Same building, new name: Gig Harbor grocery formerly on selloff list gets makeover
While the drama between Kroger and Albertsons/Safeway’s failed merger attempt and resulting fallout continues in court, previous plans within Albertsons are quietly unfolding in the area.
The week of March 16 saw the grand opening of a local rebranded store, making the switch from Albertsons to Safeway, at 11330 51st Ave. in Gig Harbor. Permits were filed for the switch last summer for the store, originally built in 2001.
Boise-based Albertsons Companies owns both Albertsons and Safeway grocery chains — the result of a merger finalized in 2015. That deal also ensnared Bellingham-based Haggen after its failed attempt at expansion by buying off a chunk of stores to help satisfy regulators in the Safeway-Albertsons merger.
The latest transition gives Gig Harbor two Safeway locations, north and south, with the other at 4831 Point Fosdick Dr.
Similar conversions have occurred elsewhere, such as the Tri-Cities area and Spokane.
In 2017, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported Albertsons was conservative on changing store brands, and that the then-conversion of a Yakima Albertsons to Safeway was “only one of a handful of brand changes Albertsons Companies Inc. has made since it acquired Safeway Inc. in 2015.”
Safeway officials contacted by The News Tribune did not respond to requests for comment about the Gig Harbor store switch.
David Patterson is a retail partner with Clarkston Consulting, a firm based in Durham, North Carolina, that provides management and technology consulting services to various industries, including grocery.
Patterson told The News Tribune in response to questions that the brand switch is one way to reduce “overlapping store brands.”
“Since the Albertston’s-Safeway acquisition was approved in 2015, they’ve had overlapping store brands in certain areas, and in places where Safeway is better known and more trusted by shoppers, it just makes sense to stick with that name,” Patterson said via email.
For example, he wrote, “In the Denver area, they recently switched nine Albertsons stores to Safeway to streamline their operations and build on Safeway’s stronger local reputation.”
He noted, “Running fewer brands helps them save on marketing and logistics, and it just simplifies a lot of things on the back end that will streamline both operations and costs.”
Both stores that are now Safeway in Gig Harbor were on Albertsons’ proposed divestiture list a month after the 51st Avenue store conversion permits were filed.
The failed Kroger-Albertsons merger has resulted in multiple court battles. In December, Albertsons sued Cincinnati-based Kroger, one day after two judges, including a King County Superior Court judge, blocked the deal. Albertsons seeks a $600 million termination fee as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value.
Albertsons blamed Kroger’s actions during the regulatory oversight process for the failure, while Kroger denied Albertsons’ claims.
On March 25, Kroger countersued Albertsons, contending the grocery chain “was engaging in a secret and misguided campaign, together with C&S Wholesale Grocers, the divestiture buyer, to pursue its own regulatory strategy, which ultimately undermined Kroger’s efforts.”
C&S was set to buy the spun-off stores. For its part, C&S sued Kroger the week of March 16 over nonpayment of a $125 million termination fee; a Kroger representative has called the case “baseless.”
An Albertsons representative told Grocery Dive on March 25 in response to the countersuit that Albertsons was “steadfastly committed” to the merger and that “Kroger did not hold up its end of the bargain.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
