If you have lived in the Western or Southwestern United States, you may have gone grocery shopping at Albertsons or Safeway.
If so, you may have noticed similarities between the two stores and wondered if one is owned by the other.
So, does Albertsons own Safeway? If you’d like to find out, keep reading to see what I discovered on this topic!
Does Albertsons Own Safeway In [currentyear]?
Since 2015, Safeway has been owned by Albertsons, who in turn is owned by Cerberus Capital Management. Thus, indirectly, Safeway is under the umbrella of Cerberus in a sense. Besides Safeway, Albertsons has a number of banner companies, including Safeway, Von’s, and several other store brands in [currentyear].
For more information about Albertsons and Safeway, such as if the two stores are available in the same states, which other stores are affiliated with them, and more, keep on reading!
How Many Safeway Stores Are There?
According to information readily available, there are 906 Safeway stores in the US. In addition, there are several Safeway grocery stores in Canada as well.
In fact, there are a total of 104 Safeway stores in Canada.
All told, there are 1004 Safeway stores if not more (as the number may change if new stores open or close).
By contrast, Albertsons has a total of 2,253 stores. Not to mention, Albertsons Company INC also has several banner stores besides Safeway.
The total of all of these stores fluctuates as new stores open or others close.
Are Albertsons and Safeway Stores in the Same States?
There is some overlap between Safeway and Albertsons to a degree. Both store brands can be found in many of the same states across the West and other regions.
For example, there are Albertsons and Safeway stores across the state of California.
The same is true of other states as well, but California has the most Safeway and Albertsons stores.
However, for the most part, Safeway and Albertsons stores are not in the same general areas within any given state.
What Other Stores Are Affiliated with Albertsons and Safeway?
Besides Safeway, a number of other stores are considered banner stores for Albertsons. These include the following:
- Von’s- the face of the Albertsons brand in Southern California and Southern Nevada, Von’s is a popular grocery store
- Jewel-Osco- this Chicago based store is also found in Indiana and Iowa
- Acme- this is an Albertsons store mostly found in New England
- Tom Thumb- this store banner can be found in Texas, mainly in the Dallas/Fort Worth area
- Randalls- also in Texas, but closer to the Houston area
- United Supermarkets- this brand is also found across Texas
- Pavilions- this store is yet another California grocery store
- Star Market- this store is found in Massachusetts.
- Haggen- Washington, Oregon, and other nearby states are where this particular grocery store banner can be found
- Carrs- there are several of these grocery stores across Alaska and the upper midwest.
- Kings Food Markets- these are found in the New England region as well.
- Balducci’s Food Lover’s Market- this chain is found in New England and the Mid Atlantic region
Some of these stores have just a handful of locations, while others have dozens, if not hundreds.
For the most part, these stores each began as independent stores, but at some point were acquired by the Albertsons Company.
Who Owns Safeway Stores in Canada?
Safeway is not only in the United States but also in Canada. However, the Canadian Safeway stores are not owned by Albertsons.
Instead, since 2013, Canadian supermarket Sobeys has been the owner of the Canadian Safeway stores.
This other QuerySprout article provides additional helpful information about the Canadian Safeway stores and their owner, Sobeys.
Can I Use an Albertsons Gift Card at Safeway?
Because Safeway is so closely tied to Albertsons, questions about using gift cards from one or the other may be common.
In case you are wondering, you can indeed use a Safeway gift card at Albertsons and vice versa.
Beyond that, any gift card from the affiliated stores in the Albertson store family can be used at other affiliated stores.
This is certainly a great thing to know, especially if you travel and have a gift card from one of the other grocery stores associated with Albertsons.
To know more, you can also read our posts on whether or not Albertsons prices match, if Albertsons provide money orders, and if Albertsons takes WIC.
Conclusion
Albertsons is one of the largest grocery store chains in the United States. Owned by Cerberus Capital Management, Albertsons also has several banner stores under it, including Safeway and a number of other store names.
Safeway and Albertsons can both be found in many of the same states through the Western US and South, and gift cards for one can be used at the other interchangeably. However, Safeway also operates in Canada, under the ownership of Sobeys.
