Safeway Inc. , an American Fortune 500 company, is the second largest supermarket chain in North America, after The Kroger Co. , and has 1,678 stores located throughout the western and central United States, northwestern Mexico and western Canada as of December 2011. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern Seaboard. The company is headquartered in Pleasanton, California. Supermarket News ranked Safeway No.