Safeway buyout

[CdnCarrie]

Anyone else worried about Air Miles with Sobey's buying out Canada Safeway?

 

[damo]

That's the first thing I thought about when I heard.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I got 8 free flights last year from Air Miles. Even if they give out Air Miles like the Sobey's out East it won't be the same. No more extreme air miles.

 

[cari12]

I am worried about that as well. My main sponsors are Safeway and our BMO mastercard. I would hate to loose all those bonus offers from Safeway.

 

[CdnCarrie]

http://www.vancouversun.com/busines...Sobeys+buys+Canada+Safeway/8517469/story.html

Good article that gives me hope.

 

[cari12]

http://www.vancouversun.com/busines...Sobeys+buys+Canada+Safeway/8517469/story.html

Good article that gives me hope.

That does sound promising. Perhaps with Sobey's increased buying power, we could see some prices drop at Safeway and still get our bonus airmiles

 

[alohamom]

What I really hope happens is that they incorporate the Airmiles program into all Sobeys across Canada! Now I am going to read the link for the vancouver sun and that is probably what it says LOL!

 

[CdnCarrie]

Well Sobey's is very stingy with Air Miles on the East Coast. So even if they take over AM in Western Canada they days of AM deals may be going.

 

[Susie63]

I only shop at Safeway for the bonus airmiles deals. If they discontinue the Airmiles bonus deals.........I will probably never set foot inside their doors again.

 

[cari12]

Well Sobey's is very stingy with Air Miles on the East Coast. So even if they take over AM in Western Canada they days of AM deals may be going.

I hope not -if Safeway becomes stingy on airmiles, I would probably switch to another grocery store. Most weeks there is a coupon in the flyer spend $100, get 100 AM so most weeks I get over 100 AM from Safeway alone, last week I earned 235 and only spent $135.
The other issue though not related to Safeway is that there appears to be less and less rewards to spend the AM on anyways. Most of the gift cards are gone. However I have used my AM in the past for flights and park tickets for the 4 of us to go to Disneyland twice so that was awesome!

 

[CdnCarrie]

I hope not -if Safeway becomes stingy on airmiles, I would probably switch to another grocery store. Most weeks there is a coupon in the flyer spend $100, get 100 AM so most weeks I get over 100 AM from Safeway alone, last week I earned 235 and only spent $135.
The other issue though not related to Safeway is that there appears to be less and less rewards to spend the AM on anyways. Most of the gift cards are gone. However I have used my AM in the past for flights and park tickets for the 4 of us to go to Disneyland twice so that was awesome!

I only use AM for travel so I didn't really care about the gift cards. I easily get 10,000 Air Miles a year from Safeway.

 

[mamaCta]

I never shop at Sobeys or Safeway here because they are the two highest priced stores in town. I refuse to spend the extra money to gain a few more miles. We already use the BMO card for all of our purchases elsewhere.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I never shop at Sobeys or Safeway here because they are the two highest priced stores in town. I refuse to spend the extra money to gain a few more miles. We already use the BMO card for all of our purchases elsewhere.

My math is different than yours. I earn about $2500 worth of travel rewards a year mainly from collecting at Safeway. There is no way I could save that much shopping elsewhere. So even through I pay a slight bit more (in a much nicer shopping environment) I actually make money in the long run! Switching to Superstore I may save $50-$70 a month but that is a long way from $2500 in rewards.

Too bad it doesn't work out for you.

 

[mamaCta]

My math is different than yours. I earn about $2500 worth of travel rewards a year mainly from collecting at Safeway. There is no way I could save that much shopping elsewhere. So even through I pay a slight bit more (in a much nicer shopping environment) I actually make money in the long run! Switching to Superstore I may save $50-$70 a month but that is a long way from $2500 in rewards.

Too bad it doesn't work out for you.

It's probably because of the regional pricing at the stores. Safeway's prices are sometimes twice what our Save On and Superstore affiliates are charging.

 

[CdnCarrie]

It's probably because of the regional pricing at the stores. Safeway's prices are sometimes twice what our Save On and Superstore affiliates are charging.

Perhaps. We don't have a Save On. Never heard of it actually.

We do have a Superstore but I would have 2 go by 2 Safeways to get to the nearest one. It's okay and I guess a tad cheaper. But I hate our crowded it is (6 Superstores vs 23 Safeways in the City), bagging my own groceries, etc. Just hate it. Much prefer Safeway any day.

 

[TagsMissy]

Perhaps. We don't have a Save On. Never heard of it actually.

We do have a Superstore but I would have 2 go by 2 Safeways to get to the nearest one. It's okay and I guess a tad cheaper. But I hate our crowded it is (6 Superstores vs 23 Safeways in the City), bagging my own groceries, etc. Just hate it. Much prefer Safeway any day.

Dont think Save On Foods exist out of BC.

 

[mamaCta]

Dont think Save On Foods exist out of BC.

They are also in Alberta, but I don't think they go beyond that.

 

[coastgirl]

We used to live in Victoria, now in Halifax. How has Sobey's done with Thrifty's? I hope that the added pressure from target and walmart gets Sobey's to increase AMs rather than killing the safeway program.

It took me about 4 years to get the miles we needed for a trip for 4 of us to MCO, a few miles at a time. We recently started putting everything through the BMO card and that helps. I know my sis in Victoria is bringing her family out here this summer on miles they earned at Safeway. ..flights from yyj to yhz in August aren't cheap!

 

[cari12]

My math is different than yours. I earn about $2500 worth of travel rewards a year mainly from collecting at Safeway. There is no way I could save that much shopping elsewhere. So even through I pay a slight bit more (in a much nicer shopping environment) I actually make money in the long run! Switching to Superstore I may save $50-$70 a month but that is a long way from $2500 in rewards.

Too bad it doesn't work out for you.

Totally agree, Superstore is so horrible to shop in, not worth the small savings. I mainly shop at Safeway and Costco. Save On Foods here is similar in price to Safeway and has their own points program. Much prefer the AM form Safeway.

 

[averysmom]

Totally agree, Superstore is so horrible to shop in, not worth the small savings. I mainly shop at Safeway and Costco. Save On Foods here is similar in price to Safeway and has their own points program. Much prefer the AM form Safeway.

I dislike Superstore and its sister store, Extra Foods, but even shopping the sales, I found that I spent 22% more at Safeway than I did at Extra. ( it was 20% more at Sobeys). I'd love it if the buy out makes those stores more competitive, but I won't shop there regularly if i'm paying that much more per shop!