The battle for Safeway

The bid for Safeway announced by Morrisons in January 2003 ended months of speculation as to the next victim in the battle for power in the UK multiple food market. The Morrisons bid provided the catalyst for other major food retailers to express their interest in the Safeway company and its stores (also joined by a number of non‐food retailers). There is little doubt that this battle raises important geographical issues. First is the spatial fit of each of the bidders and the Safeway stores. The key question is who will gain most new regional market share from the purchase of the Safeway stores? The second is the implication for local spatial monopolies in different parts of the UK depending on the likely winner. This will almost certainly be investigated by the UK Competition Commission. The aim of this paper is to examine both these geographical issues and present some what‐if scenarios concerning future amalgamations of store networks.