South Side residents are losing a neighborhood Safeway and are being redirected to shop at a new store near Tucson’s city core.
Safeway Inc., based in Pleasanton, Calif., said Wednesday it plans to close its store at Campbell Avenue and Irvington Road.
The company plans to close its store at 2000 E. Irvington Road Dec. 9, the same week Safeway plans to open its new store at Broadway and South Kino Parkway, company officials said.
The 43,000 square-foot Irvington Road store serves residents in the Sunnyside Elvira, Drexel Park, Bravo Park Lane and Fairgrounds neighborhoods.
None of Tucson’s 16 other Safeway stores, extending to the Foothills and the far East Side, are slated for closure, company officials said.
Safeway decided to concentrate on its plans to make “bigger investments in the city’s center,” said Nikki Daly, a spokeswoman for Safeway’s Southern Arizona stores. She declined to elaborate.
People are also reading…
The Irvington store’s 48 employees are being transferred to the new store under construction at 1940 E. Broadway, Daly said.
The 55,000-square-foot Broadway Safeway closed in May, was torn down over the summer and is now being rebuilt on the same site.
That closure left an estimated 13,500 residents who live near Downtown and the University of Arizona without a nearby place to shop until it reopens.
Safeway promises, however, that the new Broadway store will be one of 280 “lifestyle” stores around the country, offering more goods than before.
The lifestyle concept features upgraded store interiors — wood floors, subdued lighting, expanded organic products, full-service delis and seafood markets, bakeries and floral design centers. The new Broadway supermarket will also feature an in-store Starbucks and a gas station.
Jennifer Noperi, a Sunnyside resident who has shopped at the Safeway for more than 20 years, plans to travel to the new Safeway store when it opens.
“I’m mad though because that means I’ll have to travel farther. But I’ve shopped at Safeway for so long, I don’t want to switch,” she said.
Three Safeway locations in Tucson already operate under the “lifestyle” concept — the Foothills store at North Swan Road and East Sunrise Drive, the Northwest Side supermarket at West Ina and North Oracle roads, and the South Side store on Valencia Road west of Mission Road, Daly said.
Daly said there are no current plans to remodel or build new Safeway lifestyle stores in metro Tucson.
Instead, South Side shoppers are being urged to shop at the new Safeway store when it opens during the second week in December.
Shoppers also have the options to shop at Fry’s Food and Drug, 2001 E. Irvington Road, located across the street from Safeway’s Irvington store.
A Food City supermarket is across Campbell Avenue from Safeway at 1830 E. Irvington Road.
But those options aren’t going to fly with some shoppers who were surprised to find out about the closure Wednesday. “It’s really sad. Anyone who lives near here comes to this Safeway to shop,” said Tammy Pesina, 35, who lives about five miles from the South Side store. “Everyone here is really nice. We know the employees. Now I guess we’re going to have to find a new place to shop, maybe it’s time to go back to Wal-Mart.”
The stores’s closure already brought bargain hunters to the store Wednesday.
Signs about the closure and sales of up to 40 percent off were posted on the store’s windows and doors.
“I’m finding good deals. But it’s sad for people who live here,” said Genie Aquino, a Rita Ranch resident. “It seems like it’s closing at the wrong time, but if business isn’t going well in the area, it’s time to move on.”
As water lifeline evaporates, Arizona faces a cultural change over water use
