Safeway

Excellent store with great meat, seafood and fresh produce sections The staff are welcoming and helpful. Clearly one of the better chain stores.

I shop at this Safeway all the time, as I have since 1997. I like their produce section (consistently fresher and more extensive than Harris Teeter, not to mention MUCH less expensive). Staff members are friendly and helpful, managers are prompt to correct problems, and I like their meat selection too. I haven’t had any problems with expired foods; nice bakery, deli and cheese selections. I’m not a Starbucks fan but they have a small coffee bar here. Not as big as HT perhaps but in addition to all the good qualities I’ve mentioned, the parking is ample here!

Clean, nice, and friendly. Nice kid at checkout was super friendly. Great wine selection for a grocery store, and some fun cheap plants available at the entrance. I would shop here if I lived around the hood.

This grocery store is awful. I’ve had multiple instances where I’ve gotten home and the product I purchased had expired. I’ve brought this to the store manager and HQ’s attention previously. Tonight, I picked up five Greek yogurt dips, four were past their expiration date (one by nearly a month). Absolutely disgusting. It’s bad enough that the groceries they sell with a printed expiration date too often are past their expiration date, how can one trust their meat, deli, or fish counters where they don’t have such labels? Obviously I won’t be shopping at Safeway anymore.

This Safeway has improved continuously over the past 2 years. The store manager that I’ve talked to has improved the staff with his great ‘people’ skills. The selections are good in all departments. I would give five stars but one cashier has put his hand over the top of my energy drink (s) while at checkout. I have asked him twice not to do this. He should hold them from the side.

I’ve been to the Safeway in Arlington a few times now, and overall, for Safeway, it’s not that bad.
I see the reviews underneath mine, but relative to the Safeway’s in downtown DC where I live, this location is like Candyland. You have to go out to the suburbs to get a large selection of food, so being used to the tiny Safeway in Dupont Circle for so many years, this place isn’t too bad.
And I disagree with some of the reviewers underneath, because I’ve gotten some good customer service here. Last time I went, they were out of bags of brussels sprouts, so they gave me the price of weighing them in a normal bag. The grocery stocker was very helpful in that regard.
Overall, this isn’t some horrible Safeway, and it has a Starbucks inside, so that’s good, too.

Customer service is non existent at this store. They even tell you that nobody works in the customer service counter. At least you have to give them points for honesty. :-)

For your everyday needs this is a good place, I prefer it to the Harris Teeter across the street or the much fancier Safeway on the other side of town. The parking lot isn’t big, but it isn’t needed. If you prefer Trader Joes or Whole Foods, then I suggest you drive your Prius there instead.

I went to the supermarket to change some apples that I bought yesterday because some of them were rotten. I wait in the costumer service counter for 12 minutes till somebody arrive, then a woman (Linda) the assistant manager were there and asked me what i wanted, and she was the most rude person I’ve ever met. She treated me with disrespectful and she was totally racist. I don’t know in 2013 there are some people that cannot stand other races apart from americans, and more if they represent a chain of «this great supermarket»

I must be a glutton for punishment because I keep going back to this Safeway versus going a few short feet away to the Harris Teeter across the street.
This Safeway has yet to make the major renovations like its brethren in Annandale off 236 or Falls Church, next to Target. This location is extremely cramped, has poor lighting, an abysmal produce selection and employees that clearly have no sense (nor commitment) to customer service. I was here just yesterday to pick up three bottles of champagne for a NYE party and spent about 20 minutes just in line to check out. I could have left to go to a different line but the one other line snaked just as long as the one I was already in.
Of the few upgrades this location has are self-​check outlines. The biggest problem is that they never have all 4 checkouts up and running– in my experience, only 2 lanes are open at any time. The biggest kicker is that customers who have no business being in a self checkout line (people with lots to checkout or those who lack common sense and/​or technological skills) seem to find their way to these lanes. While their head cashier (the nice lady with the throwback hairdo a la Lucille Ball) is super helpful in manning the self checkouts, she hasn’t a clue what she’s doing.
While one of the meager perks, albeit the only perk, of this Safeway location is that there is an in-​house Starbucks when you enter.
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Best to avoid Safeway at all costs. I hope, wish and pray that a Wegmans or Whole Foods will take its place in the near future!

I know safeways are no Wegmens, WFs, or even Teeters but this one sets an all new low for all safeways… even worse than the one in Old Town Alexandria.
1. They never have more than 1 – 2 registers open even when the lines go to the back of the store.
2. They keep promoting the Safeway 4U rewards but they never properly link to your account and no employees there can help.
3. Many items are damaged or out of stock and there are rarely employees around who can help you.
Will avoid at all costs.

