Safeway Supermarkets - Life in America

[Music] in 1915 mb skaggs purchased a tiny grocery store from his father in the small idaho town of american falls mb's business strategy was to give his customers value and to keep a low profit margin he also operated on a cash and carry basis and did not offer the option of credit [Music] cash for groceries proved to be very successful for skaggs he expanded this tiny store into a western chain and by 1926 had 428 skag stores in 10 states [Music] during that same time charles merrill one of the founders of merrill lynch was looking to expand his investment firm's involvement in retail chains he purchased a chain of stores that was founded by sam selig in 1914 that covered most of the west coast he named them safeway stores [Music] merrill immediately began looking for a merger partner and possible ceo for his new grocery chain in skaggs he found both and soon skaggs merged his own stores with safeways they kept the name safeway which already had a strong brand recognition on the west coast [Music] the merger of skaggs and safeway instantly created the largest chain of grocery stores west of the mississippi by 1928 safeway had expanded to over 2 000 stores and it was listed on the new york stock exchange [Music] in 1931 skaggs surrendered control of his company for 1.5 million dollars in cash plus 30 000 shares of the new company's stock he was also named ceo he eventually stepped down in 1941. [Music] [Music] safeway introduced new innovations to the grocery industry pricing produce by the pound adding sell-by dates on perishables adding nutritional labels and they even added some of the first parking lots to their stores [Music] by 1959 safeway opened its first store in the new state of alaska which was the first major food retailer to enter that market [Music] in 1962 the company adopted the logo of a stylized red s inside a white circle which it still uses today [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the number of safeway locations slowly began to decrease after the company decided to concentrate on larger stores [Music] [Music] today safeway operates as part of the albertsons company one of the largest food and drug retailers in the united states safeway now has 900 locations across 18 [Music] states [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 190,699

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, shopping, grocery, groceries, safeway, skaggs, merrill, grocery store, food shopping, vintage, 20th century, supermarket

Id: zvHWygMp29M

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 27 2021