12 of the 13 stores were acquired by Asda, itself owned by Walmart; whilst the remaining store was sold to Mr John Miskelly and Mrs Helen Miskelly.

Safeway entered the Northern Ireland market in 1996, by forming a joint venture between Safeway (UK) and Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Fitzwilton Group, owners of the Wellworths supermarket chain.

Safeway did, though, switch to Morrisons' packaging in Northern Ireland and started to phase out Safeway own brand products in favour of the Morrisons label.

On 2 November 2005, Morrisons announced the sale by Safeway Stores (Ireland) Limited of its remaining store at Downpatrick, Northern Ireland to Mr John Miskelly and Mrs Helen Miskelly.

The way the sales were structured means that the legal entity Safeway Stores (Ireland) Limited was not actually sold to Asda Stores Limited, but remains as a dormant wholly owned subsidiary of Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, through its subsidiary Safeway Limited (formerly Safeway plc).