NEWPORT — A popular full-service Safeway grocery store will cease operating here July 25, 2026 and hold a liquidation sale to clear out equipment and fixtures.

“Unfortunately we were unable to renew our lease,” said Safeway spokesperson Jill McGinnis from corporate HQ in Clackamas, Ore. “Our team is working with affected employees and the labor unions, where applicable, to attempt to find them other work that is both consistent with the applicable law or labor agreement. It will be business as usual for the next several months.”

The 32,000 s.f. store has been at the same location, a north-end mall at 2220 N. Coast Hwy., for over 30 years. Company rules prohibit local personnel from commenting to the press, but off-the-record remarks were abundant.

“There’s no severance,” said one employee who has worked decades for the company. “The union said to just go ahead and ‘bail’ now. They’ve said we can go work at the store in Lincoln City but my car’s too old to take that road back and forth every day.”

A veteran meat cutter said he might return to his old craft, house painting. Others have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, hoping that other opportunities will turn up.

According to Talent.com, a career-tracking website, the average Safeway salary in Oregon is $48,506, or over $25 per hour. One worker said the store usually has between 30 and 40 workers, which could mean about a $2 million-or-more blow to the Newport economy.

Lincoln County’s unemployment rate was last reported as 6% in February by the Oregon Dept. of Employment, up from 5.2% the year before and higher than the statewide rate of 5.2% and the national rate of 4.4%. Figures for March will be released May 1.

Reports that a WinCo-type grocery store is slated to follow are not yet confirmed. While store employees think the WinCo deal is dead, a business associate of mall owner Dickerhoof LLC of Corvallis said such a deal involving a complete demolition and new construction has been in the works for several years.

“Safeway was tied upon in the whole Kroeger acquisition and was one of the stores earmarked for closure,” reported the inside source. “The grand plan for the mall is that WinCo goes in and a Marshall’s goes where the Rite Aid pharmacy was. It will happen.”

Albertson’s (118 stores in 69 cities), Safeway (97) and Grocery Outlet (66) are the largest grocery chains in Oregon based on the number of locations, controlling about 60 percent of market share. Lincoln City Safeway is reportedly the No. 1 store in volume among all Oregon Safeways.

“A lot of people are going to miss this store,” said the outgoing manager, whose own plans were unsure. “I guess I’ll go where the wind blows me.”