Safeway

This Safeway is a joke. I was in line behind another customer today at the checkout who had the audacity to ask one of the employees about something. Then the employee ignored her and after the customer left berated the customer in front of me. Couldn’t really stand going to this store before now I’m just going to avoid it.

I believe this is called the secret safeway? Not a big fan, the store itself is kinda cramped and tight, not the best grocery experience. The Safeway on Wisconsin in Glover Park is 100 times nicer.

I’ve shopped here my entire life and I’ve always liked this store because of its proximity to my home, and its reliability in stock; I’ve always found what I needed. However, I came in one cloudy fall night, and while in an aisle, an employee started mopping almost around my feet as if I were a support beam holding up the ceiling. It was a minor annoyance. About two minutes later, a rumble erupted from around the cash register. It sounded like a chainsaw was strapped to a lawnmower and was being fed gravel. The Mop Man rounded the corner with a floor buffer about 3 ft across. Customers were speedwalking away from the din, and a newborn baby in a cart started bawling as the mother tiredly steered to get to the opposite side of the store as quickly as possible. I had water in my ears from a shower and the roar of this man’s cleaning was still driving me completely ballistic. The store should at least have an alcohol license if customers are subjected to that. Nerves were pretty shot. I walked into the store ready to peruse the Halloween items, but it seemed as though no matter which aisle I went into, the Mop Man would round the corner. It was killing my spooky vibe. My Halloween excitement was replaced with stress, and suspense as I could hear the roar of the floor buffer coming close and closer, the sound echoing from the tall ceilings. It was like a low-​budget horror flick. Sorry Safeway, I’m going to have to buy my spooky sporks at Giant.

Was visiting a friend for the weekend. We ran to safeway for a beer run only to realize that they don’t sell beer. Not sure if it’s DC law that you can’t sell beer in a grocery store or if this location just doesn’t stock it but either way it was a letdown.

A very crummy Safeway. Do yourself a favor and shop elsewhere. The small store is cramped, the selection is limited, and lots of the staff seem to have a bad attitude/​act like they are miserable to be at work.

After years of shopping at super markets from coast to coast, I think I might have found the worst of the bunch. The location is convenient, on Connecticut in lower Chevy Chase, and rare for a store in this area, has a nice parking lot. Unfortunately, the produce is beyond horrendous. So many spoiled pieces of fruit. Even worse, I was picking through yogurts, and no joke, at least two out of three were beyond their expiration dates. One I found was more than 2 months gone. That is ridiculous. The quality care is clearly absent here. The Giant down the street rarely has a single yogurt within a month of the expiration date, and it is chock full of fresh, delicious produce of all kinds. Frankly, I am afraid to try the meat here. What’s odd, I have been to plenty of other Safeways and never seen anything like what is going on here. For whatever reason, this one locations has just fallen apart.
Bottom line: Do not shop here.

We ordered sandwiches at their café. I have pretty low expectations for grocery store cafes, but this was especially awful service. The staff person made us feel like an inconvenience for ordering two standard sandwiches.
Will avoid this store at all costs from now on.

So I shop here rarely — and only because it’s a 3 minute walk from my place. But there are a few key problems here:
1. Everything is really overpriced. Take the 10 minutes and walk to Friendship Heights Giant and you can get the same products for 20% less. Some of the prices are comparable to Whole Foods even though nothing at Safeway comes close to Whole Foods quality.
2. The produce is half-​near dead.
3. I have never, ever, ever made it out of this store in under 20 minutes — and mind you, I usually only buy 1 or 2 items. The checkout system is beyond broken. The last time I went, there were signs that said «please have patience, we have new computer systems.» There were customers who looked like they had been standing in line for days.
I appreciate having a local store, but it’s so frustrating that I rarely go there.

I live right down the street and so i shop here at least ince a week. However, after today I will never go back.
Besides the high prices, spoiled meat and oroduce, and often nearly-​bare shelves– one of the employees (male) was wandering the store and begsn sexually harassing me (female). He came up to saying saying «oo baby, how you doing?» made whistling noises, and kept checking me out. As i made my way through the store, he kept coming up to me doing and saying the same thing. When i told the store manager, she did not seem alarmed or concerned at what her employee was doing.
Needless to say, Safeway has lost my business for good. Avoid this store!

I come here every week because it’s right down the street, but this safeway kinda sucks. Really tight aisles full of stupid customers blocking everything (I know it’s not their fault their customers are stupid but it really annoys me.) Additionally, the aisles are always full of employees unloading boxes strewn all over the place on weekends. I don’t know why they don’t restock early in the morning or late at night, but they don’t. Customer service is usually meh. Additionally, because it’s such a small store, you often don’t find what you’re looking for.
But it’s clean and the produce is good quality. I think it’s cheaper than Giant but maybe that’s just me.

Horrible supermarket. Completely understaffed and the service horrendous. Avoid coming here if you can.

