Safeway Stores (Ireland) was a

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chain that operated in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

between 1996 and 2005. 12 of the 13 stores were acquired by

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

, itself owned by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

; whilst the remaining store was sold to Mr John Miskelly and Mrs Helen Miskelly. Despite its name, it did not operate any interests in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

History

Joint venture

Safeway entered the Northern Ireland market in 1996, by forming a joint venture between

Safeway (UK) Safeway Limited is a British groceries brand, and former chain of supermarkets and convenience shops. The British Safeway was founded in 1962 by the American Safeway Inc., before being sold to Argyll Foods in 1987. It was later listed on the ...

and Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Fitzwilton Group, owners of the Wellworths supermarket chain. Larger Wellworths stores became part of this joint venture, with smaller stores being sold to the Musgrave Group and rebranded Wellworths-Supervalu. Despite only partial ownership by

Safeway UK Safeway Limited is a British groceries brand, and former chain of supermarkets and convenience shops. The British Safeway was founded in 1962 by the American Safeway Inc., before being sold to Argyll Foods in 1987. It was later listed on the L ...

, stores were operated as any other Safeway outlet in the UK, offering a full range of Safeway own-label products and produce local to Northern Ireland.

Taking full ownership

In 2002, Safeway (UK) took full ownership of the group.

Morrisons takeover

Following

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

' takeover of Safeway UK in March 2004, Safeway stores in Northern Ireland continued to operate under the Safeway name, while Safeway stores in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

were gradually re-branded as Morrisons stores. Safeway did, though, switch to Morrisons' packaging in Northern Ireland and started to phase out Safeway own brand products in favour of the Morrisons label. It was becoming apparent, however, that Morrisons did not see a long-term future in Northern Ireland. Despite this, Morrisons continued with plans to open a supermarket in Bangor,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, the last new Safeway store to open in the UK, and the only one opened after the Morrisons takeover.

Sale of Irish interests

Along with a number of other former Safeway UK interests, Morrisons disposed of its interests in Northern Ireland in 2005. On 6 June 2005, 12 of the 13 outlets were acquired by

for £73.6 million. The stores, (which included their Bangor store), changed to the ASDA brand over the course of the next year. On 2 November 2005, Morrisons announced the sale by Safeway Stores (Ireland) Limited of its remaining store at

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...

to Mr John Miskelly and Mrs Helen Miskelly. The store had gross assets of £14,745,388. The sale was completed on 19 November 2005. The way the sales were structured means that the legal entity Safeway Stores (Ireland) Limited was not actually sold to Asda Stores Limited, but remains as a dormant wholly owned subsidiary of Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, through its subsidiary Safeway Limited (formerly Safeway plc).

Supermarket locations

Each was sold to and re-branded as ASDA in 2005 unless otherwise stated. *

Ballyclare Ballyclare () is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 10,850 according to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, and is located within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is part of, and ...

* Bangor *

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

- Shore Road *

- Westwood *

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

Cookstown Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...

(sold to Mr John Miskelly and Mrs Helen Miskelly in 2005, re-branded as ASDA in 2007) * Dundonald *

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

Kilkeel Kilkeel () is a small town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish on the Irish Sea coast of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the main fishing port on the Down coast, and its harbour is home to the largest fishing fleet in Northern Irel ...

Newtownards Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

References

{{Albertsons Companies, No Collapse Supermarkets of Northern Ireland Supermarkets of Ireland Safeway Inc. Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1996 Retail companies disestablished in 2005 1996 establishments in Northern Ireland 2005 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Walmart