Safeway hopes to rescue jobs being affected by Bay Area store closure

SANTA CLARA — Safeway has disclosed plans for dozens of job cuts at a Santa Clara store that the supermarket titan is shutting down — but it’s possible that all the affected workers might land positions at other Safeway sites.

The grocery chain is cutting 38 jobs at its store in Santa Clara near the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and North Winchester Boulevard, a new official filing with the state Employment Development Department shows.

The store is located at 3071 Stevens Creek Boulevard in Santa Clara and is adjacent to the Westfield Valley Fair mall in San Jose.

Pleasanton-based Safeway, however, told the EDD that it working to rescue all of the jobs that are being eliminated at the site of the upcoming store shutdown.

“We are writing to advise you of a store closing and our desire to offer continued employment to all the associates by Safeway and its affiliates,” Jeff Mason, vice president of human resources at Safeway’s Northern California Division, stated in the letter to the EDD.

The store is slated to shut its doors permanently on Nov. 3, Safeway revealed in the WARN letter. The store has been open for 67 years but had been underperforming.

“There are 38 associates currently assigned to Safeway Store 1526 and we intend to place all the associates into a position at another nearby location,” Mason wrote in the WARN notice.

The location that Safeway is eyeing for the displaced employees wasn’t immediately clear. Safeway does operate a store a few miles away at 5156 Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose.

“We do not foresee any layoffs as a result of the closure,” Mason stated in filing with the EDD.