Safeway to add four new locations

Grocer plans to have openings in San Jose, Hercules this year

PLEASANTON » Safeway has embarked on renovations at a number of stores in Northern California and is working on opening four new stores in the region, the supermarket giant told this news organization.

“In 2020, Safeway will complete nearly 20 store remodels and four new stores are currently set to open in Northern California,” Wendy Gutshall, a Safeway spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The four new Safeway stores are slated to open in San Jose, Hercules, San Francisco and El Dorado Hills.

Pleasanton-based Safeway’s wide-ranging renovation efforts and the grocer’s new stores in Northern California are a reminder that plenty of merchants are finding ways to prosper amid a retail apocalypse that has battered the fortunes of a number of retailers.

Safeway said the San Jose store, 1305 S. Winchester Blvd. near Payne Avenue, is slated for a grand opening sometime close to, or during, the summer.

The new Safeway store in Hercules is expected to hold its grand opening later this year, according to the supermarket company. The Safeway in Hercules is being built at a former BART park-and-ride lot bounded by San Pablo Avenue, John Muir Parkway, Interstate 80 and Sycamore Avenue.

A recent on-site observation at multiple Safeway stores in the Bay Area revealed that different types of work were underway inside those markets.

The work that was observed included installations of new floors in some instances, as well as construction activity in enclosed sections of a store. At the new store in western San Jose, considerable development work was underway this week.

Construction crews were working on the upper structure of the new San Jose store as well as near the entrance and ground floor area.

The new San Jose Safeway

store is poised to be an anchor of the West Park Plaza, whose other merchants include a Rite Aide drug store, UFC Gym, Supercuts, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Starbucks.

The store is just down the street from the Valley Fair and Santana Row malls, as well as a big residential complex that’s under construction on Winchester Boulevard.

Safeway made it clear that it will engage in these kinds of efforts, depending on favorable market conditions.

“As an ongoing effort, we continue to invest in new store development and store upgrades in areas we see an opportunity,” Gutshall said.

SAFEWAY A Safeway store, pictured in this concept illustration, is planned for a site at the corner of San Pablo and Sycamore avenues near Interstate 80in Hercules. It is scheduled to open this year.