Good morning,
Safeway customers got some good news recently. A recent visit revealed a spanking new self-check area at the Glasgow store.
In recent years, self-checking areas at Acme and Safeway stores owned by supermarket giant Albertsons were closed and hauled off.
Cited was the need to have a more personal relationship with customers.
Spokesperson Dana Wood confirmed that Acme has “started the process of installing self-checkout systems back in our stores.” Wood went on to say that the decision is being evaluated on a store by store basis. Acme has stores of various sizes and some might not lend themselves to the typical self-check layout.
Acme has long struggled with customer service issues that seem to be embedded into mature chains.
To its credit, Albertsons has made strides on the customer service front. It also purchased Safeway, giving the company two brands in Delaware and snapped up a few Pathmark stores in Delaware after parent A&P went down for the last time.
Meanwhile, competitors have continued to nibble away at market share.
Acme closed its lone store in Dover as Redner’s and Walmart took a chunk out of the market. To the north, locally owned Delaware Supermarkets (Shoprite) is grabbing market share while also eying Dover. Safeway has a store in Dover.
Other tough decisions may lie ahead. Interestingly enough, a Safeway and Acme operate across the highway from one another on Naamans Road in north Wilmington.
Albertsons and drugstore giant Rite Aid walked away from a merger after opposition from the drugstore chain’s shareholders and unwillingness to pay more for the shrunken company that sold off many of its stores to Walgreens. Delaware stores were not part of that deal.
Albertsons operates the Save On and Osco drug store chains that sometimes have supermarket departments.
In the meantime, it is great to find that Acme-Safeway is listening to its customers.
Take a moment today to remember this day in history and the many who died in New York City, northern Virginia and Pennsylvania. – Doug Rainey, publisher.