Convenience at a price (Safeway)

Member Name: fooyoo

Product:	Safeway
Date:	22/09/02 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: special offers, convenient location

Disadvantages: Expensive

Before I start, I would like to say that I am an Asda fan, but as Safeway have a store right next to my house, I find myself in there a couple of times a week picking up the odd item, and to be honest, I can only afford to pick up the odd item, because excluding their weekly special deals (which I will come to later), Safeway are very very expensive, and the variety of products on offer from the likes of Asda and Tesco just cannot be rivalled by Safeway. Most other stores have a list of a trolley full of food which shows how competitive they are with their rivals. Safeway would not dare do this, as they would have to tell some huge lies to make it look good.

Each Wednesday, the new special offers go on display, and all of the surrounding houses are given leaflets outlining the offers, and the leaflet states that each offer is limited to 3 per person (although there is no limit to the time that you can return and buy your three items), and they are available from Wednesday - Tuesday. Sounds good? In theory it is, but my local store frequently run out of the special offers and replace them with higher priced Safeway goods, and every week, from lunchtime on Tuesday, the store miraculously runs out of EVERY special offer they have advertised. A couple of times, I have questioned the staff, and on one occasion I was told that they are told by management not to replenish the special offers from Monday morning onwards. It is a shame, because the special offers such as 12 cans of coke for £1.99, or 4 chicken fillets for £2.99 attract me to the store, and I rarely leave without buying other items.

The range Safeway offer is pretty good, they have choices such as:

AMERICAN - A new and updated range covers Wild West, Tex Mex, Deli favourites, as well as cookies, donuts, and the best thing is they all come in mammoth sized portions.....sadly with a price to match.

THE BEST - Safeway claim that this range offers restaurant style food, and I d
o have to admit that the Antipasta dressing is the best I have ever tasted.

EAT SMART - This is similar to Asda's 'Good For You' range, and all of the foods have been designed to help you lose weight, as each product has less than 3% fat, is calorie controlled and also has the minimum amount of additives. The Beef Lasagne has only 360 calories and served with a side salad it is a great meal.

EAT STREET - The food in this range has been designed to satisfy hunger pangs at all times of the day. In my opinion, this is the most overpriced of all of the ranges, and the choices are average to say the least, with a Chicken and Sweetcorn sandwich costing £2.50.

ITALIAN - This claims to be like authentic Italian cuisine. I think the only time I would give this range a try would be if I had friends round for a meal, and had suffered a kitchen disaster just before they arrived.

MEDITERRANEAN - Promises of bringing back memories of past summer holidays is what this range claims it can do. It includes Lamb Moussaka and roasted pimentos, but it would take more than that to make me feel like I was back in Spain.

ORGANIC - Safeway now claims to stock over 500 organic products, but in my local store, you would be hard pushed to find them,as they are not given any advertising which means people would have to hunt them out.

There is also the Safeway Savers range which is the store's own value range of products.

As well as the special offers in store, Safeway are offering a petrol payback scheme, which rewards their customers with money off at their petrol stations depending on the amount spent in store. (Spend £50 and save 5p per litre is the minimum spend in one transaction.) I have never taken advantage of this offer as I have never spent £50 in one trip!

It is a good store for one off offers, but unless you have money to burn I would not advise doing your weekly shop here.

To find out m
ore about Safeway, you can log onto www.safeway.co.uk

Summary: