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A new Safeway supermarket will be opening for business this Sunday, June 18, at the Monta Loma Plaza space formerly occupied by the Fresh & Easy grocery store. The new store at 580 N. Rengstorff Ave. will be the fourth Safeway in Mountain View.
Safeway signed a lease for the 28,100-square-foot space last summer after the Fresh & Easy grocery chain collapsed and quickly shuttered its hundreds of branches. Over the last year, Safeway officials have been working on remodeling the interior to include a deli, floral department and other features.
Grocery stores in Mountain View have been of great interest as city officials pursue plans to grow neighborhoods. Customer services and checkout lines at local supermarkets have also spurred some fierce social media debates.
The Sunday launch is being considered a “soft opening,” according to a company flier. A formal grand opening ceremony with city and business officials is being planned for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21.
This is less than 1 mile from the Shoreline store.
It will help with the long lines but seems to be a poor business decision given t the high cost of land
Let’s see, we’ve already got 3 Safeways in Mountain View now, not even counting the Safeway that took over Andronico’s in Los Altos. Oh yes, and the new one in downtown Los Altos. But by all means, open another on…..
I have a regular meeting nearby and often used the Fresh & Easy when I needed a few items and have missed the convenience. I look forward to occasionally using the new Safeway.
I stopped by today, the store is open, looks fantastic and there seems to be quite a few people shopping. I also noticed two people walking home with grocery bags so hopefully we can start to walk for our groceries a bit more now as well.
@Elaine A:
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the San Antonio Safeway has lines 14 people deep at 11:30pm at night, and the self-checkout is about the same from 5pm-7pm. There’s obviously a demand, and I’m thrilled that they’ve opened another one.
You people from “other neighborhoods” should temper [better quiet] your comments about the new Safeway on Rengstorff at Middlefield.
This location since at least 1999 has been through a Lucky’s (great meat & fish dept.), a sorry Asian market, and most recently a Fresh & Easy with is its crazed Brit style of selling and packaging (Brexit before Brexit failed last week!).
As a Monte Loma resident of some time, I look forward to this addition to our shopping experience.
Thank you Safeway, profit on!
Adding to what Elaine A. above didn’t mention is that the Los Altos Andronico’s that bailed out had earlier, itself, replaced another and longer-standing supermarket.
Safeway seems skilled at filling these holes in community retail (and as an earlier Voice thread about this store brought out, Safeways come in several standard sizes, tailored to available space and likely local demad). My Monta Loma friends have eagerly awaited this opening, and as comments above have brought out, it will serve a clear local (walking-distance) demand in this dense residential neighborhood of Mountain View, which I think is far more relevant than the number of Safeways in the larger region (unimportant to those who don’t travel to them). I’ll probably shop there too when stopping for other business at that commercial complex, which also includes some worthwhile inexpensive independent restaurants (La Bamba, Kumino).
The new Safeway is very nice and clean, but I guess I don’t shop at that kind of regular grocery store that often because I’m dismayed by the ratio of junk food to fruits and veggies. It’s just aisle after aisle of processed food and so many horrible things like 20 kinds of Pop-tarts and the whole “convenience breakfast” section was just ugh. I hope that healthier options get the consumer vote there too.
Beautiful store ! Sure to increase obesity with all of the great junk food selection.
Prices 20 t0 40 % higher than alternative markets within five minutes. Costc
for example where there is never a wait.
I will use it like a 7-11
Excellent staff ! Have spoken with many of them .
Shopping there on a regular basis will ruin your budget !
Yes, this store is close to two other Safeways, but the Shoreline store has chronically long lines and the San Antonio store will get much harder to get to as housing and traffic increase at San Antonio center. I went in yesterday, and the store was bright, clean and the people who work there very friendly. I think it’s a good addition to the neighborhood.
Re “Too much junk:” I hear you on the junk-food point, but never forget: supermarkets offer those products because the public relentlessly rewards them for doing so, by buying. Consumer preference is the “elephant in the room” behind many embarassing features of the US food industry, yet it is constantly ignored by those claiming to seek reform — because it’s not an easy target.
Mainstream supermarkets steer some middle course between prohibiting people from buying what they want (the nanny-state approach, always proposed for someone else’s “own good,” and best illustrated by the [ultimately disastrous] federal prohibition of alcohol ratified in 1919) vs. the “convenience store” model of offering nothing BUT junk.
Both the new store and the one on Shoreline are on my way home. I quit going to the Shoreline store due the the crazy lines and the chronic under-staffing. Any bets the new store will be the same? San Antonio was great when it first opened then the personnel cuts. All Safeways have longs lines all the time. Do yourself a favor and go to Nob Hill. They care about their customers and their prices are comparable if not cheaper.
Safeway is there – it’s open – get over it. My wife was there yesterday and was pleased, I’ll be visiting and shopping tomorrow – looking forward.
To all you Old Mountain View NIMBY residents – remember how the City Council put in a CVS Pharmacy over a Zanotto’s market downtown a few years back – stilled pissed about that?
Go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s (at other end of town) – don’t forget to wear your tie-died t-shirts!
As long as I can get Mazzetta pasta sauces, Stubb’s marinades and rubs and fresh veggies and fruits, I’ll be almost in heaven.
Not to mention Cheetos Jalepeno Cheddar – worst junk food ever LOL.
Greg Nelson: Please read more carefully!
In comments above, those basically criticizing the new store (only one of of them claims to’ve actually seen it) are signed from North Whisman, Blossom Valley, Rengstorff Park, and Sylvan Park.
The only comments signed from Old Mountain View were mine, supporting the new Safeway.
