Safeway

This store has not been updated in a while, and although it isn’t very busy, they only had two cashiers open and it was taking forever to get through the checkout, so I left and hit a Harris Teeter on my way home.
The store appeared to be fully stocked with all of the usual products. It had the pie crust I needed for our thanksgiving dessert, so that was a bonus.

I wish I didn’t have to give ANY stars. EVERY time I go here, regardless of the time of day. I have always had THE worst customer service. In fact, you can’t call it that. What a disgrace.

So you know how every Safeway in DC has a nickname. Social Safeway in Georgetown, Soviet Safeway in Dupont, etc etc … I don’t know if this location has a nickname, but I bequest «Sad Safeway» upon this location. This Safeway probably hasn’t changed since it was opened for business, I’m guessing sometime in the 80s. It really needs to be torn down and rebuild, similar to what they did to the Georgetown Safeway a few years back.

This is definitely one of those grocery stores where you should learn to eat what’s on sale or else everything is going to cost twice as much as other grocery stores like Trader Joe’s. Seriously recommend that you go online and check out the sale flyer prior to shopping.
The onion I bought and cut into was already molding, the green grapes that were on sale had very little flavor, they did not have hot pepper relish, the bread selection was half empty and terribly lacking in options, not to mention I nearly bought a bag of Italian hoagies that had a hole in them! I don’t like how they pre-​slice and precut the meats and cheeses that are on sale in the deli case. Every other grocery store I’ve been to slices to order.
However, the guy checking me out did scan a coupon I had missed on a package of ground beef that I bought over fourth of July weekend. Kudos to him for being attentive!
Bonus: There’s a Starbucks inside this location.
PRO TIP: A one pound clamshell of organic baby spinach is only $ 5 on Fridays. It might or might not be close to expiration though. They also have other $ 5 Friday specials like a huge ass sub sandwich, big enough for 2 – 3 meals!

This store has good parking, friendly service and everything I need and I’m a veggie lover and they have berry sales all the time and 50% off meats. It looks like a small store but it’s very diverse and easy to get to.

Lame. Out of the last 10 visits I made here, I think I only found what I wanted once. And we’re not talking specialty stuff here– they don’t seem to stock dry dog food, they have a pitifully small frozen vegetable section, they are often out of staple items… I’d give it one star but the staff seems nice and it’s not actually dirty (just disorganized).
If you want a good grocery store, go to the Harris Teeter on Glebe. If you need a Safeway, the one in Seven Corners is *much* better. I only ever go here because it’s close to where I live, and I’m always disappointed.

No

This safeway gets its ranking 100% because of the staff. It would lose its additional stars without them. With the exception of a manager who always seems grumpy, the staff is always very friendly and conversational during checkouts. The store is kept clean and organized. Unfortunately, that’s about all the employees can do without higher up modifications.
Many items are constantly out of stock. Its a tiny safeway, no butcher, no bakery, and limited choices for most items. Go to Giant or Harris Teeter for anything but the most common of beer choices.

This particular location is located about a block away from my childhood home purchased in 1968. I only moved back to area a year and a half ago, after living on the west coast for the last 22 years.
With that said, this store has not changed much at all. This could quite possibly be the oldest safeway in the francise. It’s like going back to 1970′ or even 60’s. Personally, I can’t figure out why this store hasn’t been torn down and the modern format store replacing it. Considering the property values and lifestyles of people that live here, it’s a disgrace to the neighborhood.
Otherwise, the food is safeway food. Meaning that at any store coast to coast it’s about the same quality. Except the produce section often looks pretty weak here. No Bakery. No Deli section. No starbucks. Just the old school small store format.
All that aside, I would still give it a 2 or a 3. Except, I’ve had so many consistent checkout errors, it’s just making me sick. Double charging & mislabeled prices. Just two days ago $ 2.99 loaf raisin bread with tag on it, charged at $ 4.29. Every time. They will «correct» the dispute, when you come back and talk to the manager, but it gets a little bit old after awhile. I’ve had to do this at least half the few times I shop here.
Just sell out, tear it down, and build a new one !!!

This Safeway is sadly not great. Yes, it does have a big selection but the veggie produce often looks old. It doesn’t feel very clean either. The selection of everything else seems pretty decent to me. Lines are often very long and cashiers slow but they are friendly. There is validated parking which is nice and RedBox which I like. I find the dairy section is good as are the snacks. I think it’s mostly the produce section that needs work.

Agree with the previous comments, the worst grocery store i have ever been to in all of america. I saw a mouse or possibly a rat in the «produce» section. The checkout guy was unbelievably rude. This neighborhood is packed with well heeled yuppies willing to wait in line for a parking spot at whole foods, get it together safeway, you could be raking it in. Raising it to sub par would be a huge upgrade.

Best pharmacy around. Yabi and the other pharmacy staffers always go above and beyond to be helpful.
Great customer service.

