Craig Cannon visited the brand new store, and gave us this report….
Quite exciting down at the new Safeway here in Pleasant Hill. Despite the thousands of eager shoppers, the friendly employees were able to keep up with the crowds at the wait at the check-outs were minimal at best. Besides a gas station with reasonable prices, and a deeper discount if you are a Safeway Club Card packer, there is a Starbucks, large produce, and an expansive meat and fish market. The store also sports a bank. There are the traditional checkouts and for the adventurous, six new “self checkout kiosks”.
As a former Grocery Store Manager myself, as was impressed with the friendliness of staff, with a smiling Safeway Employee asking “are you finding everything okay?’ around almost every corner. Unlike some stores, this Safeway has the canned foods, packaged goods, and staples in the center of the building, and the meat, deli, take-out, coffee, and produce ring the outer area’s. The isles are expansive, and inviting. Parking, however is at a premium, as are shopping carts. This surely will settle, as the newness wears out.
City planners may consider another traffic signal near the southern end of the store, as access, and traffic tends to bottle neck there as people try to turn left across four traffic lanes on CCB.
Truly a beautiful addition to Northern Pleasant Hill!
Thanks to Craig Cannon for the report & the great photos!
Did you go to the new Safeway? If so, how did you like it?
{ 37 comments }
I attempted to go, but decided not to because the HUGE crowd and lack of parking. I will check it out sometime next week.
I went and it was great! Huge and super clean.
Safeway’s prices are outrageous! You get better quality all around at Raley’s/Nob Hill….no thanks.
I checked it out and it’s really nice! Great friendly associates too!
More revenue for PH. Gotta love that. Thanks Concord!
People are gonna hate having to pop in for a few groceries durring the Christmas season.
Will visit this week. What Bank is inside this Safeway?
We walked through with all of our mailed coupons in hand. Very nice facility. Opening day staff levels. Way long lines. Did not spend a dime.
Our local store has equal or better quality at definitely better pricing.
However, this place will be a nice boost to the local economy.
Love fueling up @ Safeway…got almost .90 off per gallon the other day in Pleasanton w/accumulated club card discounts. Plus the club card discount. Can’t beat that! Woohoo!
Where is the border between Pleasant Hill and Concord? Sun Valley Mall is in Concord. If this new store is really in Pleasant Hill, does that mean that Penney’s Home Store is in a different city than its main store?
Curiouser and curiouser.
I no longer live in Pleasant Hill but did for 50 years. It is nice to see what is happening. Thank you Mr. Cannon for your photos. It is interesting to think that building used to be Mervyns.
Cowellian, The border is in between the new Safeway & JC Penny (at the mall). JC Penny Home store is in Pleasant Hill.
@ momof3 #7…it’s a US Bank inside the new Safeway.
I went by there this evening, wasn’t crowded, lines were short. in and out of there in less than 10 minutes.
Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I couldn’t find anything on Google. I can only imagine the politics that went into drawing that border.
I went last night for the preview and it was fantastic. REALLY crowded but that’s to be expected on opening night. The deli is awesome – we picked up some Chinese food from there and wow, it was good! The bakery is beautiful, and there is a meat/fish counter in the back with beautiful stuff.
I love it!
yeah, no kidding!! You’re welcome
I only had one thing in mind with the opening of this store…. Some cheaper #2 diesel. Much to my dismay, it is not priced very well. I guess I’ll have to keep going and paying cash at the Bon Robbery on Solano Way….
…and if I heard the scanner correctly, it just got robbed about 10 minutes ago.
Woohoo!!! I expect their deli and their overall sales will get a huge bost from the DVC students going back…I know I’ll be making a visit :3
I work at that new Safeway as a bagger. I took a few photos of the preview event on Thursday and it was amazing, Im seinding the Mayor a few of my photos including the first shoppers coming into the store. Lets just say the store is a hit!
@Cowellian February 17, 2012 at 10:51 pm
“Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I couldn’t find anything on Google. I can only imagine the politics that went into drawing that border.”
Absolutely. It took me ten years to get that traffic light installed at Blue Ridge Dr, Martinez, by the Virgina Hills Shopping Ctr. Why? One side of the road was Pleasant Hill, the other was Martinez. Everyone was stating ‘s not my job. When the city engineer blew it by informing me of this division, an article was written for the paper, and one city annexed its portion to the other.
Suggestion to representatives: NEVER divide these cities down the middle of a street. That is one of the shaftiest, two-bit methods of screwing the public you supposedly represent.
___________
Re: Safeway: How many UN-attended registers?