This is a nice addition to the neighborhood (and much better than the space being empty).
I suspect that, just like every other store that has been there in the past 25+ years), the inventory will adapt at least a little bit over time to what is purchased by the local consumers. If the junk food doesn’t sell, or if neighbors request something specific frequently enough, new items will appear in the shelf space.
Years ago this location was a major supermarket. Now this same area has so much more housing and a much larger customer base, so Safeway was smart to take advantage of opening a store here. A thriving supermarket also helps all the other stores in the center, so this is good for the community. The Safeway in Los Altos that took over Andronico’s still caters to that customer with a large deli and meat counter. However, Safeway did not retain their location in Sunnyvale on Wolfe Road. It is now a mega-gym. Safeway knows how to anticipate the needs of their customers to serve their communities as well as they can.
Too bad our school districts don’t have the same insight.
“The new Safeway is very nice and clean, but I guess I don’t shop at that kind of regular grocery store that often because I’m dismayed by the ratio of junk food to fruits and veggies.”
How could anyone have missed the big veggie bar, complete with its own kitchen?
Or the big wall of dried fruits/grains/etc in bins?
Or all the organic produce?
AN ENTIRE SECTION OF THE STORE BEYOND THE STANDARD PRODUCE DEPT IS JUST FOR VEGETABLES…
Sounds like someone just wants to trash Safeway because they have some kind of grudge.
Or they never actually visited in the first place.
“Costc for example where there is never a wait.”
Haha ok.
Costco
Never a wait
Pick ONE.
When Albertson’s bought Safeway recently, the lines got longer and longer.
Another place to shop lift !! Love the side entrance to run out with booze like they do every weekend on shoreline. I got the pictures, license plate and spoke to the PD about them stealing booze and nothing came from it. Safeway doesn’t care they just want to over charge US, Love the staff hate the brand
I have been going to Safeway since I was a kid. I am getting near 50 years old. I will keep going to the Shoreline store because I have known the checkers for many years but I am sure the Monta Loma store is great! If they do all the building in North Bayshore that they say they are going to we are going to need more grocery stores around here, not less.
I also started using Amazon Fresh recently and I can also recommend that. Especially as I get older this will be even more welcome. Very convenient and cost is competitive. Since Amazon just bought Whole Foods I imagine organic will be coming to Amazon Fresh in the very near future.
Amazing what constitutes news for the Mountain View Voice these days. A new Safeway store opens… woo hoo! Have lived in MV for 20 years now and hardly recognize it anymore
blah blah blah
The problem of long lines at Safeway — every Safeway — especially at night, has nothing to do with overcrowding and everything to do with tragically low staffing levels, which is presumably a decision made from a Corporate office somewhere. I try to avoid using Safeway even as a late-night convenience store because a 10-minute wait in line to buy one item is common, and unacceptable. Perhaps the new location will be different but it seems unlikely they will have any more control over their own staffing levels than any other Safeway.
This week I stopped one afternoon at the recently-notorious Bailey-Park Safeway on Shoreline (of the “chronically long lines” and “crazy lines and the chronic under-staffing” in comments above). Guess what? No lines at all. Walked right up to one of the several available checkers with my groceries.
I made a quip about what happened to the famous lines. One employee answered good-naturedly that “everyone probably went over to the new store” described in this article.
So much for firmly held notions about “All Safeways have longs lines all the time. “
If you want to know who is to blame for all the shoplifting look in the mirror–at least if you are a typical SFBay voter. A few years ago the voters bought a sob story about how too many people were going to jail for ‘minor crimes’ so they voted in a threshold of $1K IIRC for serious crimes. The criminals know that the stores will let them steal less than that because even if they call the police nothing happens to the criminal. The stores of course raise their prices to cover these thefts so we are all paying for them. As New York City learned, this will not end well but, as so many things in the socialist utopia of California, we have to re-learn other places’ lessons the hard way.
@ @dman. Yep, you nailed it. Just had a conversation this weekend with a friend who runs a bail bond business. He said stores literally have videos of people tallying up their “score” on their iPhone calculators….if it’s over the limit they put items back but once they’re under the limit (he said it’s $500…..previous poster says $1000, not sure who’s correct). Anyway, once they’ve determined there’re under the limit they start shoving it in their pants and just walk out of the store. They know nothing will happen.
This is sickening and is a direct result of left, liberal policies.
Since when is it OK to steal?
One of the reasons there is so much junk food in grocery stores is that food companies PAY the store to display their foods. https://qz.com/807723/inside-the-secret-backroom-deals-big-brands-make-to-vie-for-control-over-grocery-store In 2014, Safeway had profits of $9.7 billion, about $2.5 billion of that profit came from companies paying for placement, new product displays and being allowed to keep their products in the stores. But I’m still delighted to have an new Safeway!
I find it to be a good place to buy things like milk or bread when I run out of those items. I’m low on butter now so I’ll report back later in the week to determine if that was a successful venture. I hear they have eggs too, but one step at a time for now.
The aisles are super narrow in the new Monta Loma Safeway. Made me feel claustrophobic. Also the store is not as big as any of the others in Mtn. View so naturally the selection is not as good. Finally, without naming names, the s-l-o-w-e-s-t checker ever that worked at the Bailey Park Safeway is now at the Monta Loma Safeway!! Haha! All that being said, I welcome another grocery store in the area which hopefully sticks around longer than its predecessors.
I won’t shop anywhere that does not sell Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos!
Go Safeway!!!
@Yestderday
Yes, they have eggs. We bought some from them in a previous “successful venture”. 😀