Newport Board Group partner Helen Bulwik, a well-known expert on trends and opportunities in the retail industry, was quoted in a recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle about Safeway, the major supermarket chain acquired by a New York private equity firm, Cerberus Capital. Cerberus is merging Safeway with another chain, Albertsons.
Helen Bulwick Featured in the San Francisco Chronicle
As the article explains, Safeway, which has been in business since 1926 and grew to be America’s second-largest supermarket chain, has struggled in a fast changing retail grocery environment dominated by low price stores like Walmart and Costco at one end and upscale brands like Whole Foods at the other. At the same time, Internet-based grocery merchants are seizing a growing share of the market.
The piece quotes Helen on the subject of what the Safeway deal means for the consumer: “From the consumer standpoint, this merger is a very good thing, in terms of better product and better store location. It also creates quite a powerhouse, especially in purchasing power.” She goes on to say: “Traditional supermarkets have to transition in line with the times. Safeway has done that but not at the scale needed. There’s still plenty of room for the traditional supermarket. But it has to be a different supermarket.”
About the Expert
Helen Bulwik has served as CEO or Executive Chairman for six middle market retailers and consumer companies. She has also been a strategist with three well known consultancies, IBM, Accenture and the Tom Peters Group. In those advisory roles she counseled senior management of more than 70 of the top 100 Global retailers and consumer companies. More background on Helen’s experience as a retail executive and advisor and information about how to contact her is available here.
