A second Safeway closure has hit the Bay Area and is adding to the concerns over the retail scene in Northern California. Safeway Vallejo is closing its doors on Admiral Callaghan Lane in April.
The Reasons for the Vallejo Safeway Closure
Safeway confirmed that the store will be closing soon. KRON4This announcement cites “financial results” and “ongoing concerns about safety” as primary reasons. The announcement comes after similar closures at other Bay Area stores, which raises questions regarding the difficulties faced by brick and mortar grocery shops.
Bay Area Retailers to Benefit from Broader Impact
Closed supermarkets like the Vallejo Safeway are struggling to adapt to changing consumer behaviours and bounce back after the COVID-19 outbreak. Safeway and other Northern California businesses are affected by these decisions as safety concerns and financial performance play an increasingly important role.
The recent Safeway closures are a Pattern
Safeway in San Francisco’s Fillmore District shut down its doors after forty years. Safeway, in a similar way to Vallejo, attributed its closure of the Fillmore District to ongoing concerns regarding associate and customer security, as well persistent theft issues, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The company made sure that all employees were reassigned and customers of the pharmacy could move their prescriptions.
The theft issue has been an important one. Safeway had removed self check-out lines from several Californian and Bay Area Safeway stores in response to the rising rate of theft.
San Francisco’s city officials successfully negotiated the postponement of Fillmore Closure until 2025. The original closure date was March 20, 2024. Align Real Estate plans to redevelop the land and include 1,000 residential units. Officials from the city are looking to open a grocery store in Fillmore.
Safeway had announced plans to shut down its Pinole Appian 80 location after over 50 years. The closure of this location will occur in April. The property owner has indicated that he plans to keep a grocery shop at the location, but the impact of the closure on the local community cannot be denied.
A Safeway spokesperson was quoted in an SFGATE article as saying that the closure of the Pinole location “wasn’t made lightly,” and reflected the need for the company to “shift its strategy.”
Comments and Reactions from the Community
Safeway in its statement SFGATE In a statement about the closure of Vallejo, the company said that it had been made after “careful assessment and evaluation” of both the financial performance of the shop and the ongoing safety issues.
After the Fillmore announcement of closure, a petition from the community was circulated, calling on city officials intervene. A petition was created to highlight the importance of this store in combating historical redlining policies and redevelopment plans that restricted access to services. Safeway’s lack of community involvement in its plans for closure was also condemned by the petition.
According to reports, in 2023, the Westfield Mall spokesperson cited “unsafe working conditions” for employees, customers and retailers as one of the factors that drove businesses and retailers to move out. KGO-TVA CNN affiliate.
Pinole officials in a recent press release regarding the Safeway’s closure acknowledged both the difficulties for employees as well as residents, and offered their support throughout the transition.
Timeline for Closures
Safeway Vallejo will shut its doors April 11, while Pinole’s store is expected to cease operation on April 4, 2019. This closure signals the continued change of the Bay Area food landscape, and raises questions regarding the future traditional supermarkets.