Both Sprouts and Safeway are among some of the largest shopping chains in the US. Not only do they help hundreds of thousands of customers, but they sell even more products. However, if you are not sure what the differences between these two stores are, or which one you should shop at, you have come to the right place.
I’ve compared Sprouts and Safeway on 3 major factors to see which one is better to shop at. More specifically, I compared them on:
- Price
- Product Quality
- Product Variety
After going through this article, you should have a good idea as to which one of these stores is best for you to shop at.
Which is Better: Sprouts or Safeway? Safeway is cheaper than Sprouts in a majority of shopping categories. Additionally, they offer higher product quality and product variety. Sprouts does offer more organic options though.
Is Sprouts More Expensive Than Safeway?
Something that almost all grocery shoppers consider is price. More often than not, shoppers pick their stores based on which one is the most affordable. So, in terms of comparing these two stores, which one is cheaper?
I compared prices on store brand items for both of these stores to get the best idea as to which one is the most affordable.
| Category | Sprouts Brand | Safeway Brand |
| Beverages | ✓ | |
| Baking Goods | ✓ | |
| Canned Goods | ✓ | |
| Dairy | ✓ | |
| Dry Goods | ✓ | |
| Frozen Foods | ✓ | |
| Personal Care | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cleaners | ✓ | |
So, which one is cheaper? Safeway is cheaper than sprouts across multiple shopping categories.
More specifically, Safeway is the more affordable option in 6 out of the 8 shopping categories that I looked at. This means that for a majority of your shopping, you will save more money if you purchase your goods at Safeway. The only category where Sprouts was the cheaper option was in the frozen foods section.
Interestingly. Both stores had the same prices for most of their items in the personal care category.
This difference in price is not too surprising as most of Sprouts’s products are organic, which tend to be a bit pricier than the traditional non-organic items. This means that if you prioritize when shopping, Safeway is a much better choice than Sprouts.
Product Quality: Sprouts vs Safeway
In order to get a better understanding of which store has better quality items, I decided to check the FDA’s website and see which one has had more product recalls in recent times.
This should give a good idea as to which store has better quality products.
| Category | Sprouts Recalls | Safeway Recalls |
| Animal & Veterinary | 0 | 0 |
| Biologics | 0 | 0 |
| Cosmetics | 0 | 0 |
| Dietary Supplements | 1 | 0 |
| Drugs | 0 | 0 |
| Food and Beverages | 16 | 11 |
| Medical Devices | 0 | 0 |
| Radiation Emitting Products | 0 | 0 |
| Tobacco | 0 | 0 |
According to the FDA’s site, it seems that Sprouts has had more recalled items in the past few years when compared to Safeway. More specifically, Sprouts has had 6 more recalls than Safeway, many of which were for Food and Beverage products.
So if you are a shopper that would rather purchase high quality products, chances are you are better to go with Safeway.
Product Variety: Sprouts vs Safeway
Another factor that some shoppers look for when choosing between stores is product variety. In other words, which store has a larger arsenal of products to choose from.
Something to note is that Safeway is considered a supermarket whereas Sprouts is considered a farmer’s market. The main difference between this is that a supermarket carries both groceries and other non consumable items, whereas a farmer’s market only really carries produce and other consumable items.
So, by nature, Safeway is likely to have more products than Sprouts.
| Total Sprouts Products | Total Safeway Products |
| 2,400 Products | 33,000+ Products |
Unsurprisingly, Safeway offers a much larger amount of products to pick from. At a typical Safeway store, you will find more than 33,000 products to choose from, in comparison to the meager 2,400 products at Sprouts locations.
So, for the shoppers that enjoy having more items to pick from, they should look towards Safeway.
Which Has More Locations: Sprouts or Safeway?
The amount of stores that a chain has is a good indicator as to how dominant they are in the industry. So, when taking a look at both Sprouts and Safeway, which one has more locations & states?
| Sprouts | Safeway |
| 24 States | 35 States |
| 300 Stores | 1300 Stores |
From this, it seems that Sprouts has fewer stores in fewer states than Safeway. According to their site, Safeway has over 1300 stores which are located in a total of 35 states. In comparison, Sprouts has 300 stores in 24 states, making Safeway the clear winner here.
Which One Should You Shop At: Sprouts vs Safeway?
When to shop at Sprouts: The one thing that Sprouts has to offer that Safeway does not is their large variety of organic products. Other than that it appears that Safeway is better in terms of price, quality, and variety.
When to shop at Safeway: If you prefer getting lower prices, higher quality, and a huge variety of products, then Safeway is the place for you to shop. It offers significantly more to the average shopper than Sprouts.