Dear Safeway,
For almost 40 years I resisted shopping at your stores. In the DC area, I was loyal to local grocery store Giant (until they were bought out by the Dutch), mostly because your stores were rundown, dirty and ugly, and your employees surly and unpleasant.
When I moved to my little San Jose neighborhood, I had no choice but to shop at your store — the only other store close to me is an upscale market that sells chicken at $14/pound.
Recently, your store here on the Alameda near Santa Clara University has stealthily begun removing items from the shelves, one by one, so that each time I shop I discover yet another item on my list is no longer available. It started a few months ago with the demise of Calistoga Black Cherry sparkling water. And yesterday it ended with the unstocking of Kraft fat-free cheese.
Well, my patronage ended.
I’m not sure entirely where I’ll be getting my groceries from now on, but wherever it is a drive will be required. It’s just that I can’t see the point of shopping at your store and then having to drive somewhere else to find the every day items I want.
Sorry.
Love,
Gene
Ah, “Soviet Safeway” reminds me of the tiny one on 17th Street in D.C.
Aside: is yours one of those huge “lifestyle” Safeways? The one near us in Daly City is average sized, but some I’ve been to (like when I visit my aunt in Concord) are HUGE. Like with an olive bar, a Starbucks kiosk, etc. inside. I always feel like I need a map and a compass there.
Of course, the one on 17th is the one I was slyly referring to, knowing that only my DC peeps would understand.
Nope, my local Safeway is kind of small — not as small as the Dupont store, but the last time is was called large was probably in 1971. It serves Santa Clara University, which means that it is not necessary to have a big, gourmet store… just one that has two complete aisles of liquor and a small Starbucks.
When I was a big wig in the grocery industry (well, a manager at least) we used to remove items from inventory all the time, to make way for all the fun, new stuff.
However, if one person (that’s only one person) requested an item to come back (or for that matter, an item we didn’t carry but they wanted us to) the request was usually granted. To about 95% of the time actually. There was a little paperwork involved and we even called the patron when their requested item got back on our shelves.
I’m not sure how Safeway’s inventory practices work, but ask for a request and see what happens. Couldn’t hurt.