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Sears/Safeway rumor from 2006

Posted: 16 Jul 2019 20:56
by Groceteria
Can you even imagine...
Sears may have an eye on Safeway

Source: Contra Costa Times
Date: 11/9/2006

By Blanca Torres

Rumors are circulating among investors that Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc. may be a takeover target for Sears Holdings Corp., the parent of the Sears and Kmart department store chains. One analyst said the deal could be worth $20 billion.

Officials from Safeway and Sears declined to comment on the report, which surfaced from a report by investment research firm Briefing.com.
Dug this up while tagging my (large) collection of articles.

Re: Sears/Safeway rumor from 2006

Posted: 16 Jul 2019 22:18
by Andrew T.
OK. I'm imagining "Fast Eddie" Lampert separating the grocery, meat, and produce departments of each store into autonomous factions that warred against each other. And crowing about "Safeway Members." And letting shelves be half-empty. And systematically shutting down all the company's stores as leases expire, Market Street included.

As nonplussed as I've been with Safeway's trajectory under Albertsons, this would have been much, much, much worse...

Re: Sears/Safeway rumor from 2006

Posted: 16 Jul 2019 22:57
by klkla
The timing would make sense for an opportunistic takeover. By 2006 it was obvious the acquisitions of Randall's/Tom Thumb, Dominick's and Genuardi's was a bust and was having an impact on their share price. Perfect time for someone like Eddie Lambert to try and profit from the situation.

Re: Sears/Safeway rumor from 2006

Posted: 17 Jul 2019 11:46
by Steve Landry
This guy would destroy Albertsons/Safeway/et al in such a way that would make Ron Perlman (Food Fair/Pantry Pride/Revlon) look like Mother Teresa (albeit at a slower pace and way more profitable for him).

Re: Sears/Safeway rumor from 2006

Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:50
by Super S
Safeway has enough issues as it is under Albertsons ownership. I would hate to see what would have happened if Lampert took over. Especially when you consider how many Kmart and Sears stores have closed, and in some cases completely leaving states.

It sure seems odd though that so many of these mergers never lead to better prices...

Re: Sears/Safeway rumor from 2006

Posted: 26 Jul 2019 19:22
by pseudo3d
Andrew T. wrote: 16 Jul 2019 22:18 OK. I'm imagining "Fast Eddie" Lampert separating the grocery, meat, and produce departments of each store into autonomous factions that warred against each other. And crowing about "Safeway Members." And letting shelves be half-empty. And systematically shutting down all the company's stores as leases expire, Market Street included.

As nonplussed as I've been with Safeway's trajectory under Albertsons, this would have been much, much, much worse...
Market Street was still independent (pre-Albertsons) at the time, and at the time, Safeway was still rolling out Lifestyle. But in 2006, Sears/Kmart was still pretending on the surface to be doing fine, experimenting with store remodels and plans (somewhere in my own archives, they had hired someone circa 2005 who knew the stores were bad but was quoted as saying something along the lines of "think like a billion-dollar startup"), so maybe they would have converted the remaining Super Kmart stores to combo Safeway/Kmart stores, which would've been sort of interesting. But it wouldn't last, we all know that.