It was sometime last October

That I first noticed the change:

I walked into Safeway sober

But somehow the place looked strange.

There were boxes in profusion

On the floor in jumbled piles,

People milling in confusion

Midst the clutter in the aisles.

 

Then a manager approached me with the news --

What he told me set me trembling in my shoes:

We're remodeling Safeway

And of course you'll have to pay

Our new overhead

Will soon be bled

From the folks of Half Moon Bay

 

Then for weeks they moved canned spinach and

Tabasco 'round the floor,

While concurrently refinishing

Each section of the store.

And for weeks we raved and ranted

As the salsa moved about,

As what once we took for granted

Got much harder to find out.

 

But the staff was so obsequious and nice

That we had to be consoled with their advice:

They're remodeling Safeway

And of course we'll have to pay.

There's no discount brands

Upon the stands

When you shop in Half Moon Bay

 

Now the deli's wide and spacious

And the chicken wings are hot.

The new freezers are bodacious

If the in-store ads are not.

And the music hasn't changed a bit:

The same ungifted crooner,

Has me hurrying to get

My shopping done a little sooner.

 

As the register clerk tallies up my bill,

I think : I am shopping here of my free will.

You have remodeled Safeway

And of course I'll have to pay

But this plunder

Makes me wonder

‘Bout the Lucky's 'cross the way.