Safeway will shut East Bay store but grocer aims to keep all affected workers
PINOLE — Safeway will close one of its East Bay stores but intends to transfer all of the affected workers and keep them on the job at one or more of its other supermarkets.
The supermarket chain has decided to shut a Pinole store at 1421 Tara Hills Drive, Safeway stated in an official filing it sent to the state Employment Development Department.
The shutdown will eliminate 69 jobs at that location — but the workers could land positions at another Safeway site.
“We intend to place all the associates into a position at another nearby location,” Terra Powers, a Safeway vice president, wrote in a filing posted with the state EDD. “The exact placement of positions has not yet been completed.”
Pleasanton-based Safeway indicated it taking steps to rescue the jobs of all the affected workers.
“We do not foresee any layoffs as a result of the closure,” Safeway stated in the filing with the state labor agency.
In January, Safeway revealed that it had decided to chop 156 job cuts at two office locations in Pleasanton. These were all corporate positions and none are at Safeway supermarkets. The layoffs were due to occur around Feb. 22.
As for the Pinole store shutdown, Safeway said it expected that store to close to the public on April 4 of this year.
“Associates will continue to work at the store to close operations” over an unspecified period after the April 4 shutdown, Safeway told the EDD.