Safeway Inc.
5918 Stoneridge Mall Rd.
Pleasanton, Calif. 94588
www.safeway.com Year founded: 1926 Industry: Retail Revenue: n/a Net Income/Loss: n/a Earnings per share: n/a Dividend: n/a Stockholder equity: n/a Auditor: Deloitte & Touche LLP Stock: SWY Assets: n/a Market capitalization: n/a 52-week high: n/a 52-week low: n/a Chairman and President: Steven A. Burd EVP: Larree M. Renda Employees: 190000 Local employees: 8500 Description: Safeway is the third-largest grocer and drug retailer in North America by sales. The company operates 1,817 stores in the United States and Canada, up more than 1,000 stores from last year. Its eastern division headquarters is in Lanham. There are 136 stores in Maryland, Virginia and Washington that employ more than 8,000. Developments: It has not been an easy year for grocery stores. In February, Safeway settled a bitter and costly 4 1/2-month strike in Southern California after the unions agreed to cuts in pay and benefits for new workers. The drama continued as the company renegotiated a four-year contract with the union representing Washington area employees and averted a walkout when it reached a compromise. Safeway, like other grocery chains with unionized, relatively well paid (by industry standards) workers, faces stiff competition from nonunonized, low-wage WalMart, the nation's largest retailer. The stakes are high: How far Safeway and other chains get their costs down could determine which will ultimately survive. In June, the company announced it would cut 940 of 7,000 positions in its administrative offices as part of a cost-cutting program. Dominick's Finer Foods, a Chicago area unit of Safeway, announced in January it would close 12 underperforming stores. Two other Safeway units, Randall's Food Markets Inc. in Texas and Genuardi's Family Markets Inc. in Pennsylvania, have also lost market share since Safeway bought them in the late 1990s.
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