What's the deal with the Safeway on Conn. Ave. in Chevy Chase DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It might be the worst supermarket in all of Upper NW. I avoid it like the plauge. Others might differ but the Van Ness Giant is not bad and keeps getting better. More organic, helpful staff (not all but the majority), decent selection of food, parking.

+1 on the Van Ness Giant. I find the staff almost all helpful, and the while the meat still isn't great, the produce and overall selection is vastly improved.

[Anonymous]

I love this post. I fantasize about a total re-do of that ChCh Safeway - like replace it with a WF, Harris Teeter or Wegmans. It would do amazing business. It's insane that this area of MoCo has such shitty grocery choices. ChCh Safeway (aka Soviet Safeway) is closest but like others I only go when I need something late at night (and I try to stick to prepackaged stuff). Otherwise Brookville Market (also not fantastic but very very close). If the Hidden Giant at FH is open, I prefer that to the Soviet Safeway. For weekly shopping, its WF but that's not worth the trek if I'm just picking up one or two items.

My parents live in the Charleston SC area and have a multitude of clean grocery stores, with fresh produce, and friendly/polite people working in them. Prices are half of what they are here. Why are the choices so bad in ChCh?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:where is the other 'secret' safeway that people are saying is near rodmans on wisconsin? Someone said davenport and I had no idea there was a safeway there.

It was at Ellicot and 42nd street just behind Wisconsin and the auto dealership that was there on Wisconsin. It's been closed for a while but was open as recently as 2011 when I worked near there.

It was bought in a development deal about two years ago by GDS so they can move their LS/MS next door to their US.

they were so nice to students inside! I remember the sandwich lady let me run a tab once when I didn't have money (didn't have debit cards because it was the stone age).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was called the Senior Safeway. Soviet was in DuPont. Secret at Davenport and Wisc. Sinkhole on MacArthur. Salvadoran in Adams Morgan-ish. The Safeway on Cap Hill was the unSafeway.

Yes, OP, that’s the Safeway you got. It’s not the best ever but Ward 3 is far from a grocery store desert.

That was the Sandanista Safeway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Chevy Chase DC safeway cannot sell beer or wine. It is in their permit from the neighborhood. (Permit probably isn't the technical word, but they aren't allowed to sell it.) Go across the street to Magruders if you need that.

I've lived near that dreadful safeway since 2004 and it just keeps getting worse. The general neighbors complain, but the immediate neighbors don't want a huge store going in on that small footprint. I've gotten to the point that I only buy canned/bottled goods or packaged things like cereal or pasta there and only when I have no other option. Their garlic rots in days. (Ok, it's been a few years since I've bought it, but it doesn't look much better.) Their fruit isn't ripe or sweet tasting. I bought a particular cut of meat there one evening. When I went to put it in the crockpot the following morning, it had turned green. The staff is surly, with a few exceptions. And now they've made the aisles so narrow that they're going to have to make them one way!

There is a weird quirk in DC's Alcohol Licensing where only one branch of a chain store can sell alcohol in the city. So it has nothing to do with the neighborhood.

that is not true at all. I know of at least 5 other safeways that all sell booze in dc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was called the Senior Safeway. Soviet was in DuPont. Secret at Davenport and Wisc. Sinkhole on MacArthur. Salvadoran in Adams Morgan-ish. The Safeway on Cap Hill was the unSafeway.

Yes, OP, that’s the Safeway you got. It’s not the best ever but Ward 3 is far from a grocery store desert.

Yes those are the names I remember. The soviet one was very small and you usually had option for most things.

[Anonymous]

There is a weird quirk in DC's Alcohol Licensing where only one branch of a chain store can sell alcohol in the city. So it has nothing to do with the neighborhood.

That’s a Montgomery County thing, not DC. The only Safeway there that can sell beer and wine is in Olney and the only Giant is in Burtonsville.

[Anonymous]

It’s a terrible store, has always been terrible and will always be terrible. It’s only good in an emergency. It’s one of the only places in the neighborhood where I never see anyone I know because nobody goes there. The Arlington Road one is good, and we have multiple Whole Foods nearby. However, just made a pilgrimage to Wegman’s and it felt ridiculously exciting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was called the Senior Safeway. Soviet was in DuPont. Secret at Davenport and Wisc. Sinkhole on MacArthur. Salvadoran in Adams Morgan-ish. The Safeway on Cap Hill was the unSafeway.

Yes, OP, that’s the Safeway you got. It’s not the best ever but Ward 3 is far from a grocery store desert.

Social Safeway was upper Georgetown

I thought Secret Safeway was the one in the Watergate - but theoretically it could apply to both.

No, no, that was Scandal Safeway.

I used to love walking to the UnSafeway on Sunday mornings for a donut and the Post when I lived near Lincoln Park. Ah, memories.

[Anonymous]

Kensington Safeway and Wheaton Safeway are not terrible, yet. Both Silver Spring Giant and Safeway are horrible.

[Anonymous]

The Kensington Safeway is perpetually understaffed. They will have one, maybe two, lines open during peak times. They never open additional lines when it is 5+ people deep. It drives me crazy. Now, the staff they DO have are wonderful, friendly people.

[Anonymous]

there's an ongoing thread on the original Chevy Chase list-serv where people complain about and praise the cashiers by age, and lament all sorts of specific inane details about the store. I find it oddly comforting. I do find their produce passable - when we're in a pinch for something. More organic choices than they used to have. But we do 75% of our shopping at Trader Joe's on Wisconsin. Trying Amazon soon for Whole Foods delivery and we'll skip all of this fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Kensington Safeway is perpetually understaffed. They will have one, maybe two, lines open during peak times. They never open additional lines when it is 5+ people deep. It drives me crazy. Now, the staff they DO have are wonderful, friendly people.

This is true of every single grocery store I have been in with the exception of maybe TJ. All safeway stores have this problem for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to live close to that Safeway -- sad to hear it is still bad. But two subsequent moves put me closest to Safeways each time, and you know what? All Safeways suck. They just suck. No management, they seem to specialize in the worst produce the wholesalers have to offer, and can't keep refrigeration working to save their lives. And expensive. I can only laugh at some of the prices they have for items that are often already beyond their expiration dates.
I am not joking when I say that the #1 priority for my next move is to not be near a Safeway!

I totally agree. I grew up going to Safeway and as an adult moved to a Giant neighborhood. I occasionally go to a Safeway when I am near one, and I just don’t like them as much. That Chevy Chase Safeway is pretty sad. So is the one on MacArthur Blvd.

[Anonymous]

Agree OP. The one on McArthur is awful too. We go to the Social Safeway on Wisconsin Ave in Georgetown and usually have good luck. We think most Giants are terrible. I actually like TJs in Foggy Bottom. I'm not a WF's person.