There are many grocery stores nowadays that are considered giants in the industry. Not only do they dominate in terms of the amount of products they have, but they also dominate in terms of how many other stores they own.
If you frequently shop at Safeway, you may have wondered who they are owned by? More specifically, is Safeway under the ownership of Kroger. In this article I dive into who Safeway is owned by and more!
Does Kroger own Safeway? No, Kroger does not own Safeway. Despite Kroger’s large portfolio of subsidiary grocery stores, they do not have any ownership over the Safeway brands or stores. Safeway is owned and operated by the Albertsons company.
Now that you know who owns Safeway, there is a lot more you should know about Albertsons acquisition of Safeway.
What Companies Do Both Stores Own?
Both Kroger and Albertsons have large portfolios of subsidiary grocery stores that they own. So, it is no surprise that people get the two mixed up.
With ownership over many different stores, it is worth breaking down which grocery stores are owned by either Kroger or owned by Albertsons.
| Stores Owned By Kroger | Stores Owned By Albertsons |
| Baker’s
City Market Dillons Food 4 Less Foods Co Fred Meyer Fry’s Gerbes Harris Teeter King Soopers Jay C Food Store Kroger Pay-Less Super Markets QFC Ralphs Smith’s Food and Drug |
Safeway
Vons Jewel-Osco Shaw’s Acme Tom Thumb Randalls United Supermarkets Pavilions Star Market Haggen Carrs Kings Food |
Kroger owns more grocery store subsidiaries than Albertsons. In total Kroger owns 16 total subsidiary brands whereas Albertsons owns 13 brands. Both of these parent companies own a very large amount of smaller chains.
As you can see Safeway is on Albertsons list of subsidiary companies.
When Did Albertsons Acquired Safeway?
Safeway was not always owned by Albertsons. In fact, it was an independent grocery store at one point in time. It opened up in 1915 as an independent store,
At the end of January 2015, Albertson’s officially bought Safeway. This means that Albertsons had the ownership of their brand and their stores beginning in 2015. What is also interesting is that Safeway was an independent company for 100 years before being purchased by Albertsons.
How Much Did Albertsons Buy Safeway For?
Albertsons officially purchased Safeway for about $9.4 Billion. Albertsons purchased all of Safeway’s stores, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants.
This purchase was for quite a large sum of money. For reference, Kroger purchased Harris Teeter for around $2.5 Billion. In comparison, the Safeway deal was more than 3.75 times the amount of money as the Harris Teeter deal.
This shows the absolute magnitude of Albertsons acquisition of Safeway.
Why Did Albertsons Purchase Safeway?
Typically, a company gets acquired by a larger company if it’s looking to expand or going bankrupt (although there are many more reasons than that). So, why did Safeway decide to sell itself to Albertsons?
It seems that Safeway has had a rough history in terms of its finances. They filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy back in 2011, so it was likely in their best interest to seek a company to buy them.
What Other Stores Did Albertsons Buy In The Safeway Deal?
Surprisingly, Safeway was not the only brand that Albertsons purchased in this deal. Safeway actually owned quite a few smaller brands of stores before Albertsons purchased them. So, in turn, Albertsons gained control of those brands as well.
Below are other brands that Albersons acquired in this deal:
- Randalls
- Tom Thumb
- Carrs Safeway
- Vons
- Pavilions
- Casa Ley
All-in-all, Albertsons purchased 7 different grocery retail brands in this acquisition. This does help justify the $9.4 billion price tag on the deal.