Initiative Focuses on Quality, Freshness and Convenience at
Competitive Prices
Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) today launched a campaign to significantly
increase its focus on locally grown produce. The initiative is designed
to draw customer attention to the company’s wide selection of locally
grown produce including the quality, freshness and sustainability
benefits of the product.
“Nearly a third of Safeway’s produce comes from local sources. In
California, that number is even greater, roughly 45 percent,” said Geoff
White, Group Vice President of Produce. “This new initiative will direct
our customers to our extensive selection of premium-quality, locally
grown produce at competitive prices.”
The commitment to local produce means that shoppers can find more local
produce per item than at a typical farmer’s market. Safeway’s “Locally
Grown” campaign will highlight partnerships with local farmers such as
G&S Farms of Brentwood, California, a grower of sweet corn and green
beans, and Fitzgerald Orchards of Tyro, Virginia, which has supplied
East Coast Safeway stores with apples for nearly 60 years. Safeway will
give purchasing preference to these and other key local growers to meet
customer demand. In addition, Safeway will provide local produce premier
in-store placement with attractive “Locally Grown” promotional signs
that highlight specific growers in the region.
Safeway will require its local vendors to meet the company’s strict
safety and quality standards for planting, growing, harvesting, handling
and transporting. Before produce reaches the store, Safeway conducts
multiple inspections for quality, flavor and appearance. The product
will be competitively priced, giving Safeway customers the best value
for their money.
“For more than 30 years we have partnered with Safeway to bring fresh,
superior-quality corn to consumers in Northern California,” said G&S
Farms owner Glenn Stonebarger. “Doing so gives us an important channel
to reach a broad cross-section of consumers who will have an opportunity
to experience the freshness and quality long associated with the G&S
Farms brand.”
In addition to the quality benefits, buying locally grown fruits and
vegetables reduces greenhouse emissions by limiting transportation
miles. Sourcing locally ensures the vitality of local farms, which
translates into economic opportunities and development for a broad range
of related businesses in the communities Safeway serves.
Safeway’s in-store campaign will include a range of material including
“locally grown” reference maps that will geographically show the
location of key local farmers as well as point-of-sale material that
will tell the story of Safeway’s local farmers.
ABOUT SAFEWAY www.Safeway.com
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 50 company and one of the largest food and
drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates
1,739 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual
sales of $44.1 billion in 2008. The company’s common stock is traded on
the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY. Safeway supports a
broad range of charitable and community programs and in 2008 donated
more than $248 million to important causes, such as cancer research,
education, hunger relief and programs focused on assisting people with
disabilities. Safeway is also one of the largest retail purchasers
of renewable energy, using 90,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy,
enough to power all 324 Safeway retail fuel stations, all stores in San
Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado, as well as the company
headquarters and all corporate offices in Northern California. Safeway
was the first major retailer to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the
world’s first and North America’s only legally binding GHG allowance
trading system, and the California Climate Action Registry, which
commits the company to reduce its carbon footprint by 6 percent from
year 2000 levels.
Safeway Inc.
Teena Massingill, 925-467-3810
