I have just been to the new Safeway. I love it: small enough to be easy and fast to find anything, well stocked and with the same variety you would expect in a bigger store. Lots of ready meals for quick grabbing, checkouts on both ends (parking lot and street facing entrances).
The store is bright, well organized and packs much more than the small size would make anyone believe, including the warm food area and the in-store bakery. Overall, it reminds me of something you would see in a bigger, denser city in Europe or South America.
For a Thursday afternoon, in a brand new store, it was quite busy, but the parking lot was empty (went down there just to check), meaning most people just walked there, which is good. There is still a fair amount of underground parking stalls, for those with heavier loads.
It is, now, my go-to store, along with the Loblaws City Market in the Brewery district, and I' might bite my tongue in the future, but I think this store will be a huge hit and will help the prospects of having other smaller grocery stores in our denser, mature neighbourhoods, especially occupying podiums (which should help with foot traffic wherever it is that we put these stores).