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The 1990s and the Present

Previously...

Safeway has recovered from its problems during the 1990s, and is now aggressively remodeling and expanding, building new stores, and acquiring chains around the country.

Interestingly, the company seems to be moving back into many of the very areas it devested in the 1950s and 1980s, with Randalls and Tom Thumb in Texas, and Genuardis in the northeast. Additionally, Safeway exercised an option to purchase the Southern California Vons stores (in which it had held a 30% stake since the 1980s) in 1996.

The companay also purchased Carr's, and Alaska competitor, and Chicago's Dominick's chain. The latter purchase was almost universally viewed as a disaster, and Safeway somehwat quickly tried to unload the troublesome chain.

In San Francisco:

In San Francisco, a mammoth new store was opened at 2300 16th Street, the site of a former White Front, as part of the new Potrero Shopping Center. The flagship Market Street store was enlarged and remodeled, taking over the space of the former Super S Drugs next door.

29 October 2004 brought the grand opening of San Francisco's Mission Bay Safeway at Fourth and Townsend. This distinctly urban, custom-designed store is at the base of a high-rise apartment building and serves the new mixed-use neighborhood which is growing around SBC Park. Its most prominent feature is a huge deli section which caters to residents and nearby workers alike.

The Marina stores are disappearing even faster than the pylon stores did, with most having been closed or remodeled beyond recognition. It's hard to find many traces of the old Safeway, but they're around if you're willing to look for them.