I’ve never actually been in a nice Safeway, but even on a relative basis this location is terrible.
It smells like death in here, both literally and figuratively. I was reminded of the scene in The Thin Red Line when the soldiers stick cigarettes up their noses after a recent battle to block out the smell of decaying enemy corpses.
This place is inferior in every possible way to the Harris Teeter across the street. How it has survived so long, I have no idea. The only reason I was even in here was because Harris Teeter management thought it a good idea to close the entire store for «routine floor maintenance.» I was annoyed at first, but ultimately grateful that my regular grocery store actually maintains itself to a degree that Safeway management evidently would never even contemplate.
For the unfortunate folks who do find themselves in this location, please note: they do sell cigarettes. It’s perhaps the only convenient aspect of the entire store.

Poor selection. Expired products. Ratty produce. Low-​quality prepared foods. Slow-​moving, lackadaisical, apathetic employees. How is this store even in business with Harris Teeter right across the street and Whole Foods 10 minutes away? At least it’s not Giant.

This location needs updating, needs cleaning, needs help.
Funny how you look into back of the Starbucks stand & trash right when you walk into the store…
Safeway has good deals compared to HT.
The Arlington Blvd. Safeway location is far away but much nicer!
What gives with my Harrison St. Safeway?!? Can y’all shape up?

Be really careful when you shop at this Safeway. Almost every time I shop here, I am overcharged, sometimes for multiple items at a time. While I can understand letting an overcharge of $ 0.10 go, I was once overcharged a whopping $ 20 on fish! The worker at the fish counter packed up the fish I wanted, but labeled the package with the wrong sticker, a sticker for a much, much pricier variety of fish. While this could have been a simple mistake, it really makes me wonder since I ordered multiple trays of the same fish and he printed out the same incorrect sticker many times. I was really frustrated because I was pressed for time that day and didn’t catch the error on the receipt until I got home. I can only wonder how many other customers were overcharged on fish that day and didn’t realize it!!! Later that evening, when I went back to the store to settle the matter, the manager told me this was perhaps MY mistake! (By the way, the Harris Teeter across the street NEVER does this!) We consulted another deli/​fish worker who informed the manager that yes indeed the sticker was wrong and I was owed money. The whole matter was extremely time consuming and left me feeling bitter about customer service in Safeway. I know I’m partially to blame because I should have checked the stickers on my fish. The worker was so friendly and even confirmed my order to me so I didn’t think to check it! Stupid move on my part. Please learn from my mistake and watch your receipts and deli/​fish/​meat stickers like a hawk in this Safeway.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve had numerous issues with being overcharged in this Safeway. Safeway must be making a lot of money from people too busy to check their receipts! This is really consistent — on almost every shopping trip, there are overcharges on my receipt. Perhaps the staff has nothing to do with this problem, as items are scanned on a machine. Still, it’s annoying because getting your money back involves a trip to the customer service desk (more on that below).
Another time I was overcharged it was because my checker forgot to scan the coupons I had — again, not a small amount — an overcharge of around $ 8. He gave me back some of what I was owed, but made a mathematical error. Since there were customers in line behind me, I had to go to the customer service desk and spend time getting the remainder of the owed amount. Again, I should have been in and out, but this problem and its resolution took time.
I’m always hard pressed to find someone working at the customer service desk in Safeway. Perhaps no one has this job, because whenever I go there there is no one at the desk! Sometimes there are other customers waiting there and pondering the same issue. I’ve found that the best technique is going to the produce section to find anyone on duty to help you. At least the produce section is consistent with having employees.
Other remarks: On weekend nights and other non-​peak shopping times, this Safeway only has 1 – 2 registers open at a time. There can be up to 10 people in line in front of you and the wait is considerable. Just FYI because I’ve seen a lot of customers frustrated with this.
Maybe you’re someone who doesn’t check your receipts and it’s not a big deal to you. It’s understandable — too much time wasted. I didn’t write this review to make you change your behavior. However, to me $ 20 is a significant amount for an overcharge. I wish I didn’t have to be so cautious about my receipts in this Safeway, but there is no other way. I hope you read this review and it makes you more aware of what to expect at this store.
Despite these problems, I will say that the staff, for the most part, have been helpful when I have a problem. When the customer service desk was deserted, the employees from other departments have stepped in to help. Also, it’s the manager’s job to be cautious, especially when the amount in question is $ 20. You may argue that prices are low enough at Safeway to care too much, and the low prices are something I appreciate. However, for so much frustration, inefficiency, wasted money, and hassle for the customer one would think Safeway would change its policies.

This is a decent safeway, only because its close to my place. I’ve been to larger and grander ones, but this one seems pretty old and outdated in comparison to the newer ones.
The store is more compact that the newer stores, and compared to the Harris Teeter across the street, it really sucks.
On the plus side, their meat deals seem to be cheaper and fresh compared to Shoppers Food Warehouse. And Safeways are located everywhere in this area, so if this one sucks, I can always go to another one!