a store format inherited with the purchase of the Jack the Slasher chain in Australia. The store was similar to Safeway in terms of selection and prices, but the store itself resembled a warehouse. These stores would later close or be rebranded as Safeways before the decade ended.

Also in the 1980s, Safeway also tried entering the discount, big-box food store business with Food for Less in Alberta and Safeway Superstore in British Columbia. These stores would later close or convert into regular Safeways in the mid to late 1990s. Safeway also acquired Pak 'n Save Foods, a box warehouse concept, as part of the purchase of Brentwood in Northern California.