The Safeway off Ygancio Valley Rd in Walnut Creek is closing. The store launched its 50% off the sale price on all merchandise excluding alcohol. The wine, beer and hard liquor are 40% plus and additional 10% when you buy 6 bottles of any kind. The 50% sale is store wide and includes floral, foods, drinks, pet supplies, toiletries and baby items including diapers.
Absolutely everything is on markdown in the store.
According to management, the store will be closing on September 5 and the sale will continue until all the merchandise is gone.
Safeway’s sale started today and the smaller store was packed by 5:15am, only 15 minutes after opening. By 5:20am shopping carts were in short supply as a mad dash for local Walgreens carts broke out in the parking lot.
Inside, entire families came in with game plans and coordinated their shopping. The rush was for 40-50% off high-end liquor, wines and beer. Some individuals pushed around two shopping carts at once all stuffed full of everything from bread to wash soap. One family have 4 carts filled of only booze.
The lines were stretched over the entire store as the 4 check out clerks desperately tried to keep up. One checker said “Today is worse than Thankgiving and Thanksgiving is a nightmare”. Shoppers waited over an hour to rack in the good deals. One patron we spoke with asked “Is this what panic buying looks like? I mean.. It’s tense in here. People are aggressive. It’s like a fight will break out over the last can of corn.”
We have to admit, it was intense in there. There was some pushing, a few verbal disputes, some line cutting and even some old-fashioned theft. That’s right theft. We saw people stealing items out of unattended carts as well as shoppers loading up their cloth grocery bags with merchandise.
When we left some of the shelves were bare but there was still plenty left. Also you can use coupons in addition to the 50% off mark down.
Check out these videos clips of the massive long lines, full carts and the somewhat bare shelves.
Diablo Reporter 