Not as bad as everyone says. The produce is meh but had a decent amount of items for such a small store. Wouldn’t want to do all my shopping here but it’s nice for a quick stop if you need something.

Wtf. Worst cashier system ever. Run like communist Russia. Bare minimum 20 minutes to check out. Only a few cashiers and all of them slow.

Ugh! Items always seem to be moved from one area of the store to another. Just keep them in ONE PLACE! Or, they are hidden (like the naan). Other times, things seem to be sold out! I would think that looking at sales trends would indicate that more of certian items need to be ordered. But maybe that is just me. It is still frustrating. Employees are hit or miss. Some can be rude and unprofessional, to the point where i have had to complain once or twice (which I very rarely have to do. HOWEVER, other times they are very kind. I can think of three or four very kind employees that I wish the best for (which I rarely care to do, usually I just feel neutral) like that guy who seems to be Eastern European, a Chinese lady always teaching Chinese to her customers and 2 – 3 others, they are great. The deli, on the other hand needs both training and to be more consistent. I was yelled at once when I ordered sandwiches one by one. I was told «you could have told me both at the same time.» The next time I did that, another employee yelled at me! Umm.ok. Manager seems okay, the ones I have seen, but keep items in the same place and stop hiding other items (like the naan) in hard to find places! Fix that and hire a few more better employees and I would give it a 3.5 stars (not as good as the safeway in Gtown, etc.).

Not a great grocery store, but it is only a few blocks from my apartment. This may sound dorky, but I have always wanted to live within walking distance of a grocery store. Coming from Texas, where nothing is walkable (due to the high temps and big trucks which make nobody want to step in their paths), this is super important to me.
That being said, this store is small, old, and I just get the impression that the food isn’t that fresh. I get my produce from Magruder’s across the street (much fresher and very affordable prices) or Trader Joe’s in Bethesda, but most other things I buy from here. The produce department and aisles are super narrow, and only one full-​sized cart can squeeze by at a time. It’s pretty annoying, because customers seem to be pretty oblivious and don’t realize you’re waiting for them to hurry up and go.
Things seem pretty overpriced to me, but I’m generally willing to pay the price for convenience. The store doesn’t really get particularly crowded, though you may have to wait a few extra seconds for some slow-​moving elderly folks. I wouldn’t go here to meet potential mates, unless you’re into 80-​year-​olds.

This might be the worst Safeway EVER. The staff (with the exception of a few) are extremely rude and unprofessional. It’s a rare occasion when I’ve gone in and there’s not been a problem. The store is poorly stocked and the seafood and prepared food is less than appetizing. I’ve also seen a mouse inside the grocery store.
Just terrible.

Welcome to the world’s first Safeway. Built completely out of logs and mud, it is the first free-​standing structure in the city. Okay, that’s hyperbole. The place isn’t that old, but it just feels so cramped compared to the ones in Georgetown and Bethesda.
They have enough to suit your needs, but I find myself getting stuck in the produce section whenever I take my daughter’s stroller in there. Some parts aren’t wide enough for a stroller and a cart to go down at the same time.
The meat section is okay, I suppose. I find the prices to be a lot cheaper, and the selection a bit larger at Giant. I also get my produce from Magruder’s across the street because it’s cheaper.
To be honest, I would suggest this place if you’re going for deals in the circular. You can find a lot of great deals that way. Outside of that, it’s a bit cheaper and easier to find what you’re looking for at either Giant (Connecticut Ave or Western Ave) or Wholefoods, believe it or not.
And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put all my stuff back because the line was just too ridiculous.

This Safeway has some challenges it needs to overcome. If you shop here on a Sunday, you will regularly find the refrigerated section almost or entirely devoid of very basic items such as eggs, butter, milk, and/​or soy milk. I think I remember reading on the neighborhood listserv that the store management says they do not have enough space to store items, therefore they run out of them more frequently than they would like. However, this has been a problem for years, so it seems like they’re not too worried about fixing it.
The produce and dried goods sections are fine, but there is often spoiled meat for sale and I don’t trust the bakery section. I’ve bought ground beef that looked fine, only to discover when I got home that everything under the top layer is completely brown. The cakes are nasty, and I’ve often seen flies in the cookie/​donut case.

This is my closest supermarket so I frequent it weekly. However, it’s not the best option in the area and I often find myself trying to get to a Giant.
While their sales can be really outstanding (I regularly save 20% of my total by buying things on sale), the aisles are incredibly narrow, things like produce sometimes have no price posted, and the discounts often don’t register during checkout leading to long waits at the customer service desk.
It’s okay for what it is, but I wish they had a bit better selection, especially in the meat department where they are greatly lacking.

I’ve been to this store twice and walked out twice with nothing in hand and an annoyed expression on my face.
Perhaps it didn’t help that I was already mad because was the 3^rd store I’d been to in one night that was also sold out of red food coloring, but I most likely won’t be stopping in here again.