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Safeway is dividing its stores into two distinct formats and has

reshuffled its senior marketing team as part of a wider restructure.

Faced with flat sales and fresh competition from Wal-Mart, Safeway has

identified two groups, ’golden core’ superstores and smaller ’core’

stores, which will develop different offers in future.

As part of the restructuring Safeway has scrapped its regional

management layer, a move which will result in between 50 and 100 job

losses.

The changes see Safeway’s second most senior marketer, director of brand

marketing Roger Ramsden, move to a general management role as format

director for smaller stores. These, mainly town sites, will be developed

to focus on convenience and ’top up’ shopping. Ramsden will report to

Safeway chief executive Colin Smith.

Helen Buck, former director of stores marketing, becomes format director

for superstores, reporting to customer development director and chief

marketer Roger Partington.

Karen Bray, brand marketing controller, takes over from Ramsden as

director of brand marketing, in charge of relationship marketing,

advertising and design.

At its AGM yesterday, Safeway reported total sales had grown by 0.8% in

the first 14 weeks of its financial year. Sales in existing stores fell

by 0.3% on a comparable basis.