Safeway

I never go to this store unless in a pinch and needing it quick… To many stragglers… Well, around noon on a weekday, I was followed by a man who was eerily suspicious, from in front of the store (dark hat dark jacket… Not the young man raising funds for camp) who unnervingly stared at me and appeared to have alterior motives (as if he was sizing me up/​looking to attack). From the time I entered the store he stared me down and followed me in, clearly not shopping but wanting to appear as if he was… My gut told me something was off, I was so unnerved by him following me isle to isIe, I went to a check out, watched him walk out, and walk back in as to look for me, then left everything, ducked and ran out the store when he had his back turned. If you are a female, do not go to this store alone. It’s unsafe. Too many options in the area. Even in a pinch don’t. Trust me

You guys. Seriously. We live next door to this Safeway, and the cashiers are hit or miss (some are GREAT, others are counting down the minutes until they leave – verbally)… But I have found, on more than one occasion, food that was months expired sitting on the shelves.
Just today, I went to snack on carrots with a Ranch To-​Go cup, the pack of which I bought YESTERDAY, and it tasted a little funny to me. I checked the expiration date, and sure enough– MAY 4, 2015.
Check the post date, people: Today is August 11^th.
Granted, one could argue that customers should check the expiration date before purchase, but it would never even OCCUR to me that an establishment would keep 3-​month-​old groceries on their shelves. That’s seriously wretched.
Safeway, you’d better get your act together before Harris Teeter opens, or you’re going to go out with a bang. And not the good kind you see during holidays.
SIDENOTE: I’m 6 months pregnant, and if anything happens to this baby due to consumption of spoiled food, there will be lawsuits. You need to consider THAT, too, when you make decisions about what stays on shelves and what goes. Mull it over, Safeway.

We got a coupon for $ 10 off a purchase of $ 50 or more at Safeway in the mail. *sigh* A 20% discount was worth bracing myself for a return visit to the den of incompetence on Forest Drive.
The experience was even worse than I feared.
In fairness the produce section looked pretty good although they have basic items like potatoes spread across the department so you have to run back and forth between the various choices. Who puts Yukon Gold and russet potatoes in different displays?
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend the butcher counter was closed.
It took three staffers to find Tahini. They had two jars, flavored and salted.
Remember the coupon that drew me in? The checkout cashier scan it and instead of taking $ 10 off it added $.01. She looked at me and gave me the total. Hello? Aren’t you paying attention? I pointed out the issue and she proceeded to scan the coupon six more times. So far, instead of a $ 10 savings the bill is $.07 more. Remember Mr. Einstein’s definition of insanity? It seems endemic to the Forest Dr Safeway as when a manager showed up (the cashier didn’t know how to call for one and had to ask for help from an adjacent cashier), she (the manager) proceeded to scan the coupon four more times. The bill is now $.11 up. *sigh* Another manager (they appear to stand around in packs) finally figured it out — scanning the coupon was not sufficient but required some magic number to be entered into the register. As you can expect, getting the $.11 off the total was simply more than I could face.
Instead of treating the event as a teachable moment, the marginally able manager retreated to an office without sharing the magic number with either the cashier, the adjacent cashier, or the other manager.
For those paying attention, I picked up the regular old standard Tahini the next day at Giant on Bay Ridge.
I don’t have any issue with Safeway in general. This particular store is simply not for people. It’s just an awful shopping experience. For those in Annapolis we have lots of choices with Giant, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market. My heart goes out to the elderly and disadvantaged who must walk to Safeway from nearby housing. Those unfortunates are stuck.

This is the closest grocery store to our house, unfortunately, so I’m here about once a week. Never once, have I seen an employee give a f– about anything at all. (Save the pharmacy, which I have no complaints about.) Smiles are never on sale at this store.
This Safeway has most anything you would need, but the pricing of specialty items like nuts is exceptionally high and probably merits a trip to somewhere like Trader Joes instead.
The Starbucks is not good, as others have mentioned.
Also, there are some… interesting…people that shop here.

I think this store has more things that cost less than your other nearby grocery stores, of your larger grocery stores, so it has a tendency to attract more people from a lower socioeconomic status.
This is where I run to when I need a quick thing or two that are your standard items.

I really shouldn’t blame the store for the type of clientele they attract, but… yeah, it’s not an area I really want to be hanging around in at night. Come by yourself during the day folks, come in groups at night.
Anyway, I hate pitting stores against each other, but since we have a much nicer Safeway on the other side of town, I kind of have to. This one is kind of the one in the chain they forgot to renovate. The store itself looks tired, if you know what I mean.
Generally, shopping here has been an «You’re on your own, folks» experience. I hardly ever see anyone stocking shelves, the registers are generally understaffed, and 9 times out 10, someone’s pulling double duty on a register and the lotto counter, so you can be waiting some time until they can help you at lotto.
To be fair, I’ve never had an issue finding an item. They must have night crews stocking, because the only thing I’ve ever not found to be in stock was Haribo Gummy bears. Probably better for me anyway.
The pharmacy, I have to say, is pretty good. They just renovated that area, and the staff is competent. After going there for so many years, they know me on-​site for my monthly refill!
I’ll have to agree with other Unilocalers here, I do not like the Starbucks. I’ve bought a few lattes, and they just haven’t tasted right. Go to an independent Starbucks folks.
If I had my druthers, I’d probably visit the other Safeway, but since this one is closer to home, I’m loathe to move my prescription, especially since is a good stop for a quick after-​work pickups, like milk, cereal, etc. But this store needs some new energy in it!

I have to admit guys, this place can attract some shady characters at night or early in the morning. I stop here when I need an item or two and this is still a great coffee stop when needed but I usually opt for one of my other favorite grocery stores over this one if I need more than a couple items.

Incompetent baristas! When I’m in a hurry, I have to stop forgetting that the Starbucks in this store sucks!
I order a White Chocolate Mocha and it’s like they dump it all in there and don’t even mix it. The syrup is at the bottom and the flavorless coffee part is at the top.
And this isn’t my first complaint about this place! You know how you can check out groceries at the Starbucks counter? I wanted to pick up some creamer for the office coffee mess and so I thought I could use my coupons, get some creamer and a coffee.
NOPE. When I present the cashier the coupon, she looked at me blankly and said that she had never used coupons before. I told her to just scan it. Well she did and for some reason it didn’t take. She looked at me blankly again and I told her to enter the sku number and hit «enter»
(I don’t understand why THIS IS SO HARD?!)
She stared at the register and then had the nerve to tell me that I needed to go to customer service because she doesn’t know how to handle coupons.
And I lost it… I proceeded to yell at her and ask her how is it possible for her to be employed and be THIS incompetent!!! She is a cashier, people use coupons, and therefore she should know how to process them in a timely manner!
I have no regrets for making this girl cry. She should NOT have been working unsupervised if she can’t operate the register on her own. Unacceptable!