50-year grocery career nearing an end for city man

By Lethbridge Herald on August 15, 2024.

Andy Brandsma, who currently works at the westside Safeway, will be retiring on Aug. 30 at 4 p.m., precisely 50 years to the hour that he started his first shift as a staff member of the company as a 15-year-old in 1974. Herald photo by Al Beeber

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Fifty years to the day and hour he first punched in as a staff member of Safeway, Andy Brandsma will be retiring from that company on Aug. 30 at 4 p.m.

Brandsma’s face will be a familiar one to customers who have shopped in Lethbridge at Safeway stores over the decades.

Brandsma, who works at the westside store now, has been with the company since 1974 when he was hired by a Safeway store manager in Calgary who was on his paper route.

One day, the manager told Brandsma he might have a job for him and asked him if he wanted to deliver papers the rest of his life.

Brandsma told the manager he’d be there on Friday at 4 p.m. to start work.

Brandsma’s older brother had gotten work at that store in northwest Calgary at the Stadium Shopping Centre near McMahon Stadium just months before and Andy admits he was envious.

He worked at the Stadium store through high school until he went full-time and transferred out.

He spent time at other Calgary stores filling in for people, and worked at a downtown location, all of them which are now closed, he recalled during an interview on his lunch break this week.

That after-school job which he started at the age of 15 led to a permanent career at Safeway for Brandsma who spent his first six years with the company in his hometown of Calgary before transferring south to Lethbridge for a slower pace of life in a city which he felt would be a good place to settle down and raise a family.

The westside location is his sixth Lethbridge store since settling here.

In Lethbridge, Brandsma met his wife Sharon and together they raised three sons who have blessed them with 11 grandchildren over the years.

The 65-year-old Brandsma said much has changed in the grocery industry over the years, including prices and many aspects of the work itself.

During his career, he has worked in different departments including grocery, dairy and produce where he spent 15 years. He also spent about 20 years working the night shift.

When he started with Safeway, Brandsma earned $2.61 cents an hour which he called “really good” pay back in 1974.

“They treated me really, really well and I just really enjoyed the job. I enjoyed the people, I enjoyed the customers.”

When he leaves, the biggest part of the job he will miss will be the people he works with.

“There are so many good people here and I’ve worked with so many many different people over the years” including for more than 25 different store managers over the decades and probably 35 assistant managers.

“It’s been a really good career,” said Brandsma, whose wife long ago suggested he try something else but he liked the security and knew the company would provide a decent living.

“We never went hungry, we always had three square meals on the table every day, we had a roof over our head. We never lacked anything and you know what, it’s all on account of this. And it was good to us over the years. That’s why I stayed,” said Brandsma.

“This is 50 continual years of service. This is all I’ve ever known, 50 years day in, day out. And I enjoyed it,” he added.

For the last half six months, Brandsma thought departing on the anniversary and time he started would be something to do.

While Brandsma says there have been many changes in the grocery industry over the decades, one thing hasn’t – customer loyalty.

“We still maintain a good customer base” and after so many years he’s made many friends among them who he now knows on a first name basis.

“That’s part of the reason why I like the job. I really like the public,” said Brandsma.

Being a Christian, he attributes his longevity to God who he says gave him the strength and ability to do his job every day and to be encouraging and enthusiastic.

His wife and children have also always been supportive.

And Brandsma recalls words his dad told him after he drove him to start his first job.

“He said ‘Sonny boy’, that’s what he called me, ‘Sonny boy, remember you’re working for a big company now, you’re working for somebody else. You play by their rules and you’ll be just fine.’ And I did.”

And if he had another option, Brandsma says he would probably do the same thing all over again.

“They have been very, very good to me.”