Summary of Changes to Grocery Shopping at Safeway During Social Distancing

 

Over the last few weeks, our lives have changed drastically. Like many of you, we’re doing our best to navigate through the restrictions that have been unexpectedly placed on us all.

If you are planning your next grocery shopping trip, you should be aware of some changes that have been made at your local Safeway to help ensure your health and safety during this crisis.

Safeway has instituted new shopper hours of 7 am to 8 pm daily.  The reduced hours will allow Safeway staff to catch up on cleaning and stocking to best serve shoppers during business hours.   In addition, senior shopping hours have been added on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7 am to 9 am.

Running Clean Stores and Pharmacies

Safeway has stepped up how often they clean and disinfect all departments, restrooms, and other high-touch points of the store, like check stands and service counters. Cart wipes and hand sanitizer stations have been installed in key locations within the stores for your convenience, too.  As always, customers are encouraged to wash their fresh and packaged produce before consuming at home.

Limits on In-Stock Items

Safeway is asking customers to respect quantity limits of select, high-demand items (like hand sanitizers, household cleaners, and paper products) to help ensure more of our neighbors can find the products they need. They are refilling high-demand products as quickly as they can.  Safeway is prioritizing restocking essential everyday items over specialty items until inventory stabilizes.  If you are in need of specialty items like gluten-free items and are having a hard time finding them in-store – try the Safeway Marketplace online store to see if you have better luck.

New Plexi-Glass Barriers Installed at Checkout lanes

In an effort to protect both Safeway employees and customers through encouraging social distancing, a plexiglass barrier has been installed at checkout stands.  Employees are placing receipts, cash change and Monopoly game markers on the counter for customers to pick up, rather than handing them to you directly.

Rain Check Policy Suspended Temporarily

Safeway has suspended its rain check policy temporarily as they are in restock mode.  Ad prices will be honored on inventory in the store at your time of purchase.

No Returns

Safeway has also announced that returns on all items are not allowed through May 1st.   Please purchase only essential items you need for your family and do not overbuy as you will not be able to return any items.

Shopping for You.

The Safeway Grocery Delivery, Pharmacy Delivery, and Drive Up & Go services are still available to you. The Safeway E-commerce team is following enhanced sanitization protocols for all of their equipment, and washing their hands and using hand sanitizer before every order.

In addition, Safeway has created “Contact-Free” delivery procedures for their team and changed the signature processes so that delivery drivers can sign for you when delivering your order, after completing an ID check, if necessary.   Please use the “Contact-Free” procedures if you or a household member has a fever or flu symptoms.

Pharmacy Delivery is available for FREE until May 1st.  Read more here.

Taking Care of Their Team

All Safeway associates are encouraged to follow the CDC’s recommendations to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy. Safeway is encouraging its associates to stay home when they feel ill, and are working with our Human Resources team to ensure that every member of our team who faces a crisis can have peace of mind that we will help them get through it.

Please help them keep their store associates and community safe by considering the use of the Grocery Delivery or Drive Up & Go services if you have a fever or flu symptoms such as cough or shortness of breath.

Temporary Pause on Self-Service Operations

You will notice that soup bars, wing bars, and salad bars are not available at this time.  This is for the health and safety of all shoppers.