American Falls, Idaho-based Safeway Inc. opened in April 1915. Baptist clergyman S. M. Skaggs opposed “the growing evil of installment purchasing” among grocers and storekeepers. He opened Skaggs, a store where consumers picked products from shelves and paid at the register. M.B. Skaggs, S.M.’s son, offered $1088 (equivalent to $31500 in 2022) to buy the store. He opened a Burley, Idaho business three years later. Skaggs operated multiple Idaho and Montana establishments to expand his business.
M.B. Skaggs bought a grocer and a coffee firm, Skaggs Cash Store and Skaggs United locations, in 1926 and persuaded his five brothers to build 428 locations in 10 states. Skaggs also merged his company with 322 Sam Seelig Company stores and renamed it Safeway Inc. because he believed the chain would outlive him. This was the “safe way” to buy food because it was cash, not credit. A household wouldn’t be in debt from a store bill, which caused the Great Depression for many families.
Later that year, Merrill Lynch founder Charles E. Merrill envisioned West Coast grocery consolidation. He bought W.R.H. Weldon’s 322 Safeway stores and gave Skaggs $1.5 million and 30,000 shares of the merging corporation, which he accepted. The Skaggs/Safeway merger made M.B. Skaggs CEO. Safeway joined the NYSE two years later. The grocery business pioneered pound pricing, “sell by” dates on perishables, nutritional data, and parking lots in the 1930s. Safeway became the largest western grocery chain after the merger. The corporation moved from Reno, Nevada to Oakland, California in 1929 and then to Pleasanton, California in 1996.
Until 2000, the corporation expanded into several US states including Canada, UK, Australia, West Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Outside the West Coast, expansion failed. Safeway considered selling in 2014, and Albertson’s offered 9.4 billion. On January 30, 2015, Albertsons integrated Safeway brands. Kroger wants Albertsons for $24.6 billion, according to a merger deal.
