SAFEWAY STORES, INC.

leading U.S. supermarket chain, with stores in the United States and abroad. Headquarters are in Oakland, Calif. The company originated as a small grocery store started by S.M. Skaggs in American Falls, Idaho, in 1915. The store was dedicated to building sales volume by taking low profit margins, an operating philosophy still followed by the company. The eldest son of the family, M.B. Skaggs, expanded the original store into a western chain that by 1926 had 428 stores in 10 states under the name Skaggs United Stores. The Skaggs company was incorporated in 1926 to buy the 322-store Safeway chain founded by Sam Seelig in southern California and subsequently assumed the Safeway name. Since then there have been numerous other acquisitions. By 1931 the company had reached its peak number of stores3,527 in the United States and Canadawhich averaged 1,000 square feet in size and carried about 700 items. Thereafter store numbers decreased, but the size increased, as Safeway became one of the first chains to establish giant supermarkets. In the 1980s, most of its 2,500 stores were in the United States west of the Mississippi River, but it also had stores in the eastern United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.