????Safeway對市場變化的反應一直比克羅格慢半拍。近年來，雖然Safeway通過增加有機和新鮮食品等措施提高了自身門店的吸引力，但行業觀察人士指出，當地經營者并沒有因此獲得足夠的空間來適應當地消費者。而且Safeway店鋪確實都一模一樣：典雅的奧克蘭山和舊金山市區的Safeway門店基本上是一個模子里刻出來的。最近，Safeway的最重大戰略行動就是剝離資產。去年，這家公司宣布退出芝加哥市場，關閉了當地全部72家Dominick's食雜店。許多店面都轉讓給了競爭對手，但總的來說這些門店都可以脫手，傳統超市面臨的挑戰由此可見一斑（全食超市買下了部分店鋪）。

????去年，Safeway將設在加拿大的1300家門店作價57億美元轉讓給了加拿大綜合性投資集團Empire Co.。同樣是在去年，Safeway讓自己的禮品卡子公司Blackhawk Network Holdings首發上市，從而剝離了這項業務。雖然它仍持有Blackhawk公司72%的股權，但最終出售這批股份來換取資金也成了色伯勒斯資本管理公司收購Safeway的一部分。此外，Safeway還打算轉讓墨西哥食雜連鎖店Casa Ley公司 49%的股份。后者擁有185家店鋪，從1981年起就是Safeway的子公司。

????雖然有人擔心瑟伯勒斯資本管理公司將繼續進行這樣的拆分和轉讓，甚至可能對Safeway的核心業務動手，但這樣的顧慮大多都沒有根據。通常人們都把瑟伯勒斯資本管理公司視為經營者，而不僅僅是注重利潤率的投資者。退出股市將讓Safeway獲得喘息的機會，從而可以采取較為緩慢但更有戰略性的方案。在克羅格收購Harris Teeter前，瑟伯勒斯資本管理公司也曾為Harris Teeter費盡心機，表明它想采用和克羅格類似的策略，那就是在一個快速分化的市場中左右逢源。

????這兩家公司能否通過這樣的措施取得成功仍不得而知。但毫無疑問，直取中路必然會以慘痛的失敗而告終。（財富中文網)

????譯者：Charlie

????Safeway has been a bit slower than Kroger to respond to a changing market. While it has made its stores more appealing in recent years by, among other things, adding more organic and fresh foods, industry observers say that hasn't given local managers enough leeway to adapt to local consumers. And indeed there is a sameness about Safeway stores: One in the tony Oakland hills is pretty much the same as one in urban San Francisco. Its biggest recent strategic moves have involved shedding assets. Last year it announced it was pulling out of the Chicago market by closing all 72 of its Dominick's stores. Many of the locations were sold to competitors, but the fact that the chain wasn't salable as a whole is a sign of the challenges faced by conventional supermarkets. (Whole Foods purchased some of the stores.)

????Last year, Safeway unloaded its Canadian operations in a $5.7 billion sale of 1,300 stores to Empire Co. Also last year, it spun off its Blackhawk Network Holdings (HAWK) gift-card business in a public offering. Though it retains 72% of Blackhawk, proceeds from the eventual sale of that stake are part of the Cerberus deal. And it is looking to shed its 49% stake in Casa Ley, a 185-store Mexican chain it has owned since 1981.

????While there are worries that Cerberus will continue the slice-and-dice, perhaps cutting into Safeway's core operations, those are mostly unfounded. Cerberus is generally known as an operator, not just a margin-focused financier, and taking Safeway out of public ownership will give it breathing room to take a slower, more strategic approach. The fact that Cerberus made a play for Harris Teeter before Kroger snapped it up is an indication that it wants to pursue a strategy similar to its bigger competitor: playing both ends of a rapidly splitting market.

????Whether either company will succeed this way is still open to question. What's beyond a doubt is that steering a middle course is bound to end in a tragic crash.

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