I think having the store there actually makes going to the mall more appealing. I often need to pick up groceries after other shopping and in WC usually head over to whole foods. The Sun Valley / Safeway combo should save me some money and the parking should be a lot better than going to the creek.
I went to the Grand Opening and it’s a very nice store. I just wish Safeway would clean up our store. So many junkies outside and the staff on the inside are far from friendly. I’m talking about the store on Willow Pass and Port Chicago.
I was there yesterday afternoon. Wall to wall people. As I waited for my friend to check out (over 45 minutes) I watched rude people hand over the coupon book to the cashier and expect them to pull the coupons. I have to wonder what they had been doing the last 40 mins?
All the employees were friendly.
I like the small shopping carts.
I still hate Safeway beef.
This Safeway has a self-service olive bar – yeah! – with an excellent selection. There are some bins of bulk self-serve foods , ie., trail mix, walnuts, cereals, grains, (no flours or spices) that are priced at about what you would pay anywhere else for bulk. The deli and the pre-made food bar look bigger than most and well-stocked. (I personally think the Safeway hot food and ready-to-heat items have greatly improved in the last few years and are far and away superior to every Costco/Kirkland item I have tried.) I didn’t check out whether it had a better assortment of cheese than you can get at other Safeway’s – I’ll do that on another trip.
On Friday there were quite a few tables set up giving away free samples of their new Open Nature brand foods including cooked chicken sausage, meat loaf, thai chicken – just like at Costco. This Safeway is big and spacious and reminds me of the Pleasant Hill Luckys in aisle-width – not quite Berkeley Bowl for selection though. The downside is the produce – the same standard Safeway produce you get at every other Safeway. But the produce section takes up about a quarter of the store so maybe that will improve come summer.
Overall, I would give it an 8 on a scale of 10. I’ll keep buying my produce at Concord Produce.
U.S. Bank is inside this new Safeway, for whoever wanted to know. They, too, have a grand opening special “giving away” $95.
I will have to check out the wine selection. It is interesting what it says about the demographics. Safeway has excellent pricing if you buy six bottles with a Safeway card. I am about due to load up for the yearly holidays.
As Annie2U noticed, these newer stores are concentrating on prepared foods and specialties like the olives. Simple enough to understand, that’s where the margin is. Prepared items make way more money for the store than the basics. Please think about that when purchasing.
Please dont use the self check outs. You are taking a job away when you do. For those who will argue about it and say someone watches over it you are correct but one person watches them all. I wont use no matter how long the wait. No rush just enjoying all the things people speed past.
@28; Not everyone has time to stand in long lines when they’re just carrying a couple of items. People have work, school, family, appointments, etc to attend to.
I know exactly what you mean! I am in a corner of PH that butts up against Putnam and Geary. Both of which have one lane in WC.
I tried to report a fender bender I saw on Putnam to the PH police and they told me to call WC. The WCPD told me the same. I ended up giving up.
Loved the store, but there is something weird about the shopping carts if you park on the side of the store closest to the mall. I, along with several others, tried to push our carts to our cars and the wheels jammed. These same carts worked just fine inside the stores. It was a real struggle trying to get to the car and something actually fell off the cart and smashed to the ground. Maybe there’s something odd about the paving/blacktop on that side.
@Palermo #31
I had the same problem. Found out they have that locking mechanism like at Willow Pass to prevent theft. If you cross the ‘yellow’ line they lock. According to an assistant manager , they turned the system off after they had many complaints. Supposedly since there is no door on the mall side they did not expect anyone to park there the carts lock on a line parallel to the corner of the store.
I had to part in front of Firestone, and refused to drag my cart, a customer service guy was running around trying to get all of the customers helped by unlocking the carts. Oh this happens on the other side of the store – one parking row from the CVS entrance. too. I waited in line 20 minutes and also did not understand why people did not have their coupons ready. Just a note, you can use the coupons (even the free ones) at any local Safeway store.
We no longer shop at Safeway as their prices are too high for the basics. Lucky and FoodMax are much better and we use Costco for some things. It’s too bad on Safeway’s prices as we live very near a Safeway and it would be great to to pop over their for regular grocery shopping.
It is gorgeous. I am super happy about the new store~
@29 I also have those things, but the difference between me and you is: I care about people and your so busy that you have forgotten to live. I will pray for you and all the things your missing out on. Roses really do smell and kids can teach adults so many things.
About time because that saw by DVC was depressing. However the staff was awesome. Basically need upgrades badly.
free advertising for a corporation. whoopty.
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