Saddest Safeway ever. They have the smallest produce section I’ve ever seen at a supermarket, and to top it off, it’s all rotting. I went because I was driving by and needed some veggies for dinner. I left without a single veggie, because none of them appeared edible. Safeway as a chain is great and cheap, but, do yourself a favor and find another one.

This is the most broke down, crusty, moldy-​oldy, rag-​a-​ma-​tag Safeway I’ve ever been to. It’s like corporate HQ completely forgot about it. Unfortunately, I stopped by the other day, and it was a total waste of time. The produce looked like it had been harvested in 1986 and left for dead. I picked up what was supposed to be *fresh* cilantro, but for real, it was more like the dried version. Fail. Disgust-​o.
I moved away six years ago and recently returned to the neighborhood and the store is EXACTLY the same. I can’t believe it, srsly. I was sure when I came back it would have been completely redone. The location is convenient and many of the peeps that live in the area can afford to spend a generous amount of money on their groceries — I would think Safeway would be bending over backwards to do everything that they can to cater to that type of clientele. But, they’re not. This store could have so much going for it.
At this point, as far as I can tell, the only purpose of this location is to serve as a parking lot to Pupatella across the street.

Oh my goodness. This place is a complete and total hole. The only reason this place should even exist is to serve as a parking lot for other businesses in the area.
This place is beaten up, beaten down, dirty, disgusting, and probably diseased. Both times I’ve been here the automatic doors have malfunctioned, once on me and then once I had to push the door off the small lady it was trying to squish. These instances were a couple months apart so I don’t know if they were ever fixed and then broke again or if they just wait to see certain people and then decide to cut the door power or something.
Tried to get a bottle of soda. The cooler was warm. Went to the next one. Warm. Gave up and tried to get a chocolate milk from the dairy section. Warm. Finally just went and got a bottle of room temperature water from the drinks aisle. Made it up to the one lane they have open for check out and… wow, just wow.
The young «man» they have running this lane is just a piece of work. Rude, incompetent, petulant, etc. It was all I could do to not put him in a headlock and noogie some respect into this little s*%t.
The only good thing about going to this Safeway is that it will make you appreciate whatever other grocery stores you’ve gone into in your life that much more.

Pretty rough supermarket in need of an update or closing. If you’re passing by and need something quick, it’ll suffice, but there are much better nearby options for your regular shopping.

So maybe it’s a little ghetto looking on the outside and doesn’t have the «ambience» of the newly renovated Safeways, but there are a few things to like about this particular store.
1) Even the «rush hour traffic» on Wilson is pretty tame so it is always easy to get in and out of the parking lot.
2) Inventory may be lacking but the compactness of the store makes it easy to quickly find what you are looking for and get out.
3) Not overcrowded. I was here the day before a predicted snowstorm and everything was well-​stocked.
4) Clean.
I’m not exactly sure what a grocery store would have to do to earn 5 stars from me, but this Safeway is A-​OK to make a quick trip to pick up a few things.

Just a couple hours of landing in DC, I find myself looking up the closest grocery stores near me, and a familiar name pops up: Safeway. Perfect, a familiar name in an unfamiliar place. You can’t go wrong with that…
1. The store’s inventory is not as large as I’ve come to expect in Safeway. Granted, the only Safeways I’ve been to have all been in Norcal.
2. Even though this is a smaller Safeway, the presentation/​organization is not efficient/​consumer friendly. The aisles seemed cramped; ironic don’t you think, especially with a smaller inventory!
3. The prices were around the same as other branches, and service was fine.
After going here once, I don’t think this will be go-​to grocery store during the remainder of my stay.

They rung up an item at a different price than the sticker. They also didn’t apply the 25% off advertised on their chocolate milk that was nearing it’s expiration (and also had a couple of cartons that were a week past expiration).
Usually I check each item on my receipt before leaving the store, but on this day, I was too angry at the mean cashier who was visibly irritated at ME for HIM continually inputting my phone number wrong, despite my correcting him a number of times.
Yes, I was a little b*tchy and snatched the receipt from his hands, ignoring his angry glare at the back of my head. But I swear, he was mean to me first.

Finally tried the last nearby grocery store to Ballston other than Harris Teeter and Giant. Actually for me, this place comes in 2^nd place:
1. Harris Teeter: blows the competition out of the water. Has good sales, free samples, no glaring horrible problems.
2. Safeway: I was surprised coming in here because I thought it would be a dump based on the outside building. I didn’t think most of the Safeway was that terrible. Good smells coming out of the deli area. Really great sales deals for Safeway card members.
But then I got into the produce section. barely any selection and most of the bins were half-​empty. It was just very underwhelming even to look at it. There were like 5 red potatoes in the bin. AND no free samples here. It was a Saturday afternoon, aka prime shopping time and I felt like I was the only person there. Strange.
3. Giant: more expensive than Harris Teeter! And worse selection. And crappy sales. And no free samples. Ugh. This is the worst of the bunch.
So Safeway is not so bad unless you want to buy fresh produce. I strongly recommend against that at this location.