I Love Safeway

But I hate Washington state law. It says no selling beer after 2:00am. I was in Safeway this morning (or last night, hard to define), buying some chips and beers before joining the deployment in office. When I checked out, the cashier told me "sorry, no beer after two, it's the Washington state law". It's too bad. It was just 2:03 at that moment. Just three mintes too late. I ended up walking out of Safeway with chips only. I don't like that law. American always have some weird laws.

Safeway is indeed good. It's 24 hours like the tiny convenience stores in Shanghai, but it's much much much larger. Some of the Safeway stores are even larger than some Carrefour stores in Shanghai. I always cannot understand how Safeway afford so many 24 hours big supermarkets (there are 22 Safeway stores around Lake Washington: Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, etc.). Shanghai has much more population and higher density. But no supermarket in Shanghai can afford 24 hours.

I was chatting this with friends. They had some theories. Some believe Safeway can run 24 hours because there is no 24 hours convenience stores in the states, therefore, when night owls want to buy something, Safeway probably their only choice. It's not really true. First, those 7-11s are still available at every gas station. Safeway is not really the only choice. Second, there aren't many buyers at Safeway in mid night. This morning, 2:00am, there were probably 2-3 buyers in that store, including me. That Safeway probably won't sell as much as a convenience store in Shanghai from mid night to dawn.

Some other's theory is: Safeway actually lose money by keeping stores open in mid night, but this helps Safeway to build brand image and customer loyalty. It's a valid point. But why there is no supermarket in Shanghai doing this? Don't Carrefour want to build better brand image? The Carrefour in Gu Bei runs until 12:00am. Why can it further extend? Cannot, or don't want to? Why? Don't forget that the labor cost in Shanghai is much lower than in the states.

Anyway, I like Safeway. It's a place that makes me feel safer when I am travelling in here alone. In late night, walking through the stacks, smelling, looking at the fruits, meat and all types of food around me, it makes me feel pretty happy.

Comments on “I Love Safeway

  1. 小何 July 23, 2009 09:44 AM

    日,看不懂

  2. mia 妈 July 23, 2009 10:43 AM

    我和E说过我很喜欢safeway的,货铺得老漂亮的。

  3. Christina July 23, 2009 11:51 AM

    哦~居然有些24小时的Safeway比Carrefour店面还大?!

    倾向小型24小时便利店的经营策略,面积小店面多,地域经营范围大,同时有1~2个夜间大店面延长营业时间到午夜(未必需要24小时)。

    事实上夜间采购客人毕竟少,若大的店面通宵灯火通明,加上人员工资,夏季空调费用以及夜间保安等等成本支出,投入产出比不合理。

  4. dihua July 24, 2009 03:08 AM

    Not every Safeway is nice. The one in Baltimore is really bad, lots of black people...

  5. Christina July 24, 2009 10:43 AM

    SAFEWAY在北美铺了多少家连锁店?
    昨天问了几个做北美市场的同事,居然都没听说过。
    只卖食品的超市?

  6. Christina July 24, 2009 10:58 AM

    不好意思,google帮我扫盲了,蛮大的超级连锁(以食品为主的)杂货店,在北美有1700多家连锁。

  7. Joyce July 24, 2009 11:47 PM

    What's the point of saying "lots of black people" ?

  8. mvm July 26, 2009 05:07 PM

    事实上东部的Safeway我也去过好几处,包括Baltimore的,还有费城的,DC的,波士顿的。另外还有旧金山附近的也去过。感觉Safeway在全美质量很一致。

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