Safeway ends Club Card

WINNIPEG – Effective immediately, Safeway will no longer accept its popular club card.

Instead, all customers will now benefit from store savings on groceries with the old ‘club price’ tags being replaced by new ‘sale’ tags.

“Our focus is on making sure we’re responding to our customers and one less card in their wallet or purse is something they’re going to appreciate,” said John Graham with Canada Safeway.

Information booths at all locations included details on the end of the membership program.

View image in full screen

Customers were surprised when checking out that they didn’t need their card anymore, but it’s a welcome change for some.

“I think it’s good, anyone can use it and it’s good for when I forget my card at home,” said one customer.

“It seems like the fair way to do it, didn’t make much sense before that some people got it and some didn’t,” said another customer, Adrian Potter.

With the 16-year-old membership program, there were about 4,500 items discounted. Now there will be an additional 1,500 weekly specials for a total of 6,000 items on sale.

The change comes just months after Sobeys acquired Safeway store across Canada for $5.8 billion.

Something that makes Fang Wan, a marketing professor at the University of Manitoba, think it’s a sign the company is preparing to integrate.

“From the business perspective, it’s a natural preparation for the transition because Sobeys has their own membership card and Safeway has their own membership card so you don’t want confusion down the road,” said Wan.

Safeway said while there has been a lot of talk, no decisions have been made about how the companies will integrate or if Club Sobeys cards will be accepted at Safeway locations.