Safeway to buy grocery chain

Purchase includes five remaining markets in the Bay Area

PLEASANTON — The fate of East Bay-grown grocery chain Andronico’s Community Markets is now in Safeway’s hands.

Safeway has agreed to purchase the five Andronico’s stores in the Bay Area.

“We’re proud that Safeway has chosen our stores and our teammates to join their dynamic company,” said Suzy Monford, CEO of Andronico’s, in a company statement. “We’re synergistic retailers who share a commitment to best quality, local and artisanal foods, as well as in supporting union jobs within our communities.”

Andronico’s owner, Renovo Capital, approached Safeway earlier this year about buying the stores, according to the statement from the company. Andronico’s, which is nearly 90 years old, has stores in Berkeley, Los Altos, San Anselmo and San Francisco.

Andronico’s had built a following of people who loved its gourmet and specialty products, community atmosphere, and selection of local purveyors. That helped it launch an expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s that brought it to Emeryville, Danville, Palo Alto and Walnut Creek.

“It was a wonderful store, and it was pre-Whole Foods,” said Helen Bulwik, a retail consultant and partner at Newport Board Group. “It had wonderful prepared foods. ... They were very high end and served their community well.”

But as Andronico’s took on debt for the expansion, its sales could not pay off that debt, Bulwik said. The company was forced to close several stores. Renovo Capital bought Andronico’s when the grocery chain filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

The acquisition by Safeway “makes sense,” Bulwik said, particularly considering Safeway’s efforts to revamp its stores and add new ones in the Bay Area.

According to Andronico’s, store employees will continue working in their current assignments with their same union pay rates and benefits, and more jobs may be added to the stores after the transition.