This store's meat department is pretty much 100% standard for a Northwest Safeway, and I believe it's the only department in this store that doesn't have something a little weird about it. So yeah, not much to say about this picture! (This is why I tend to avoid posting about Safeways that don't have some special feature to them these days...)
They say everything is bigger in Texas, but that's not true as the meat department here looks absolutely gargantuan compared to the local Randall's! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/EYMF8mrXTgpjfdMSA
ReplyDelete2021 was another year where I did the majority of my Thanksgiving shopping at Randall's! I don't know if you use Safeway4U (Randalls4U here) coupons, but they've given me some pretty serious savings here lately which have drawn me in even though the nearest Randall's is a bit of a drive for me. I'm not sure if this is something Safeway is doing just here or if this is also happening at places where Safeway has more marketshare like in the NW.
Interesting -- this is actually about average for local Safeways, or even maybe a little smaller than average! I definitely would have expected Randall's to have much larger meat departments than that.
DeleteYeah, we do have Safeway for U here (what used to be called Just for U), and it used to have very good sales, but over the last 6 months to a year, good sales have become few and far between. I suppose that's part of the inflation issues everyone's talking about, though it does make Safeway less appealing to me because the reason I always liked Safeway is that they frequently had sales that made things less expensive than places like Fred Meyer or Target. Now that those sales are gone, I might have to consider shopping at those places (or even Walmart, yikes!) more often.
Sadly, there isn't a good photo of the meat department at the local Randall's. That one with the toilet paper blocking everything is the best I can find, but yeah, it is pretty small! Of course, the building is about 50 years old at this point so that is a limiting factor. Obviously, the decor is also miniaturized as well! It looks better in person than you might think though since everything seems 'right sized' for the size of the store.
DeleteIf anything, the J4U/Randalls4U promotions have been pretty good over here recently for me at least. It seems like I get a $5 off a $5 or more purchase coupon at least once a month. Each week, I get a coupon for at least one free Signature Select product (or other store brand products). Usually the free thing isn't anything too expensive, but lately I've been getting some better ones. I recently had a coupon for a free Signature Select frozen pizza which costs like $6. It was actually very good, I liked it enough that I bought another one! But, yeah, that was like a free dinner on Safeway!
Of course, Randall's is the most expensive major chain grocer around here so the promotions are kind of necessary to make Randall's even remotely competitive on price. In that regard, the aggressive sales are nice. That's odd, but perhaps not unexpected, that Safeway is backing off promotions in the NW. Given some of the price elasticity in products these days, retailers probably don't want to get caught over-committing to promotions on produces they might be losing money on anyway until they can raise their prices. I'm thinking the recent promotions at Randall's is some kind of exception to the rule and the NW Safeways are operating in the expected manner.
I think Randall's stores have the same promotions as Tom Thumb stores in Dallas. With HEB stepping up their move into the Dallas area here in recent times, perhaps Tom Thumb is being aggressive with discounts at Tom Thumb stores and those of us in Houston are the beneficiary of this even though Houston has been under siege from HEB for the past ~25 years as employees of the now-defunct Safeway Houston Division know all too well. Well, whatever the case is, I'm not going to complain about the situation!
Even with as expensive as Randall's is perceived here in Houston, their prices are still miles better than Target for groceries as far as I can tell! I don't know if you have Aldi in the NW, but they might be a good alternative to mega stores like Fred Meyer and Walmart if you aren't too picky about brands.
Wow! When Just 4 You first launched (back in the early 2010s, I believe), they had extremely good promotions like that, but those have been gone for many years now. You can occasionally get free things like that if you spend rewards (the same thing that is used for gas discounts), but even those haven't been particularly great for a few years now.
DeleteLocally, Safeway used to be very competitive with places like Fred Meyer, Target, and Walmart, but over the last few months, it seems like they've been much more aggressive with raising prices and backing off sales (at least on the things I buy). Walmart is always the cheapest, and QFC the most expensive, of the major brands... but now Safeway is starting to join QFC in terms of pricing, without the deluxe features their stores tend to have. (Heck, it seems like Fred Meyer actually has better prices on some things now, which used to never be the case!) Back when I lived in Northgate, and had a Safeway and a Target within a few blocks of me (along with a QFC, and even a Fred Meyer not too far away), I had what things were cheaper at Target versus Safeway down and would shop accordingly, but I have hardly shopped at Target since I moved even though there's one not too far away. I feel like Target and Safeway are all over the place when it comes to pricing around here -- there are some things where Target is way cheaper, and others where Safeway is cheaper (though that typically relied on sales, which again, Safeway isn't doing as much of anymore).
Sadly, the Northwest is about the only part of the US that Aldi hasn't come to! Even if they were here, though, I suspect they would stick to the suburbs (like Walmart), making them not particularly helpful for me.
Ha, nice title!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteYou're welcome!
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