The vintage shopper on this matchcover for Safeway Food Stores may have been overjoyed by the "big variety" during that time period- but the KC Matchgirl knows that grocery stores have gotten bigger and bigger over the years. These days, with aisle after aisle of product-laden shelves, variety is not just big, it is ginormous.
At that time, Safeway was also ginormous, having grown from just 2 stores back in 1915. Founder Marion Skaggs expanded his business by buying out competing markets and in less than 10 years, 1926 to be exact, the Safeway store chain linked 428 locations in 10 states. Not much affected by the Great Depression, the chain continued to grow, expanding to 3400 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
"Safeway", by the way, has nothing to do with food freshness or store sanitation, as one might presume. The name "Safeway" was coined because because they only operated on a cash basis- no credit. So Safeway customers were shopping the 'safe way' and not racking up debt buying groceries on a store tab.
Like all grocery chains, Safeway had their own store brands on the shelves, such as Lucerne dairy products and Crown Colony spices and coffee, along with all the popular name brands. Using the same model of buying out other companies, the company expanded into other countries: United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Despite its popularity, Safeway began closing stores in certain markets and had shrank to 1335 stores in 2014. A merger with the Albertson's grocery chain in 2015 has continued to shift Safeway's presence- and thus can hardly claim to be big in any way, any more.
Note: This matchbook can be dated to around 1962, when Safeway began using the red-and-white S logo.This may be one of a series featuring various store items- this one promotes baked goods on the back cover.
