• July 23, 2009

Safeway Inc. says its second-quarter sales dropped 6.5% to $9.5 billion, compared to $10.1 billion in the second quarter of 2008, mainly due to lower fuel prices, a decline in the Canadian exchange rate, and 1.5% slip in same-store sales for the quarter. Net income rose to $238.6 million for the quarter, compared to net income of $234.3 million in the same period a year ago.

"In this challenging economic environment, we continue to focus on providing our customers with greater value by lowering everyday prices on items people buy most often and offering high quality private label brands," Steve Burd, CEO of the Pleasanton, Calif.-based chain says in a release. "Investments in lower prices take time to gain sales traction. As a result, we anticipate soft identical-store sales for the remainder of the year and have reduced our earnings expectations accordingly."--Sarah Mahoney