The Safeway grocery at 2220 N. Coast Highway in Newport will be closing this summer and replaced by a Waremart by WinCo store. (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
NEWPORT – Newport’s Safeway will be closing its doors this summer, but another grocery store is planning to take its place.
Safeway employees were told last week they would be without a job this summer, as the grocery store had decided not to renew its lease in the building at 2220 N. Coast Highway. Quickly, the news and rumors about the building and what may be taking its place swirled in the community and on social media.
Safeway’s lease will end in August and a Waremart by WinCo will begin its lease the following month, according to property owner Darren Dickerhoof. Likely, Safeway will close in June before its lease ends in August, he added.
WinCo Foods is employee-owned, based in Boise and has more than 140 across 10 West and Midwestern states. Known for a no-frills warehouse-style, key features include a large bulk foods section, self-bagging, and 24-hour service in many locations.
Dickerhoof Properties owns the shopping center that houses Safeway, Ace Hardware and other businesses on the property. The family-owned company has roots in Corvallis and has many retail properties in mid-sized Oregon cities including Bandon, Klamath Falls and McMinnville.
WinCo signed a lease with Dickerhoof Properties to use the 32,000 square foot portion of the building that currently houses Safeway. After years of unsuccessfully attempting to get Safeway to extend its lease, the property owners were approached by WinCo, Dickerhoof said. In 2024, they signed a lease and all parties including Safeway’s corporate leaders knew well in advance about the plans, he said, even if employees only found out this week.
Dickerhoof told the Lincoln Chronicle he wanted to be clear that there are no plans for demolition and no other businesses in the shopping center would be affected.
“The building is not being torn down, despite what you may see on social media,” Dickerhoof said.
Waremart by WinCo stores are significantly smaller than the average WinCo grocery store. There is a Waremart in Keizer similar in size to what may be coming to Newport.
WinCo plans to spend $6 million on renovations of the inside and outside of the store, Dickerhoof said, which could delay the time between Safeway closing and Waremart opening.
“There will also be some cosmetic freshening up on our end,” he said.
The property owners plan to redo the roof and add a fresh coat of paint to the whole shopping center. There are also plans for a clothing store to come to the space that used to house Rite Aid.
WinCo headquarters was not able to confirm their plans and said the information about upcoming stores is not available to the public. The city of Newport has not yet received permit applications from WinCo for any work.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, Newport, education, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
I figured something was going on. Safeway had been reducing the quantity and types of popular brand items and filling in with their Signature brand since may year. The place is ice cold, no heat most of this winter. The thing that bugs me is they’ve been advertising for employees and now they’ll all be unemployed.
A Winco would do wonderfully there replacing the Safeway to be honest.
Spot on analysis. Safeway is fine, but overpriced. Winco is a great fit for that location.
I agree, Safeway’s heyday is over. I am also impressed with the city government in Newport for jumping in so quickly to make sure a good replacement is on board. There are so many vacant business buildings in Oregon towns, one wonders what the leaders are getting paid to do. Newport seems to be an exception. They seem to work together and serve the community well.
What did Newport do to make this happen? Winco approached the property company, Newport hasn’t even received permits yet, they are in the loop on nothing except alcohol and drugs.
Winco/Waremart are excellent stores. The former Safeway employees can probably get jobs there. I’d say it’s an upgrade from Safeway!
I will miss there Lucerne cheese products & salsa. My favorite cheese 🧀.
I hope Winco hires the Safeway staff who have a proven track record with Safeway. Just change uniforms and voila, a trained workforce built into the building.
The employees will probably be happier
Warmart will be a great improvement. Safeway has horribly high prices and the slowest checkout lines of any grocery store I’ve ever been in. My wife and I stopped going to Safeway for those two reasons.
The only thing wrong with this whole change is that someone could’ve told the employees what’s up back in 2024. But instead, they waited until there was only a few months left. I hope the “clothing store” is a Ross or T.J. Max. I need new pants and don’t wanna drive to Corvallis unless I have something else to do that’s more important. Ahhh, I remember the sunken floor days where if you let go of the cart it would roll to the center (or farther) of the aisle. I hope WinCo does hire the current staff. They’re all good people and they not only work hard, they do their jobs well.
With the large turnover rate within the area, if you told employees about this in 2024, they would not of had a workforce. No one says “I want to apply for a job that will be going away and gives me no opportunity within my community”.
We have Winco here. You will miss Safeway very much. You’ll save a few dollars, but what you’ll lose in quality will astound you. Plus, enjoy doing your own checkout.
What about the pharmacy?
That is an excellent question given how the Newport Fred Meyer pharmacy already is overwhelmed with patients from the now closed Rite Aid — and was pretty darn busy even before that.
Just talked to a current Safeway employee who is always super friendly and helpful and they mentioned it could be up to 6 months without a paycheck before the WinCo re-opens and “not planning to start at the bottom” for rehire. I have always appreciated the Safeway team for the last 30 years.
Winco employees with 20 or more years typically retire with over $1 million in stock. Managers and other higher-ups retire with $5 million or more. I knew an elderly cashier woman who retired with over $900,000 and then worked for BI-MART part-time a couple more years, which is another employee-owned company. She told me that a past CEO of Winco who didn’t last long made a comment to the effect that he would make changes to prevent cashiers and other common workers from retiring as millionaires, because he thought it was stupid and that they didn’t deserve it. So everyone got together somehow and figured out a way to get rid of him quick.
Safeway is a union store, is Winco/Waremart?
I will miss the friendly staff and wonderful customer service. I’m very familiar with WinCo. The stores couldn’t be more different in their service style. The prices will probably be better. I hope the Safeway employees are hired by WinCo.
It’s my preferred pharmacy. The pharmacy staff are wonderful. I don’t shop at Safeway much, but the checkout people are always friendly.
WinCo is my “go to store” when ever I go to the valley and I’m very happy to hear they’re now coming to Newport. I agree with others who praised the Safeway employees and that WinCo would definitely benefit from hiring them. It takes a long time for new untrained employees to get on board vs seasoned employees can hit the ground running propelling a smooth operation.
I love WinCo stores, we always stop in WinCo in Corvallis every time we go into the valley. Sad for Safeway’s employees though.
I am from the Newport area but live in Boise now. I love to shop at Winco. Everyone is friendly and helpful, they will have the best prices in town. Very seldom do I ever shop at any other store.
Safeway is a real grocery store.