Four of the five Andronico’s Community Market grocery stores that Safeway bought at the end of 2016 will reopen this week as Safeway Community Markets.
The four stores are open in Berkeley, Los Altos and San Anselmo on Wednesday.
“We are excited to introduce Safeway Community Markets and welcome the employees to the Safeway team,” said Tom Schwilke, president of Safeway Northern California, in a company statement. “These stores will resonate well with the needs and wants of the community. Customers will find tons of local, fresh and organic options with everyday low prices.”
The new stores will carry local and specialty items, a deli and a bulk foods section. They will also have a full-service catering program, a full-service florist and a grocery-delivery system.
To celebrate the store openings, four local nonprofits — including Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency, Center for Ecoliteracy, Hidden Villa and ExtraFood.org — will be presented with a $5,000 donation from The Safeway Foundation.
Two stores will open in Berkeley at 1550 Shattuck Ave. and 1850 Solano Ave., one in Los Altos at 690 Fremont Ave., and one in San Anselmo at 100 Center Blvd.
Andronico’s San Francisco location reopened in early February after a revamp but is still branded as Andronico’s. The goal is to transition the name of San Francisco store to Safeway Community Markets, said a Safeway spokeswoman, but the company has to obtain permits under the city’s formula retail rules.
Safeway agreed to purchase the five Andronico’s stores in the Bay Area in 2016 after previous Andronico’s owner Renovo Capital approached Safeway early in the year about buying the remaining stores. Andronico’s, which is almost 90 years old, had expanded in the 1990s and early 2000s and opened stores in Emeryville, Danville, Palo Alto and Walnut Creek, in addition to the Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Altos and San Anselmo locations.
But when its sales could not pay off its debt, the chain filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and was scooped up by Renovo Capital.
Safeway has been on a growth tear in the Bay Area recently. In the past few months of 2016, the grocer opened new stores in Oakland, Walnut Creek, Pacifica and Willow Glen. That news followed its merger with Albertsons in 2015.
